Barcelona take the glory in Valencia
The third round of games in the 2009 Iberian Championship took place in Valencia, Spain this afternoon. A light covering of cloud made for perfect football conditions. This round was eagerly awaited after two previous rounds in Madrid and Barcelona had already given us some great games of football.
A good crowd of spectators came along throughout the day, giving a good atmosphere to the matches, although with a strong home-town bias! The standard of football was not to disappoint them, and it was a great showcase for the sport of Gaelic Football.
All clubs sent very strong squads to Valencia, in particular Naomh Fermin from Pamplona, who fielded a squad which did not contain any Irish players, a great credit to the work being done by the lads up there.
The ladies competition had some great contests, and all matches were 9-a-side, showing the growth of this sport in the region. The final was once again Barcelona against Madrid, and once again Barcelona came out on top, shooting some lovely points to win 0-8 to 1-3.
The Mens competition served up a fantastic climax, with the hosts Valencia playing Barcelona. Despite Valencia holding a big lead at halftime, the Catalan lads came back slowly and steadily, and equalised with seconds remaining. This meant extra-time. Once again Valencia went clear by a couple of points, but the Barcelona Gaels just were not to be beaten, and scored the last 4 points, to win by 1-14 to 2-6.
Thanks to all the work put in by Valencia to host the tournament, and special thanks also to Tony Bass, our referee for the day, put in almost 9 hours of work on the field today. We look forward to the final round of the championship in Pamplona.