October brought with it the final round of the 2019 European Hurling and Camogie Championship, which was held in the lovely city of Dresden. Despite a day of rain and lower temperatures than the previous rounds, Dresden Hurling pulled of a fantastically well organised event enjoyed by all.

We travelled 500km by train with a full hurling team and two (!) camogie teams. The second of which was supported by players from Dresden, Darmstadt GAA and Stuttgart GAA who, playing for the first time together as a team, managed to finish a day of battle as runners up in the first ever Camogie Development Shield! A huge congrats due there!

The hurlers secured the 2019 European Shield early in the day with a win against Berlin. Following on from that with tough games against Belgium, Luxembourg and finishing up the day with a win against the hosts themselves.

Our camógs ended the day positioned second in Europe for the second year running! From the first throw-in they drove on with wins against Berlin and Setanta Berlin. A draw with Belgium secured their place in cup final, where they would play their old rivals for the second time in the day, the game ending with Belgium taking the lead by only 2 points.

We also had the great pleasure of passing on the ‘travelling hurley’ to Setanta Berlin. So far it has travelled 17,000km across the globe to spread the game. You can find out more at www.hurlingnear.me.

Congratulations again to Dresden for hosting a wonderful event. To Belgium GAA for picking up the double. To the refs and all other teams involved for making it a very enjoyable end to the years championship.