A round-up of other Gaelic Games news

Competition encourages clubs to cut carbon print

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, John Gormley will today launcha €28,000 environmental competition for GAA clubs around the country.

To compete, the clubs are being encouraged to set up groups and get their members to log on to change.ie – the environmental website – and calculate their carbon number and take steps to reduce their carbon footprint

Details of the competition will be announced in Croke Park today by former Cork captain Tony Davis and Kerry’s Mick Spillane, along with Minister Gormley.

Kilmacud Sevens packs them in again

SOME people come looking for an All-Ireland ticket and most people stay for the football. The Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland Football Sevens continues to be the traditional curtain-raiser to All-Ireland final weekend and now in its 37th edition, the competition appears to get more intense every year.

With 48 teams taking part from across the country, tomorrow’s competition will be fast and furious, in every sense. There are 82 games in total, covering 12 groups and four venues; Glenalbyn, St Benildus College, Silverpark and Clonkeen College. The draw took place earlier this week, the full details of which can now be viewed at www.kilmacudcrokes-football.com.

Title-holders St Galls of Antrim, last year’s beaten finalists Glenullin of Derry and, of course, the home team and club All-Ireland champions, Kilmacud Crokes, are among the contenders.

Teams will play out the group stages at the four venues in the Stillorgan area with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final being played on Saturday afternoon in Glenalbyn, the home of Kilmacud Crokes. The first games take place at 11am, and the website will carry results almost instantaneously until the 2009 champions emerge. The games will also be broadcast on TG4 next Monday.

Bangkok hosts Asian Gaelic games

SUNDAY may mark the end of the championship season as we know it but there is still something to play for on the other side of the world. The Asian GAA County Board, which actually covers the largest population and area size in the world – ranging from China to Qatar – has announced details of the 14th Annual Asian Gaelic Games, which will be hosted for the first time by the Bangkok-based Thai GAA Club on October 17th-18th at the Bangkok Patana School.

The competition for the men’s football event – the Derek Brady trophy – will be intense, with Hong Kong seeking an unprecedented fourth title in a row.

In the women’s competition, holders Dubai will have to battle it out with a record entry of teams.

The hurling competition is expected to be a shoot-out again between holders Singapore and challengers Dubai. The kids’ football tournament will see teams from Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Hong Kong and Thailand battle it out.

Teams will travel from Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Beijing, Dubai, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Taipei with Singapore and Hong Kong bringing the largest contingents.

Cork are favourites - just about

Paddy Power have placed Cork in the favourite spot at evens to win Sunday’s All-Ireland showdown against Kerry inside 70 minutes.

However, there are plenty of other more attractive bets for the more ambitious punter, including winning margin, first goal-scorer and RTÉ man of the match, and if the game finishes in a draw, Paddy Power will refund all losing single first/last goal-scorer, anytime goal-scorer, first team goal-scorer and winning margin bets on this match.

Match Betting

Cork Evens

Kerry 11/10

Draw 15/2

Handicap Betting

Cork (-1) 11/8

Kerry (+1) 8/11

Draw (+1) 8/1

Winning Margin

Cork 1-3pts 11/4

Kerry 1-3pts 3/11

Cork 4-6pts 9/2

Kerry 4-6pts 5/1

Cork 7-9pts 10/1

Kerry 7-9 pts 11/1

Cork 10-12pts 14/1

Kerry 10-12pts 16/1

Cork 13-15pts 25/1

Kerry 13-15pts 33/1

Cork 16pts 40/1

Kerry 16pts 50/1

First goal-scorer

CorkDaniel Goulding 7/1

Donnacha O’Connor 15/2

Colm O’Neill 9/1

Pearse O’Neill 11/1

Paul Kerrigan 14/1

Paddy Kelly 14/1

KerryColm Cooper 13/2

Tommy Walsh 15/2

Darran O’Sullivan 10/1

Declan O’Sullivan 11/1