Championships 2023 preview

24 Mar

Naomh Críostóir will host the New Zealand Championships at Marist RFC grounds in Hamilton this weekend.

The highlight of the New Zealand Gaelic games calendar, the tournament returns after a two-year hiatus and will see teams from across the North and South Islands chomping at the bit for national titles.

Wellington/Hutt Valley will be represented across the four codes of women's and men's fooball, camogie and hurling.

Our women's footballers will have teams playing in the junior and senior compeitions, and will be keen to add to this season's Austrasian State Games and Wellington Sevens successes.

Having won the senior championships in 2021, our men's footballers will play in the junior competition this year. Stiff opposition awaits them with teams from Queenstown, Hamilton and Auckland competing in the five-team group.

With the small ball our camogie team are more than eager to lay claim to a first-ever New Zealand Championships title. As with their Sevens triumph in October, they'll again have their work cut out for them against Canterbury and Auckland.

Of course, it wouldn't be a New Zealand Championships without a tit-for-tat tussle between old foes Wellington/Hutt Valley and Canterbury hurlers. Our lads got over the line at this season's Sevens and in the 2021 Championships finale, but both teams will have to contend with two strong Auckland teams to claim the national title this time around.

Excitement abounds for the weekend and we'll be travelling en masse to the Waikato for the games. In total, 56 players will line out across the five Wellington/Hutt Valley teams. Twenty of Ireland's 32 counties will be represented on our teams along with players from Australia, the UK, and several homegrown New Zealanders. The very best of luck to all our players, coaches and supporters.

Tournament information

Fixtures and competition information can be viewed in the image at the bottom of this page. Each competition will be run as a round robin on Saturday, followed by semi-finals and a final on Sunday. In the four-team groups, all teams will qualify for the semi-finals on Sunday. First place will play fourth place; second place will play third place.

In the five-team groups, the fifth-placed team at the end of Saturday's games will be eliminated. The top four will qualify for Sunday's semi-finals. Again, it will be first place playing fourth place and second place playing third place in the semi-finals.

The very best of luck to hosts Naomh Críostóir, and to all teams, coaches and supporters on what we're sure will be an epic weekend.

You can keep up to date with the competition on the tournament Facebook event, or on Naomh Críostóir's Facebook and Instagram pages.