Ireland’s Eastern promise

WHEN Michael Cusack and his band of pioneers founded the GAA in Hayes’s Hotel 127 years ago, they would never have believed how big that organisation would grow.

From those humble beginnings they formed an association which gave a nation its identity.

In 1996 something similar happened in the Far East. Over a few drinks, Paraic McGrath and some devoted GAA supporters came up with the idea of forming a tournament for Gaels in Asia. Five teams came together for the first Asian Games.