Irish Hurling and Gaelic Football
Matches, Exhibition,
and Skills Test:
Open to the Brave
Saturday, July 21, 2018 from 11am to 4pm
Sunday, July 22, 2018 from 11am to 3pm
at the Arizona Highland Celtic Festival
at Foxglenn Park
4200 E. Butler Ave., Flagstaff, Arizona

The Flagstaff Mountain Hounds host matches against the Phoenix Gaels and the Tucson Hurling Club. Between matches, we’ll have a hurling skills test for the daring. Try your hand at jab lifts, roll lifts, 65s and take part in this ancient Celtic sport, which has thrived for over three-thousand years. What could possibly go wrong? For those with a fear of sticks (Englishmen, for instance), we have Gaelic Football. Give it a kick. See what happens.

The Mountain Hounds was started in the summer of 2012 from a rag-tag group of Uptown Pubhouse employees and patrons with an interest in the unique, Gaelic sport of hurling. Since then we have worked with veteran members of the Phoenix Gaels, and our sister club in Tucson. What started as a passing interest has turned to a love for the sportsmanship and camaraderie on the pitch.
We welcome all comers: experienced, novice, men, women and children. Our goal is to continue growing interest and skills in Flagstaff and Arizona at large. We annually take part in the West Coasts 7s in San Diego, play exhibition matches at the Arizona Highland Celtic Festival in July, regularly attend the Denver tournament also in July, and frequently play matches in Phoenix and Tucson. In 2016, we sent our club to Seattle to compete at the Nationals Tournament in the Junior C Hurling division. In the following year, we went to Nationals in San Francisco and finished fifth in our division. 2018 has brought our first Gaelic football team, The Screamin’ Merkins, to compete in a highly competitive tournament in San Diego, where we finished dead last, had a hoot, and came away with a plethora of ideas to improve our football team in the future. (Same plan and path we followed with hurling.)
Thank you to our major sponsors, Uptown Pubhouse, Four Peaks Brewing, Boyle Mental Healthcare, Shanahan Dentistry, Drinking Horn Mead, and All Awards (all these good folks can fix whatever ails you after a match). And thanks to all of the individuals who give us a hand. Thank you to Jude McKenzie and the Northern Arizona Celtic Heritage Society who have supported and encouraged us from the beginning.

For more information follow us on Facebook or visit www.flagstaffhurling.com or email Jon Ebers at northernazgaelicsports@gmail.com

“Be brave.”

Full Schedule

Foxglenn Park, 4200 E. Butler Ave., Flagstaff, Arizona

Matches are on the far back fields (where we likely belong).
The beginning Hurling Parade will come to you.

Saturday, July 21

10:45AM A Parade of Hurls: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

11AM Running of the Hounds Match: Mountain Hounds vs Screamin’ Merkins (Hurling)
– A brief introduction to this ancient Celtic sport
– Meet the whacky players
– Let the games begin!
12PM, High Noon: Like Mad Dogs & Englishman Match: Hill Hounds (youth squad) versus Mountain Hounds (Junior C, 5th Place Nationals team)
– The dreaded Hill Hounds, ages 5-12, return to wreak their annual havoc upon the Mountain Hounds

12:15PM Release the Foot! First Irish Football match
– This is what happened when the English took away the hurleys. Brief introduction to the sport.
– Meet the even whackier players
– Let the games begin!
1PM- 4PM Various Hurling and Football Matches

Sunday, July 22

High Noon: Who wants to give it a whack? New recruit matches Hurling. We’ve have helmets, hurls, sliotars, and a waiver for you.

12:45 PM Who needs a stick? New recruits Football match.