By Dan Bannon

Kildare's All-Ireland Qualifier victory over Mayo might have made more headlines, but no GAA event provided more drama last weekend than the John West Féile Peile na nÓg 2018.

Hordes of players, mentors, supporters and anxious parents descended on the north east of the country where Louth, Meath and Down provided the warm welcomes and venues for the scorching activities that would bond their lives forever.

On the pitch, O’Donovan Rossa from Magherafelt claimed an unique double with their boys and girls teams capturing silverware. The boys can boast to be the best in team Ireland overcoming a fancied Burren side in the Division 1 Final, while the girls claimed the Division 4 crown.

No strangers to the winning enclosure, the Rossa boys also claimed the title in 2007. Enda Quinn, their team manager, described the homecoming as "a surreal feeling with both buses entering the club side by side with up to a thousand people there to greet them.”

It was a special moment for Quinn himself because his son Cahir and daughter Dearbhla played on the victorious teams.

As the players are well catered for by the welcoming hosts families, the parents have to deal with the logistics of finding unfamiliar pitches on top of overwhelming nerves, none more so than Ailish Cahalane, a sister of John Cleary, former Cork footballer and one of the founding members of the Éire Óg club based in Ovens and Farran.

Team mentor Sinead Lohan revealed the reason behind this exceptionally high level of parental stress: “Ailish watched her son Damien win a Munster Hurling Final on television. I don’t think she could watch the second half and then by she was by her daughter Orlaith’s side as we claimed the Division 1 girls title later that day.”

For Lohan, the mission is to encourage the continued participation of girls in gaelic games, and Féile Peile provides that through unrivalled equality.

“There are huge drop out rates between the ages of 14 and 16," said Lohan. "Féile is an All-Ireland competition, it is something that platforms girls alongside boys and when you are there you don’t feel any different, it means as much to the girls as it those to the boys and you are treated accordingly.”

Another notable proud parent was Stevie McDonnell, the former Armagh sharpshooter, who saw his son Kealan win the Division 3 shield with Killeavy on the grounds of Naomh Mairtin in Monasterboice.

Just over the road is the small village of Collon, situated right on the Louth-Meath border. So much so, that locals are able to gain dual county status. The border might be porous, but the Mattock Rangers club is the glue that binds everyone and over the weekend their community spirit really came to the fore.

Their Chairman Terry Donegan explained: “To welcome over three thousand people in just two days to our club took the effort of an entire village, that effort during and before in preparation also brought the club closer together as it was the biggest event in the club's history. We hosted two teams and 16 in total passed through. This year's Féile is something that we’ll never forget.”

Elsewhere, South and North London would go home with silverware which now seems to be an annual occurrence. Dúrlas Óg made up for missing out in the hurling decider to triumph in the Division 3 cup. Many other pockets of the country’s young gaels will connect and add their new friends they’ve made over the weekend online and down the line, such is the lasting legacy of the Féile.

In 1991 Laune Rangers won the Féile with legendary Kerry corner forward Mike Frank Russell on board. Mike Frank was now back binding a new band of Killorglin youngsters to the ways of the Féile just like he did 27 years ago.

Instilling the correct spirit of the game into his boys in blue was a beautiful highlight. Mike Frank, in unison with fellow mentors, quietened their own bench immediately after they began to applaud an opposition player being black carded.

Féile, the never ending bond that keeps on giving and will keep on giving.