Barcelona’s famous soccer club were drawn to play with Glasgow Celtic in the UEFA Champions’ League Group Stage last night, but closer to home the club’s Handball team will be in Dublin this weekend for a pre-season tournament involving Irish Champions Dublin International, a number of teams from England and the Irish National side.
The games take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Phibblestown in West Dublin and Saturday morning’s action will be attended by Minister for Tourism, Transport and Sport Leo Varadkar.
The Marquee game will be at 5pm on Saturday when the Irish National side takes on Barcelona.  Both sides are managed by Tony Girona who will split his loyalties to give both teams a good work out.  Young Irish player Kari Andresson may also play one half for each side in the Challenge game and Irish team High Performance Director Eddie O’Sullivan will be keeping a close eye on how the team performs.
Handball was one of the breakthrough sports at the Olympic Games this summer and the Handball Association has seen strong turnouts at talent days organised in recent weeks for both the men’s and women’s games.
It is also reaching out to corporate supporters through the hosting of a street handball festival at Dublin’s Temple Bar on September 28th.
The National team will play in European Championship Qualifiers in Estonia in August and will host more international games in Dublin next spring.
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