For many clubs reaching an All-Ireland is the peak of their season, possibly even their history. For the Paris-Bordeaux (ParisBurdi) amalgamation side who are yet to even train together, it's the realisation of a 'dream'.
Despite neither side being able to field a full team, the amalgamation of two of France's biggest cities has seen them claim the European Championship and launch themselves into an All-Ireland Junior Championship Quarter-Final.
Ahead of the clash we caught up with assistant coach, French-born Jean Baptiste and his partner Aisling Fee who told us how they've gone from training on a rugby pitch in Bordeaux to the All-Ireland championships - a French first.
Bordeaux and Paris were like the two top female teams in France at the minute and we were playing against them in the finals of the French finals last June, and Paris won that in fairness to them so one of the girls from the Paris team asked, would we be interested in playing together for the 15s competition.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, you know. I'm only joking, we all get on really well" claimed Aisling.
The side which is unique in that it is made up of more French players than Irish ex-pats, qualified to play Sligo's Coolera Standhill after travelling to London to take on Wandsworth Gaels, a game that saw the All-Britain Champions succumb to a shock defeat at the hands of the French side.
Like, I feel like we're probably going in as the underdogs, like, when we played London, 8 out of 15 of our starting team were French, so it's majority non-native players. And we're playing against girls who are mainly all Irish born.
They're coming in thinking, oh, these French girls have only been playing like a few years, like, it's gonna be easy enough. and honestly, like, our French girls are on our team are just as good as the Irish. Like, they're just natural athletes. We're taking the GAA community a bit by surprise, like, even in London, Everyone was so shocked that we won.
While this trailblazing side might be the first French side to make it out of Europe and to this stage of an All-Ireland competition, it hasn't been without its challenges.
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At the best of times, competing on a continent devoid of GAA infrastructure can be difficult, but for this Paris/Bordeaux side they have neither a GAA pitch to train on, nor can they train with their Parisian teammates. For Jean-Baptise however, this is a small price to pay for the game they love.
Obviously we are, we are both based in Bordeaux and Paris, so we don't train together. We are not able to train together. So every time we are playing, I think the first time you played together was in Maastricht for the semifinal.
Yeah, it's a very big challenge, and that's why we try to do analyse and to analyse the video of the much of the of the other team and so we just say what we have to do, what we have to improve, but we just work through the WhatsApp group.
We don't know Gaelic football for a long time, but we really love this, and to play this kind of game it's like a dream for us and so we, we just take it without any complex like we, we know we are underdog, but we just go in this for our pleasure because we love it.
Jean-Baptise who is the side's assistant coach and found himself mesmerised by GAA culture, has never actually played a competitive 15-a-side football match himself having only taken the sport up six years ago, yet not only will this weekend see him coach an All-Ireland quarter-final, but his Bordeaux side lost just one game this season.
I started 6 years ago. I found it on Facebook because I wanted to find a new soccer club, basically, and it was written Gaelic Football, so I say, 'Ok, why not?'. So I text them, I began and I fell in love with this because it's not only a sport, it's like a big community in Bordeaux. People are very friendly, like this is the Irish mind, I guess.
That's why I keep continuing, and then last year the ladies team didn't have any coach and I said, OK, I have to be with you. I will be on the bench. I will follow you and I will try to give you everything, everything I know, even if I don't have a lot of background, if I never played 15 a side.
While the preliminary round saw Jean-Baptiste's side team travel to London for an away fixture, this weekend's quarter-final has Paris/Bordeaux pinned as the hosts.
In Europe however that comes with its own complications. There is one 15-a-side pitch in France, but its liability to flooding has ruled it out of contention, meaning the 'home' side will now be left facing a trip to Maastricht in the Netherlands to Gaelic Games Europe's only other full-size pitch.
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As a team full of students and young players, the mounting cost of a second away trip is putting pressure on the history-making team, who are receiving no funding to support the mammoth journey While they've set up a GoFundMe page to help, it still presents a big challenge.
We've kind of come into a bit of a problem because since we're the hosts, we don't get any funding from the LGFA to travel. Our team is mainly made up of students and young girls who are just starting their career. So, a lot of us really can't afford to do this, and for most of the time for the tournaments, the transport and accommodation that comes out of our own pocket" Aisling said.
We will also have to pay for a train to and from Paris, which at the weekends is quite expensive as well. Then when we get to Paris, we're going to rent two mini vans, and then, like, the cost of renting them and the fuel to go there, and the tools, and if we stay accommodation on the night as well, it's gonna rack up to a lot, I think.
Yet despite the challenges, Paris/Bordeaux's unorthodox training methods where both men's and women's teams train alongside each other is one aspect other sides won't have, with Paris Coach Conor Pelan confident it'll stand to his side in the weeks ahead.
A lot of the girls have certainly adapted to playing with the men, they feel a lot tougher and a lot stronger and they're not scared of impact which is fantastic.
Should Paris-Bordeaux overcome the Sligo champions this Saturday, they'll be just one trip to Ireland away from becoming France's first side to play in an All-Ireland final.
Paris-Bordeaux will take on Coolera Strandhill in the All-Ireland Junior Championship quarter-final this Saturday, November 23rd at 2 pm.
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