In the annual ‘Clash of the Ash’, Queenstown take on Canterbury GAA in the Irish sport of hurling at the Recreation Ground, starting 1pm.
Their mission is to wrest back the Ian Flanagan Cup.
"It’s got to come back," club founder Declan ‘Diesel’ Malone says.
He thinks his side’s six-hour road trip cost them in last summer’s clash in Christchurch, "so hopefully they suffer the same way, or maybe they have a bit of commonsense and fly".
The teams play 13-a-side — "hopefully we can get the numbers" — and all the locals will be Irish expats except Scotsman Allan Beaton, who’s played the Scottish version of hurling, Shinty.
If it is hot, Malone says players will be sweating in their helmets — to help, there’ll be three 20-minute spells.
The Ian Flanagan Cup is named after a local Irishman who suddenly died in 2022.
He was well known to local hurlers and was a cousin of Queenstown captain Niall Quinn.
Morrison’s Irish Pub is again sponsoring the game along with Malone’s The Full Thirty Two.
Malone says hurling is "a very hard-hitting, very physical sport — it is classified as the oldest and fastest field sport in the world".
"On the field it’s deadly serious, after that we have a keg of Guinness in the change rooms for both teams and then we go up to Morrison’s for a big night out."
Entry is free this Saturday, although spectators are welcome to donate to the charity, Friends of Ireland.
Malone: "Just come down, bring your family, there’ll be music playing, it’ll be a great day out for everybody."
