European Hurling Championship - Luxembourg - Round 2

Tomorrow we travel 200km south to Luxembourg for Round 2 of the European Hurling Championship. Whilst the hosts soccer team may be minnows in world football, their Hurling team are the current European Hurling champions. They won out last year with a very strong side but as with every team in Europe, the strength of a panel can change month to month. As they didn’t travel to Paris it’s hard to say where they are at. One thing is for sure though, they are a proud club and will be hell bent on starting their defence on a winning note.

Den Haag will travel much stronger than they did to Paris and the fourth team will be a Paris/Zurich selection. Zurich won 3-in-a-row from 2004-2007 but the departure of some key players has weakened them. To their credit they have put massive effort in to developing their game locally and have produced many home grown players. Combining the best of Paris and the best of Zurich will ensure a strong side lines out.

As for ourselves, we travel minus our three main scoring threats from the last day. Eoin is on election duty at home, Hough is somewhere between Nashville and Vegas and Rochey has gone home to his girlfriend. On top of that our marauding filthy midfielder Dominic is also absent. Our defence remains in place which is good. Willie, Aidan, Crusher and Kevin. Coming back into the fray will be Eoghan Kelly who should provide some steel where ever he lands. I’ll also be released from goalkeeping duties but may be a victim of the settled defence and be placed in the forward line. I prefer to be facing the ball but one must do what one must do. Myself and Emmett will need to lead the attack by putting scores on the board. Our normal roles would be that of harriers so tomorrow will test us.

Training this week was good, especially Monday night. There has been heavy rain the last few days in Benelux so we expect the conditions to be tough. I expect the teams to be evenly matched, each with a sprinkling of excellent hurlers. A win for us would have us half way to our quota of the four wins necessary to claim the championship. It won’t come easy though but if we bring the work rate that has been demonstrated at both hurling and football training this week then we will be in with a shout.