European Hurling Championship - Brussels - Round 3

Tomorrow we host Round 3 of the European Hurling Championship. There is a new venue this year as we move to Leuven to pitches which were acquired via a contact in the Irish Institute there. As I write, an army of club Members are attempting to transport two full size goalposts and a tent/marquee type thing 30km in/on a Toyota Japan Sailing Bus.

I've never had any involvement in the organisation of these things but its obvious that its a massive operation. Teams are never able to confirm numbers until a couple of days before so the lunches are all ordered at the last minute. As mentioned, the equipment needs to be brought to the pitch and a host of questions from visiting clubs will need to be answered. Den Haag will travel on the day, as will Lux. Paris come by Eurostar into Brussels, will need to be met in Gare Midi,put on a train to Leuven and then picked up at the station and brought to the pitch. Zurich arrive the night before and should be able to find their own way.

Tomorrow we can report more returning players than missing ones for once. Out are Rochey and the broken duo of The Bull and Crusher. In are the forward trio of Eoin Sheanon, Michael Hough and Dominic King. Defensively we welcome back Kevin Keary. We must be careful though. Its win or bust for Den Haag so expect them to be bulling for it.

The last day we battled debilitating circumstances,went to the depths of the well and won, just. If we can finish off the opposition tomorrow then it will give us a lead that will be very difficult to overcome.

There is no gaurantee that we will be stronger tomorrow despite the calibre of player that is returning. We need to continue into the games with the committment and relentlessness which we possessed the last day. We saw in the football two weeks ago that Den Haag could not put three performances together. We face the same challenge tomorrow.

It took me till Wednesday to figure out why I was so grumpy this week. It was the tension that you normally feel in the build up to a Championship game. This is as close as it gets here. We won't get as good an opportunity again to win a Hurling Championship. I can't wait to get stuck in. Every ball on its own merit and beat your man. Simple message, simple game!