Win or Bust

"We're headed towards Los Angeles. Toward what else in the days, perhaps weeks, ahead, I cannot begin to predict. Will this team unify, will it demonstrate the sacrifice, the selflessness, that all championship squads display? Will it fulfill the expectations that started in July? Or will it fall short, the fissures, never far below the surface, proving too deep to overcome? Will it go down as the grand experiment that failed, remembered more for the trials then triumphs? The plane is about to land, the next part of the journey about to begin."
Phil Jackson, L.A. Lakers Head Coach, 2004

We're not the L.A. Lakers but there is something in that quote that we can relate to. European elections, Lisbon, financial crisis, business travel, working late, transport, money, girls, babies, marriage, long distance relationships, injuries, illness, personality clashes, laziness, egos, broken promises, penalty misses, disciplinary issues, arrivals, departures......We have had above and beyond our share of all of these this year. Way back in an earlier blog I predicted this year was going to be very tough after the highs of last year. I didn't envisage it being this tough.

During the summer I started to think about what I was getting out of this. My body was crocked and my motivation to go down and take training 2/3 times a week was waning. Obviously, my involvement is focused on winning, not just being a good gaa disciple and trying to spread the good word and teach people our games. Hence the deep frustration and annoyance with how the season was panning out. For large chunks of the year it was a struggle to motivate myself to go down; my body crocked and my mind failing to be stimulated. I couldn't muster up the feeling to deliver any meaningful messages to the players at either training or tournaments.

A few weeks ago, my mood started to change. Slowly the back has begun to settle down and being able to participate in training brought a new dimension to things for me. Then there was the night where we had a competitive edge to the runs with Giller, myself and Keary locked in battle. Lately, we've played full pitch games at training. The tackling has become stronger, the movement more fluid. The sun is still shining but the dark sweeps through Parc 50 with greater speed then we've seen all summer. For me the start and the finish of the journey are the most satisfying.

The journey commences in a hall or on a dark wintry pitch way back in January. Those nights are full of anticipation and pain. I love the combination. You move to the next phase. Summer is summer. Different obstacles will be put in your way and each needs to be cleared. The hurdles lessen as the nights start to close in again. The finish line and its prize are in view. You are gripped by a growing hunger to win. Your season starts to hang in the balance as you train on a week to week basis, never sure of when the journey could finish.

There are no more second chances now. In a couple of hours our players will pile into cars and drive anywhere up to 9 hours, battling Friday traffic, on their way to Rennes. The problems I have listed above are still all over the panel and are visible in the list of lads who won't make the journey. We will still put men on the pitch who are committed to winning and that's enough for me. This is why we play the game. Micky Keane was an unlikely hero last year, sprung from the bench to kick the winning score in the final, in Rennes, against Paris. We'll need more heroes this weekend and if we find them then who knows...The next part of the journey is about to begin..