A's Dig Deep Whilst B's Announce Arrival With Bang

European Hurling has been on its knees in the last 18 months. As we surged up the ranks, others have fallen away and struggled to keep the show on the road. Ourselves, Lux and Den Haag are dual clubs and it's very difficult to be competitive in both over a sustained period of time. However, in Luxembourg a few weeks ago, Hurling looked to be finding its feet again and we saw its revival progress last Saturday with six teams participating in our home tournament.

Belgium A lined up against Zurich and Paris whilst Belgium B squared up against Den Hague and Luxembourg in the group of death! It was another first for Euro G.A.A..as Belgium fielded a second team. It was no patchwork either as established players like Corkmen Dominic King & Daire Cott led other A team regulars like Adrian & Ciaran into action. They were joined by many a club stalwarth in the form of Enda Rice, Conan MacOscair and club trainer Martin Crowley.

Whilst the A's laboured unimpressively through the group games, the B's were demonstrating the dogged qualities required. An impressive Hague side were kept within reaching distance until late on when they forced a couple of goals to seal victory. A semi-final appearance would be the reward for the winners of the final group game against Lux. Liam Kelly rained balls down on top of our full forward line and Daire Cott accepted them graciously, dispatching enough of them to the net to claim an historic victory. Conan MacOscar showed his quality too with a mighty goal and point. Dominic covered every blade of grass as well as taking and giving punishment freely.

This mean't an A v B semi-final. The temperature had breached the 30 degree mark at this stage and bodies were beginning to tire. Knowing the attacking dangers which existed in the B team, the A's were certainly not overconfident. And they were right not to be as only a goal and a point separated the sides mid way through the second half. In the end, the B team’s resistance was worn done and again it was a couple of late goals which sealed their fate. However, like the football a couple of weeks ago, there was no need for talk of moral victories. In defeating Lux, they had slayed a team with high standing in European hurling and the semi-final performance was not just a respectable display but a full blown challenge to the Champions elect.

So the A's marched on to their 10th final in a row, seeking their 9th victory on the trot. As well as the possibility to win the Belgium Tournament cup, the European Hurling Championship would be put beyond the reach of everyone else with a win. Den Hague were formidable opposition though and had their strongest panel for some time. There was a feeling throughout the day that we had become a little complacent and arrogant because of recent successes and it was now creeping into our play. We didn't want to be branded with that tag but lifting ourselves had been difficult through the day. Crusher was missing and it is times like this that you need a fella like that. He is our captain and you just have to watch his fearless style of play to inspire you to get your act together.

It has been hard to keep going through this year as some of the tournaments have been won relatively easily. Winning is great but it’s the satisfaction that comes with it that you really want. Only in one or two tournaments did we have that feeling in the last 8 wins and so it has been hard to keep guys motivated. As I said earlier though, Hurling is slowly bouncing back and we needed to be sure we recognised that before someone ambushed us.

The first half was a tight and tense affair. The small pitches in europe mean if the keeper has a big puck then it will land in around the house virtually every time. As a result, much of the game was contested between our full back line of myself and Jim, our opposing markers and at the other end Eoin and Daire (who moved up from the B's for the final) with their markers. The first half was free for free and i think the score stood somewhere around 0-5 to 0-4 in our favour at half-time.

We flew out of the blocks in the second half though and when Daire picked up possession out on the wing, we all shouted point but he showed his class and know how to put the head down for goal. That put us on track and we never really looked back. In defence, Conor Magner and Conchur de Barra dominated the exchanges in the half-back line. One of the big differences between the teams was our backs ability to clear their lines whereas Den Hague struggled thanks to the pressure from the likes or Fergal and Dominic. Shane and Pearce's fitness was a telling factor too as they had plenty of energy left in their legs. We pulled away towards the death which gave a scoreline not fully reflective of the battle.

So with victory we retained both our home tournament trophy and most importantly the European Cup will remain in Brussels for another year. It was an important win and a good reflection on Martin's efforts to keep things moving along. Our team had a big turnover from last year and when you think that Willie, Emmett, Dec, Aidan, Eoghan Kelly and no doubt one or two i've forgotten, haven't hurled this year, it is an achievement worth noting.

Another significant one was our girl’s victory. They have been the most consistently committed camogie team in the last few years but had no success to back it up. I wrote last week about it being a season of nearlies and their captain Sylvia sent me a mail basically saying that was going to change on Saturday. She was good to her word and led by example by playing in goal to help her team out. They marched impressively to victory and the benefit of Olga's coaching was blatantly obvious and great to see. They deserve their victory not only for their skill on Saturday but for their never ending commitment to train and travel through all the bad days they have had to endure.

Well done to all on a fantastic day for the club.