Final Benelux Round

I absolutely hate the week of a tournament trying to get the teams picked. This week we head to Luxembourg for the final round of the Benelux Championship, knowing a win will secure us the title. We have around 33 players available but not quite enough for three teams. This means we have two bumper squads and no certainties that we can offer fellas sufficient game time if they make the long journey. There was a temptation to go for a third team but some guys have commitments in Brussels which need tending to so it’s better to let them focus on those.

Opportunities to step up to the A panel have been created by the fact a couple of lads are missing from the last day. In addition, recent trainings and particularly last weekend’s game against Crokes, have allowed lads audition for promotion and some took the opportunity with both hands. We have the panel capped at 15 so there won’t be room in the Inn for everyone, which means some lads that are good enough, will just have to bide their time a little longer, as frustrating as it is.

There could be an argument to split the teams down the middle again (as we did last week) but I’ve been fairly headstrong on this. We’ve won two of three this year but one of those was after extra-time and in the other, we only pulled away towards the end. In that sense, I don’t think we have the strength to split the teams and still win it out. Also, with the Nations Cup falling away, we may not get competitive action again until Munich in September and we may have a totally different team by then.

As I said in the hurling blog a couple of weeks ago, we have to make the most of every opportunity to win tournaments because we saw last year how things can get when success dries up. Who knows what’s around the corner and how the movement of players in and out of clubs will affect the competition.

The Luxembourg Tournament has alluded us to date and in fact has alluded most. I think the hosts have won it something like ten years in a row. With that in mind we expect their challenge to be significant and of course there is the usual threat of Den Haag. They'll be hurting big time and will be out for revenge. Add to that the new and unknown quantity of Frankfurt and you have an interesting day in store.

We are split from our Ladies this weekend as they head to Paris for their competition. Our success has been strongly linked with each others support this year so it’s a blow that we won’t be there to roar each other on this weekend. Hopefully we will both have success and the cups will be brought back in time for Caragh O’Connor’s 30th birthday party on Saturday night.