Ladies Exit With Heads High

After the playing experience in the St. Judes 7's two weekends ago, I donned the manager’s jacket for the Ladies 7's in Portmarnock last Saturday. My involvement came about through my role as Coaching Officer with the County Board and thus the inevitable contact with Monica Duran, the Ladies Football Officer. Her enthusiasm and apparent will to organise ourselves properly, as well as having a strong group of players available, meant I was a willing volunteer to help out.

We trained twice after tournaments in Maastricht and Munich. It is as much as you can do when you consider our panels drew players from all over Europe. Seven different nationalities were present; Irish, English, Spanish, Canadian, Danish, Estonian and German. They represented the clubs of Belgium, Holland, Estonia, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Munich and Copenhagen.

Our base for the weekend was the Skylon Hotel in Drumcondra which was very convenient for our 15h30 session on Friday afternoon in St. Pats. What has shone through in each session was the enthusiasm and application the girls have. They are willing students too and if you point something out to them they will take it on board.

We had an early start Saturday morning and with everyone finally arrived we split the panels into Europe and An Eoraip. I took one team and Tony Bass took another (with Mary Gavin on general management duty). 'My girls' were into the ring first against Carrigtwoill and we had a horrid first half as we tried to adapt to the nuances of 7's. The misery was compounded by an injury to Grainne, after two minutes. A player of her calibre was a big loss to ship. On we went though and after a half-time regroup we started to get some flow in the second half. We'd given them too big a start though and couldn't claw it back. The second half showed enough to suggest we could be competitive.

Victories over Moyvale and Clonmel Commercials really lifted us and meant we joined three of the other four teams on two wins entering the final game. That was to be against Cuala, who had looked the most dangerous team from what I had seen. They proved to be and started very lively. Their interplay and pace caused us all sorts of problems and we were all over the shop by half-time. I think there was two goals in it which in 7's is more like two points so there was still hope.

We turned to play up the hill and into the wind but they took to the task in admirable fashion. Relentless was the chosen buzz word for the day and it’s the only way I could describe their second half effort. They kept harassing and working. Cuala kept coming of course but the girls never backed down or hid. Right up till the end we created overlaps and chances. The gap was too big to close though and Cuala deservedly won. This of course was of great delight to Eoin Sheanon's parents who were there supporting their club and Eoin's sister. No breakfast offered this weekend though! Might have been what was missing!

I didn't see Tony's team so much but did catch their group win over Kerry's John Mitchells which was a huge result. They struggled in the other games but being the less experienced of the two squads, their task was always the more challenging. Everything I say about the team I managed applies to them too and they showed they had very capable players also.

There is absolutely no shame in losing when you can genuinely walk off the pitch and tell yourself that you did everything you could have done. I couldn't get over how the girls applied themselves on Saturday. Their work-rate was unbelievable. They totally bought into the rotating subs and burst a gut for their time on the pitch. Some were asked to do jobs they would not be accustomed to and did so without complaint. There were no excuses being thrown around (at least within earshot of me) and no negativity or strops at any stage.

We must consider the challenges they faced. The average age of each team must have been low twenties and they were very fast and fit; perfect for 7's. On the other hand, we had multiple girls over thirty and some with less than three years experience of gaelic football. Some would come from clubs where there is very little coaching and maybe only a handful at training. They faced club teams who've been together for years, training week in week out with experienced coaches. By the end, the European girls were working together like a club team themselves.

What will bridge the gap in results is coaching. So many scores could have been prevented at one end or scored at the other with little improvements and a bit more experience. The raw materials are all there in abundance, the rest will be easily learned judging by their attitudes.

I was genuinely blown away by the effort and character they showed on Saturday. If you could bottle that then you would be a very wealthy person. For me personally, it was great to work with different players and with a team where I'm not a player and not 'one of the lads'. They showed the potential of European football on Saturday and now the goal should be to drive it on and look for an improved showing next year.