More Than Just A Club

It was like that feeling when you go home for Christmas and arrive into the pub and meet all your buddies again. Ye just slip seamlessly back into ye’re old ways. It was a bit like that this weekend as the likes of Ollie, Hudson, Pierce Jordan, Laffan and a host more returned for the end of year bash.

It was a ferociously frantic weekend, a greater test of a man’s worth than any tournament, no matter the heat or the opposition, has presented us with. It all started so quietly though, catching up over pints in Place Lux on Friday evening.

What happened afterwards that night should probably be largely kept between those who were there but here are a few highlights; Ollie forgetting his marquee song whilst The Oak came to a standstill to listen, Keg ‘hurling’ downstairs, wrestling, bench-pressing Ollie, showering him with beer, the moon outside The Oak, Timmy literally turning Marian’s world upside down and the scrums in The Joyce. Neither establishment were sorry to see us depart. Things got so bad that we even had to call Ollie’s mother.

The troops needed rallying on Saturday but rally we did and off to de Valera’s we marched. It nearly took a turn early on when Hudson enquired whether Collie B was wearing his cardigan as a bet. On with the food which was magnificently rolled out to over a hundred bodies.

Then there were the speeches and in fairness Keary shun the bogman look for the night and orchestrated things well from the pulpit. There was an ambassador there for good measure and of course the Chairman of all of Europe. Awards were dished out to Caoimhe, Niamh, Bull, Jim and even myself.

Special note for Big Jim. He was never a man who would winter well but we minded him as best we could last year. So well in fact that Burger King became The Gooch and the The Gooch became footballer of the year. He’s a man who finished last year as a solid but not outstanding Shield player. This year, he epitomised the work ethic and courage that characterised our early season trophy haul. A genuine player of the year and one who deserved his reward.

Then the doors swung open and in rode Big Liam Kelly. An icon to the young men of Belgium G.A.A. as I told him many times that night. Johnny and Griff summoned me with the camera to get their photo with the legend. Chaos reigned thereafter.

There were ambulances, paramedics, jaegerbombs, dancing, singing, broken guitars, unhappy girlfriends and a wonderful moment when Caoimhe stood in the middle of a dancing huddle swinging Collie B’s cardigan in the air. We tried to get a sing song going but everything was gone too mental.

A host of other things happened I’m sure but my recollections are poor. I departed shortly after 7am but was far from the last. Others were reported seen coming out the door after 9. Pearce O’Caoimh was one of them and his girlfriend was unrelenting about the planned trip to Brugges, turning him straight around and out the door to get the train. It was 10am.

There was a reconvening in The Oak for the rugby where water and fry-ups were in great demand. Ollie strolled in with a big bruised head and unaware of how or why it happened. Timmy sat sheepishly in the corner whilst rumours of his mischief bounced off the walls.

We’ve had some massive weekends in our time here but this one would rattle the best of them. It truly is more than just a club.

One Moment

Sitting in Bar 13, just off Union Square in New York a couple of weeks ago, I was wondering how one could convey the importance of training your balls off to win something and the joy you get from its reward.

I harp on painfully about committment and sacrifcing the sacrificable during the year to try and achieve success on the pitch. The conclusion I came to at the end of last year was that too many of those on the Championship team either thought they were better than they were and didn't need to train that hard or didn't value the feeling from winning as much as I do. Whichever reason it is, it can be backed up by evidence in the form of lack of Championship tournament wins and training attendance figures.

So you wonder how to relate the importance of it all to fellas. Inspiration came from the 2-for-1 happy hour deal in the deserted bar where we occupied two stools and tried to drain some banter from the not unattractive barmaid. Then it came to me. What gave guys the most satisfaction and greatest sense of achievement in 2010? Aside from marriage, births or significant occassions which may only happen a handful of times in your life.

I gaurantee if most fellas pinpoint a moment, it will have been on some pitch somewhere in Europe. It may stretch back as far as January, when they went home exhausted after one of the pre-season physicals and lay on the couch happy in the knowledge they dropped every bead of sweat onto the pitch in the BSB.

More than likely it will have been at some tournament though. The Championship team's run in Benelux threw up successive moments. What about when the Shield team won that game against Lux down in Lux? Or when both groups came together to win The Nation's Cup. Maybe up in The Hague when we struggled to field a team but ground out a great victory. Maybe it was the moments just after the final whistle, in the dressing room after or in the car on the way home. Maybe it was at 5am the following morning after teasing out all the day's action with your teammates and finally having a moment to enjoy the achievement on your own.

It could have been anyone of those things and I'm pretty convinced that when guys reflect on their best moments of the year, one of those will rise to the top. So why not work hard to achieve that feeling as often as possible. Maybe guys take it for granted and fall away into the comfort zone, knowing training is a nice facility to have there when they want it. However, within a week of it ending, everyone is pining for it again, in a way that wasn't evident days previously.

As for my moment, I'm not sure. Hurling wise, The Hague tournament was up there. I think it was a moment down in Zurich though when we had a long distance free to give us the insurance point though. It was p1ssing rain and there wasn't a dry ball in all of Switzerland. Except the one in Martin Crowley's bag. Out it came and the ball sailed over the bar. It seems small but I get great satisfaction playing with fellas who are always looking to get an edge and Martin was tuned into that. He held that ball all day, for just such a moment.

Football wise, it was probably the Lux tournament. They'd won it something like ten years in a row. We gave our most convincing performance of the year in the final against The Hague. Enda commented afterwards that we looked like we were getting stronger and stronger as the final progressed. It was satisfying on two counts. First, all the work on the training pitch was brought out and secondly, I'd stood in as captain for the day as Eoin managed the Shield team. Making those Hague lads listen to me for a few more minutes when we received the cup didn't do any of them any harm (although they seemed to show that later in year!)!

End of Year Bash

I reckon I've written three or four entries in the last couple of weeks but such was the negativity emanating from them, I opted not to post. In the absence to anything else to stew on, I continued with some harsh assessment of all things Belgium Gaelic Football to pass away the time. I must be becoming less out spoken as I get older though.

Time heals and all that craic. To aid this process, our end of year dinner takes place in de Valera's on Saturday night and promises to be the biggest and best bash yet. These things normally get the label 'Dinner Dance' at home but in the absence of any old people, with the exception of Martin, we decided no-one would be offended if we removed the title.

I remember my first, back in late 2006. There was probably one average length table of us. On Saturday, our sponsor's pub de Valera's will close its doors to the public and solely cater for our party. Numbers will hover around 110 heads for the three course meal, provided at a very decent price of €25 per head.

I can remember being at my first FC Irlande Christmas dinner there when they could also fill the pub. The thought of there being a Belgium GAA of such size wasn't even imaginable then. Saturday will be our biggest yet as the club goes from strength to strength. There will be twenty trophes on show, ten from the lads and ten from the girls. Aside from the tournament wins, the men's footballers claimed Benelux and The Nations Cup whilst our lady counterparts won the European Championship for the third year in a row.

Hurling wise, it was all about the Camogie breakthrough after years of struggle. Winning the last two tournaments was enough to bring the Euro Championship back to Belgium for the first time. The Hurlers put back-to-back Championships together and extended their tournament win streak to ten, winning all this year's rounds.

There will be players of the year, club persons of the year and all the usual speeches. Many players who left during the year will return. Ollie, Jelena, Laffan, Hudson, Maeve, Pierce, Avril and a few more will all land in Brussels in the next few hours to kick-off what is sure to be a memorable weekend. We'll also tilt a glass to former Chairman and current treasurer/sponsor/hatchet man Conchur de Barra as he prepares to depart to live in Canada for a year. No shortage of things to celebrate so don't expect to see anyone Sunday.

Catalan Mission

By Barcelona standards it was a cold. The pitch was lightly lit by the rugby club’s floodlights and adorned with puddles from rain earlier in the day. The weather meant we had fewer players than expected and we were already running a half hour late when we started. I was simmering at this point and it’s amazing that the lack of cones, bibs or pumped balls didn’t set the lid flying over the Nou Camp. Lesson here; Catalonians are a little more relaxed than this Corkman.

This is European G.A.A. though and I’ve been there, done that so know that you can’t have the same expectations all the time. The girls were eager though and started the warm-up whilst I talked with Collins’ brother who is based down there. Totally different to Collins as he’d actually engage you in conversation and seems to have some get up and go about him.

He was there for a rugby match which was on the pitch prior to the session. A couple of minutes into the first drill, one of the girls wandered off to chat to one of his teammates who was leaving after his shower!! My fuse was shortening at uncontrollable speed. The drills weren’t going well and the concentration wasn’t there so urgent action was needed. A quick running drill and some of the wind was knocked out of them and we could get down to work.

I kept it very much in the Eamonn Ryan mode and we started to make rapid progress. Only one of the girls was Irish but she hadn’t played since primary school. There was a French girl or two and the rest were Catalan (not Spanish!!). These girls are self-coached but do so with very little prior experience of Gaelic Football.

When the skill is broken down and explained to them, you can instantly recognise the improvements, in the execution but also by the smiles on their faces as they realise mastery of the skills may not be beyond them after all.

In the end I think we had a very worthwhile session. I wonder though how clubs like Barcelona can be helped in the future. The willingness to learn is there in droves but sufficient learning opportunities are not there for them. It seems the lads section has little interest in lending a hand so they plough on buoyed by an understandable enthusiasm for a game they shouldn’t even know exists.

Coaching workshops focusing on different aspects of the game need to be held more often and also I think coaches need to be sent to regional tournaments to watch the games and assess the areas which are in most need of development. The raw materials i.e. enthusiastic players, are there but they need more help.

The European Ladies Football officer, Monica Duran was my host for the weekend and she did well under difficult circumstances! My eating habits for one, make me a troublesome guest! She did masterfully though and even obliged and took me to the one tourist attraction I wanted to see; the Nou Camp.

I hope the girls took something from the weekend but the most important thing for them (and for all of us in fact) is that they religiously practice their skills and proper technique from here on. They play it because they enjoy it but they will enjoy it infinitely more when they see themselves improve.

But There Were Good Days Too

Does that importance of building the community that our friend Mide talks about supersede the importance of winning? Is it the victories that bring about the community in the first place? I wonder would Belgium G.A.A. really have kicked on if it were not for the success of 2008? The last blog is more about frustration and disappointment but there is a bigger picture that needs to be acknowledged and on a whole, the year was an overwhelming success.

From a participation point of view, we got record numbers. We fielded two teams in every tournament and a third team in Belgium and Maastricht. We did so with relative ease. On each occasion we could field two distinct panels and didn't have the issues of tight panels and movements of players up and down that we had in 2009. I reckon we used over seventy players in total and training attendance probably averaged around 18-20. They are numbers most adult sections of a club at home would be delighted with.

The first half of the season saw the A team dominate Benelux with some powerful displays. In the Nations Cup in July, the A and B teams merged together to claim that title at the first attempt. For those who went on to compete in the Shield, it seemed to give them confidence in their abilities. Their performances in Budapest and Maastricht were some of the most gutsy put on by any team in the club in the last few years. Amsterdam denied them in Maastricht and went on to take the title but our lads knocked hard on the door against other club's first teams.

We maintained our unbeaten record in the Parc too. Kilmacud visited for a mini tournament which saw our two Belgium teams getting to the final. The final was played on a roasting day and in competitive and aggressive fashion. Then Heston Gaels came calling in October and were also sent home defeated.

The Intra-Club league was a huge success too, even if it gave Hudson and The Dubs a few sleepless nights. Ringergate was riddled with hypocrisy but we all ended friends. Munster claimed the title with a Romanian in goal and a Kenyan floating around the backs. Those games filled the gaps that the summer schedule left and are certainly something we will consider again next year.

In my opinion training improved as did the general organisation. When I look at the improvement points that the players highlighted at the end of last year, we can say we ticked all their boxes.

In the end, it is winning and competing to win that drive things on, whatever way you dress it up. We often neglect the importance of participation in the GAA though and focus only on the marquee teams in a club. I've seen it in my own club in the past, where unless you make the grade, you are left to feed of scraps on sh1tty winter days when the stars can't be arsed. Down in Maastricht, Eoin highlighted the fact that over 45 guys got the opportunity to play football on the day. The club is a big part of everyone's life here but they are only part of the club because they are given an opportunity to play.

To acknowledge the importance of that does not mean we are accepting defeat to be ok.

Where It All Went Wrong

The writing was on the wall way back at the beginning of September. I could nearly pin-point the night when I first feared for our Championship ambitions. We were doing a kamikaze and the body language suggested lads just didn’t want to know about it.

People have asked me in the last few weeks where I think it all went wrong. They’ve offered their reasons but more often than not they offer the usual ones about hunger but they just get under my skin. Those words are grand to use in a certain context but when you are analysing where it all went wrong, you have to get at something more quantifiable.

I look back to early summer and think of all the lads I’d meet in the gym. Competition for places was extreme and guys were mad to be looking for ways to jump the queue. Others were coming back from injury and working their way back. I’d say the only other fella I’ve met in the gym since September is Collins.

There were 10 training sessions between Budapest and Maastricht. I’m open to correction but I don’t think any ‘A’ player made more than 50% of sessions. That isn’t Championship form. We always had good numbers but that’s more down to the sheer size of the group.

With regard to those two factors, the finger firmly points to the players. Missing training is understandable but with such a convenient and well priced gym membership available, there is no excuse for not making up the work on the side. If you have put in the work, it will always come through in the clutch. You draw on the confidence that the work was done and the fact of the matter is, the group didn’t do the work.

One factor that was out of our control was the player turnaround. Back in Benelux, things were very competitive. You had Hudson, Paul Gavin and The Fridge giving the defence extra steel. There were days when guys were going so well that you couldn’t give lads enough game time. No-one likes sitting on their arse and that translated into serious intensity at training. I didn’t even mention Keary there as he spent most of the time out injured.

When you moved to the midfield and half forward line, you were adding in the likes of Laffan, Byrno and Pearce, three guys who were going well and brought many qualities to the team. Laffan just had a relentless work ethic and an effective, direct style. Pearce, when tuned in is a very effective midfielder who gives a lot going forward. As for Byrno, when he is going well, he is very effective as he plays totally to the plan. I mention these guys but then you had Shane Ryan, Griff, Andrew etc etc hot on everyone’s heals.

Finally, our style of play let us down big-time too. On Saturday, we tried to plough up the middle too often. If you put two lads in the corners of our end line with a piece of string and got them to walk to the middle of the opposition goal, they would create a triangle. Despite every single conditioned game we do at training focusing on bringing width to the game, we insisted on playing narrow, inside this triangle. This inevitably leads us to bring the ball into contact more often and thus turning over possession.

I’ve pinned a lot on the players there. That’s not to say selection wise we got it spot on. The occurrence/handling of the bus incident was a big blow in Munich. I think we made some bad selection mistakes in Budapest. In hindsight, when Alec missed his flight, I should have held Ricky for the A’s instead of allowing him drop down. He proved his worth that day to the B’s and in Maastricht to the A’s. We also got our midfield combination wrong. It broke up the half-back partnership with myself and Collins and that had been one of our most effective combos all year.

Injuries played their role too. My back got worse with every outing since July and Collins learned this week that the knee injury he carried since the summer was a torn cartilage.

In the end though, the fact of the matter is that the margins were close this year. Every game, except the group game in Munich against The Hague, we could have won. We lost no other game by more than two points. The Championship is a step up from Benelux in that every game is in or around the level of the Hague games. Some guys aren’t able to play at that level all day yet. We need to close that gap though and it can be done.

And Then It Was Done

The Belgian army had a shook look to it in the hotel this morning after the year’s final engagement in Maastricht yesterday. The bodies were battered but the banter was flying and that’s the way it should be.

Ultimate success eluded all our men’s teams on the day but there significant results all the same. Not so much in the Championship though as the team came up short again. We’ll explore where it all went wrong (from Benelux champs to Euro also rans) later in the week. Saturday’s day started brightly with a win over Luxembourg. Alec’s early 1-1 set us on our way to a 2-9 to 0-3 victory.

This was quickly followed by the worst half of football of the year which left us trailing 1-5 to 0-1 at the break against the Hague. Fortunately some amount of pride came to the surface in the second half and James O’Gara went from anonymous onlooker to shooting star as he tapped over 5 points. The gap was too great though and we lost 1-8 to 2-6.

We had to beat Paris (who had beaten Hague) in the last group game to qualify. We started in blistering fashion but Paris were quicker to close the gap than they had been on previous occasions. It was a real ding dong battle and tactically they got it right, defending deep and counter attacking with long ball into the full forward line. It finished something like 3-5 to 2-6.

That left us with a 3rd/4th place playoff against Lux which we won 9-7 to 1-2 or something along those lines. It was somewhat frustrating to see us finally bring some width into our game when it mattered least. Big performers on the day were Crusher and Sheanon. Credit to Eoin especially who added a decent amount of assists to his scoring stats.

Fixtures being the way they were, we saw very little of the Shield teams. Johnny P’s troops beat Lyon in their opening game with Hough leading the line in terms of scoring. Next up were Rennes, normally a Championship team and formidable opposition. Coming from 5 points down, again it was the Hough’s goals that were the difference.

The groups being the way they were, only the top team would qualify. This meant the lads had to beat Amsterdam’s first team to make the semi. There were four points in it at the end in favour of the Dutchman. Everyone was extremely disappointed but again perspective is needed. To be competing as a second team is a huge achievement. The disappointment was to be expected because the lads had put in the work and expected to be there or thereabouts. The fact Amsterdam won the Shield confirms they were.

Our C team away debut was far from a case of just making up the numbers. Unfamiliarity would be a huge issue for the team. Conor Aylward agreed to take charge and also took the hit on playing in goal. First up was Liffre, conquerors of the B’s in Munich last year. We owned the ball thanks to the efforts of the likes of Gearoid, Cathal and Pat but lacked the sharpness in front of the posts. 0-4 0-2 was the final score.

Budapest victors, Prague, showed their class in game 2 winning easily. However, with the team becoming more settled, the final group game was won against St. Malo. To put this in perspective, Malo beat out B’s in Munich and also in a playoff on Saturday. In our home tournament in June, I felt afterwards we were wasting our time as the lads were trampled on. However, the team was much stronger on Saturday and we’d expect some of the lads to step up to the A & B teams next year.

No doubt, success is measured in trophies and medals. However, there is some satisfaction to be gained by bringing 45+ lads to Maastricht and giving them the opportunity to play Gaelic Football. Now it’s time for a break though, in 14 hours myself and Colin Byrne will board a plane for New York and start our reflections on a largely successful year after many pizzas and many beers!

School Nearly Out

The mood was good driving out of the BSB last night. We had nearly 30 lads and a good lively hours football. It felt like a weight was lifted off the shoulders too. No more planning sessions, battling traffic, listening to Timmy’s stories of failed conquests on the way training and no more need to rant and rave for a while. You’d be dying for the break but also when you’ve been at it this long you know the novelty will be well worn off within a week or two.

It was a relatively quiet week on the organisation side. I even emailed Colin today to see was there anything going down. He said it was worryingly quiet and it still is at 19h45 the night before our last tournament. We have something like 47 lads travelling tomorrow so it is a huge operation.

Those numbers bring a lot of stress around team selection too. You’d have a lot of new lads and other guys back from injury; judging the talents and fitness of those isn’t easy as there is a big difference between training and games. I’d hope lads realise from some of the selections this year that they are picked objectively and without bias. If the calls are proved wrong than that is just a judgement issue. Credit to the lads this year though, if there was any lingering annoyance, no-one has spat the dummy and everyone has been pulling in the same direction.

The Championship team will be gunning to finish a largely successful year on a high and we’d be lying if we said that dampening The Hague’s celebrations wasn’t motivation. We got some calls wrong down in Budapest so will hope that with a few adjustments we can bridge the narrow gap between ourselves them tomorrow. That’s not to discount the challenge of Lux and Paris. They’ve been ding dong battles all year and will be as close as any game against The Hague.

The spotlight will be on The Shield though. 15 teams are competing in four groups. That means only one team from each group qualify for the semi. The B’s face off against Lyon, Amsterdam and Rennes. Group of death comes to mind but our lads have a more than sturdy look about them so should be full of confidence. If they win it out on Saturday, they take the overall title. That would be our biggest achievement since the club was founded.

For the second time this year we will field a 3rd team. We are doing so with minimal effort, no shaking trees or knocking on doors. It’s not a mickey mouse team either. Martin Crowley, Conor Aylward, Matti Bertrand and John Harkin are the club stalwarts giving the team backbone. The latter three have all played big roles on the B’s and even A’s in the last couple of years but other commitments this year meant we haven’t seen as much of them.

They’ll be joined by new lads like Kitch, Cathal McCabe and proud Munster man John Nganga. Pat Barrett and Mike Lucey bring a lot of football to the show so these lads will be no-one’s whipping boys.

With the girls bringing 30+ players and a host of other supporters joining on the day, we should have well over 80 people down there. Another great day in store but how we will remember the day is by how well we perform on the pitch.

Blog Influences Attitude?

I write many blog entries complaining about various things unaware of whether the intended recipients of the message will ever see it. Occasionally, I’ll write about something and it will appear the message has been taken on board and lads have taken action.

Tonight was one of those nights. After the debacle that was last Thursday, I was delighted to see fellas actually on the field, togged out well before the appointed time, tackling the first two of my irritations. Immediately though, we faced the cone issue but understanding Rome wasn’t built in a day, I took a deep breath and built a bridge.

I reckon we had around 28 out in the BSB tonight and with me sitting out the session things went much more smoothly as I was more concentrated on the job in hand. For all my ranting and raving, there is a great sense of satisfaction that we’ve kept everyone aboard the train for the last ten months. We travel in record numbers to Maastricht on Saturday and go there in fine fettle.

From a Championship point of view, there is no escaping that attendance has not been up to scratch. Everyone from Bob to Crusher, to O’Shea and even through to Collins and Sheanon have missed around half the sessions since Budapest.

However, there was plenty of evidence of the enthusiasm that ran through the group earlier in the year. The likes of O’Shea and Johnny O were very tuned in and vocal tonight. Collins got the finger out once the games started and Timmy is doing everything we hope he will do at the weekend.

One lad we need tuned in on Saturday is Crusher. He’s lost a bit of interest in the last couple of months and maybe his performances dipped. He showed all the signs of his old self down in Buda though and I’d expect him to improve again at the weekend.

The fire has kept burning also because of the carrot that is the Shield. Johnny P’s lads will be in a right dogfight this weekend with 15 teams competing. They’ll do so without their midfield duo of Ross Church who is home for his graduation and Keith Stephens who is home on the campaign trail. We need to nail the panels tomorrow but it’s going to be more troublesome than ever. We’ve been discussing for a week but still can’t get consensus.

One night left now and for all the moaning we’ll all miss the trips out to BSB and will need to find something to fill the void in the winter. One lad who won’t be part of that is Carlo as he heads for a new job in Basle.

I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like Carlo when he arrived. He was clearly from Northern Ireland so the name Carlo was what first raised suspicion. Then I got a friend request from him on facebook and left it sitting there for a couple of weeks as it was from Carlito Brigante or something. I hadn’t a clue who it was until I asked a few of the lads who I saw he had virtually befriended and they confirmed it was Carlo.

I couldn’t figure him out initially. He always wore an Irish rugby jersey to training which was a bad start. He bounced around cracking bad jokes and generally looking dodgy. When you’d speak to him, he’d kind of cock up his chin, say ‘aye’ and giggle before he’d get any words out.

He turned out to be alright though; got on the bandwagon, trained well and didn’t muck about. It’s hard to pick out his Belgium G.A.A. highlight, maybe better to ask the ladies! He did score an excellent point in a tight game against Copenhagan down in Budapest, he was on the bus to Munich and he had a collection of horrendous trench coats (the cream one being the worst). I suppose that’s enough though, he was only here a couple of months.

Anyway, turns out the Parliament was closed today so that’s why they were all on time. Another broken dream.

Heston Gaels Gunned Down

Months ago, Heston Gaels contacted us about playing a challenge in Brussels. Delighted with their initiative, we gratefully accepted their request. The timing was set to be the weekend before the last round in Maastricht. With a trip to London planned the preceding week to play Tir Chonnail Gaels, we couldn’t have planned the run-in to the last round of the Pan-E Championship/Shield better.

London fell through and the fact this weekend was a bank holiday in Belgium nearly put the Heston Gaels fixture in jeopardy. As I was back in Ireland, I’d basically washed my hands of it and left it in Colin’s hands. With fellas dropping in and out, he emailed me during the week questioning the value of bothering to organise such games. Luckily for everyone though, his fuse remains alot longer than mine.

With the panels for next week in the process of being finalised, guys were genuinely playing for their places. In my absences, ‘chief advisors’ Eoin and Collins were to run the rule over lads. Amusingly, the first thing that was said by both of them in the texts I received on Saturday was that the other was brutal. Other comments were a bit away from being aligned too. I was hoping Colin Byrne would share the same opinions as one of them but he had a slightly different take on things too.

The game itself was won by a point (preserving our unbeaten record in P50) and I’ve no doubt served its purpose. Fellas like Keary and Colin needed game time after injury, as did Griff who had just returned. New lads like Paddy also got his first chance to impress.

I don’t think there are too many other clubs in Europe so active in seeking challenge games and maybe they are right. People keep themselves busier at weekends on the continent and the current G.A.A. diet is ample to satisfy their hunger. However, we feel that to compete with other sports, especially FC Irlande, we need to offer a fairly full calendar of fixtures, so we persist.

That basically concludes our main preparations for next Saturday. The panels need to be finalised tomorrow and hopefully the rest of the arrangements will go smoothly in the coming days.