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!