Some of the distances and journeys we travel for training and tournaments would lead to any sane person questionning our mental well being.
This week has a few stories from clubs around Europe about the challenges they've faced along the way.
It also features a photo of Belgium's lovely ladies and not so handsome lads.
http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/european-gaa-going-the-extra-mile-0011359-1
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Lego Man Walks
I had the habit of writing the odd farewell blog last year but I haven’t been able to keep up with all the departures of late. However, I got a special request from David Collins by mail this week wondering where his was. I have the mail so there’s no denying it. He claims to never read the blog or the joe.ie stuff but has been caught out on occasion referencing it. With material scarce, I’ll give in and give him his moment in the spotlight.
Collins arrived in October 2009 but it wasn’t until June 2010 that he spoke for the first time. That was a day down in Lux when he was injured and was helping out on the line. He did stretch the legs briefly in the semi as he spotted an opportunity to save the day and sprung himself from the bench to get us out of jail. Despite playing no part in the final that day, he decided to give a big speech at the end, listing all the things he ever won and telling us that this topped the lot of them.
Socially, he was a strange creature. It may have had something to do with the way he looked. Biffo, Podge, Justin Bieber, Morgan Parra and the crowd favourite, lego man, are some of the nicknames that spring to mind. The ladies loved him and his charms but they rarely saw the cynical man beneath the facade.
I used to go to the gym regularly with him and spent hours listening to how he didn’t want to up the weights because he was getting too big. He’d be looking into the mirror talking to himself, telling himself he was the best footballer in Europe. Then he’d grab the blow dryer and start singing away. He fitted in well with some of the lads in gym.
He had about ten going away parties before he left; even more than Hudson. The picture above is his last one, which no-one attended. One of the lads found the photo on his camera, clearly taken with the timer function. Unlike Hudson, we are pretty sure he won’t come back though, especially since he gave all his clothes to aforementioned gentleman.
In fairness, getting out of Ireland is good for people as you can express yourself a bit more than you could in say, Clara, where everything you do would be ridiculed. Unless your name is Brian Cowan. Collins studied in Manchester and picked up some naff English style. His favourites were the Paul Galvin skinny jeans tucked into the hobnail boots. Not just the clothes though, he kept a few English lads in his pocket too from his rugger activities.
I could go on, about the two phones, the hippie camper gone wrong and a host of other things but I won’t because if you didn’t know him, you wouldn’t believe me.
Back to the field of play though and credit where credit is due. He played up to Offaly U-21 and won Senior Championships with Clara. All was achieved from the full back line apparently, which is hard to believe because he had no pace and no leap. He did have a brain though, which worked significantly faster off the ball than on it but that bought him enough time.
He had work rate too and led in his quiet way. Guys with that quality and who have played at that level can talk you through a game. I played in or around him enough to appreciate that.
He was one of the lads for sure. We’ve lost some good fellas in the last six months. Ollie, Hudson and Collins would have spent a good chunk of last summer in my gaff watching sport and having BBQ’s. It’s Brussels’ wicked side; fellas come and go. In Collins’ cause, he’ll go to Oz and we all wish him well.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
JOE - Interview with Monica Duran, Barcelona Gaels
Monica plays with Barcelona and also holds the role of Ladies Football Officer on the European County Board.
I met her last year when I was coaching the Ladies 7's teams and she was in charge of the organisation of the team. Later in the year I went down to coach her team and she was very hospitable over the course of the weekend.
Her passion for developing the Ladies game in Europe is impressive and she is doing great work to raise the standards and profile of European Ladies football. She explains a bit more in the interview;
http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/catalan-cailin-spreading-the-love-of-gaa-in-europe-0010947-1
I met her last year when I was coaching the Ladies 7's teams and she was in charge of the organisation of the team. Later in the year I went down to coach her team and she was very hospitable over the course of the weekend.
Her passion for developing the Ladies game in Europe is impressive and she is doing great work to raise the standards and profile of European Ladies football. She explains a bit more in the interview;
http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/catalan-cailin-spreading-the-love-of-gaa-in-europe-0010947-1
Monday, April 11, 2011
Lux Leaves Plenty To Ponder
It’s difficult to know how to feel about the Lux tournament on Saturday. The teams were split which naturally diluted the chances of having one of the teams win it out but it increased the chances of two teams getting to at least the semi. That was the minimum target laid out at the start.
Whether the day was a success or a failure won’t be known for a while and will depend on how honest players are with themselves when they reflect on their own performance. Some people find it difficult to ruthlessly strip down their performances but lads will have to do it if we are to improve. The way things work here makes it difficult for the trainers to be brunt so the players need to do a share of it themselves.
It’s not a case of the day being a disaster though, not at all. It’s just that there were plenty of pointers of where we all need to improve and we need to pick up on them.
I played in goal for the B team, with Johnny as captain and that gave me a front row view of the most positive feature of both teams’ performances. Our defence exceeded expectations and the result was we conceded the fewest goals of any team in the tournament.
The lads worked very well together, closing down the middle and forcing the opposition into long range points. Two goals, one from a penalty was the result. I had two shots to deal with in front of goal and the rest were forced out to narrow angles. It was a prime example of how you can maximise your potential through good communication and awareness of what’s going on around you.
The foundations were set by Kev and Ross. Kev thinks that he gets a disproportionate amount of abuse on the blog and he may be right! 2008 was a great year for him on the pitch so maybe it’s my way of trying to goad similar performances out of him. He dislocated his finger two weeks ago and took a kick to it on Saturday but he stuck at his task, blocking and harrying and limiting his gallops up the pitch. He has started his journey to redemption!
Alongside him was Ross. He played mostly midfield on the B team last year and it was only on Saturday I learned he was actually a back. You could see from his performance as he attacked the ball and distributed sensibly, conceding very few frees in the process.
Shane and Fergal bought into the same philosophy outside them and were helped greatly by the work rate of those further up the field, particularly Mike and Ricky in the early games and Eoin and Conor Mul later in the day.
We qualified for the semi by virtue of our win over Lux B, even though we lost to Den Hague in the other group game. That meant we faced off against Lux A. I’d heard they were training hard and that their panel had improved. It was all true and they had a balance and touch of class that we couldn’t match. I wasn’t surprised when they went on to win it. The game will have more serious consequences for us as Eoin badly dislocated his shoulder late in the game. We wish him a speedy recovery.
The defeat put us into a 3rd/4th playoff against Amsterdam. The attitude of the team in this game was a highlight of the day. Lads were hungry to take every opportunity to impress and that was shown in a great battling performance. Again the defence excelled. Will dug deep into his energy reservoir while Timmy picked up the scoring burden after Eoin’s departure. It was a penalty from him that sealed a 1-5 to 0-3 victory and ensured a positive finish to the day. Not that Tim will remember. He left the field concussed before the end.
There were a couple of more impressive moments to mention. Will made an impressive debut, capping it with a classy goal against Lux B while fellow Canadian Gordon, came off the bench to serve up a tasty point too.
There were three other teams in action on the day. Our men’s A team claimed 5th and will probably feel they should have done better.
Our Ladies came 5th and 1st. The A team were tested to the limit after Ciara and Sinead headed for hospital and Anay left the field with a recurrence of an old knee injury. They pulled it out of the bag though to give their new manager Aonghus O’Muir.. his first tournament win.
We have five weeks to our next football tournament and the whispers suggest we now move to phase two of the season which may well be a little more painful than the first.
Whether the day was a success or a failure won’t be known for a while and will depend on how honest players are with themselves when they reflect on their own performance. Some people find it difficult to ruthlessly strip down their performances but lads will have to do it if we are to improve. The way things work here makes it difficult for the trainers to be brunt so the players need to do a share of it themselves.
It’s not a case of the day being a disaster though, not at all. It’s just that there were plenty of pointers of where we all need to improve and we need to pick up on them.
I played in goal for the B team, with Johnny as captain and that gave me a front row view of the most positive feature of both teams’ performances. Our defence exceeded expectations and the result was we conceded the fewest goals of any team in the tournament.
The lads worked very well together, closing down the middle and forcing the opposition into long range points. Two goals, one from a penalty was the result. I had two shots to deal with in front of goal and the rest were forced out to narrow angles. It was a prime example of how you can maximise your potential through good communication and awareness of what’s going on around you.
The foundations were set by Kev and Ross. Kev thinks that he gets a disproportionate amount of abuse on the blog and he may be right! 2008 was a great year for him on the pitch so maybe it’s my way of trying to goad similar performances out of him. He dislocated his finger two weeks ago and took a kick to it on Saturday but he stuck at his task, blocking and harrying and limiting his gallops up the pitch. He has started his journey to redemption!
Alongside him was Ross. He played mostly midfield on the B team last year and it was only on Saturday I learned he was actually a back. You could see from his performance as he attacked the ball and distributed sensibly, conceding very few frees in the process.
Shane and Fergal bought into the same philosophy outside them and were helped greatly by the work rate of those further up the field, particularly Mike and Ricky in the early games and Eoin and Conor Mul later in the day.
We qualified for the semi by virtue of our win over Lux B, even though we lost to Den Hague in the other group game. That meant we faced off against Lux A. I’d heard they were training hard and that their panel had improved. It was all true and they had a balance and touch of class that we couldn’t match. I wasn’t surprised when they went on to win it. The game will have more serious consequences for us as Eoin badly dislocated his shoulder late in the game. We wish him a speedy recovery.
The defeat put us into a 3rd/4th playoff against Amsterdam. The attitude of the team in this game was a highlight of the day. Lads were hungry to take every opportunity to impress and that was shown in a great battling performance. Again the defence excelled. Will dug deep into his energy reservoir while Timmy picked up the scoring burden after Eoin’s departure. It was a penalty from him that sealed a 1-5 to 0-3 victory and ensured a positive finish to the day. Not that Tim will remember. He left the field concussed before the end.
There were a couple of more impressive moments to mention. Will made an impressive debut, capping it with a classy goal against Lux B while fellow Canadian Gordon, came off the bench to serve up a tasty point too.
There were three other teams in action on the day. Our men’s A team claimed 5th and will probably feel they should have done better.
Our Ladies came 5th and 1st. The A team were tested to the limit after Ciara and Sinead headed for hospital and Anay left the field with a recurrence of an old knee injury. They pulled it out of the bag though to give their new manager Aonghus O’Muir.. his first tournament win.
We have five weeks to our next football tournament and the whispers suggest we now move to phase two of the season which may well be a little more painful than the first.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Every Single Ball
With our first big day out in Lux tomorrow, I've spent a share of my week thinking about football. Three things in particular came to mind.
The first relates to the nature of what we do. Playing hurling and football has to be more than a recreational hobby. Aside from the time, money and energy we invest, the goal of the whole thing is to play to the best of your ability (ideally a little beyond) and enjoy it. You would hope that maximising your ability will bring you to victory and we all enjoy winning. So they go hand in hand; win and you will enjoy yourself. It also works the other way around, if you are enjoying yourself you are likely to be playing well and giving yourself the best chance to succeed. They are intertwined.
However, you should remember that to achieve the above you must have the right mindset, which is a competitive one. It's never a jolly or a road trip that you try to knock a bit of craic out of. That would make it recreational sport. This is different so the competitor in fellas must burst out of them on Saturday and every other day that they go out to compete.
The second thing I have been thinking about takes me back to last year. We went about our business with the mantra 'no excuses'. We had found comfort in them in 2009 but needed to kill that mentality. I think it worked with a lot of guys as it changed their mindset. Excuses can make you feel better and hide the real reasons for your shortcomings. Of course you should understand why things go wrong but you should focus on how to solve the issues rather than seek protection from excuses.
This will be especially prevalent tomorrow. If things start to turn against us, people can easily comfort themselves in the fact that we have split the panels. This would be a total cop out though. One of the points of splitting the panels, I'm guessing, is to see who would stand up and lead. I was critical mostly of myself towards the end of last year for not contributing enough in the Pan-E phase of the season. Of course, when I wrote the entry about it, I wanted it to register with guys that they should be deeply analysing their contributions and be totally honest with themselves.
The first two things I mentioned so far (being competitive and a no excuses mindset) are all well and good but how can you take something tangible from them? They are a bit vague. So then my thoughts turned to how to relate that to the game situations. 'Every single ball'. That is how and that will be my mantra for the year.
‘Every single ball’ means that every ball/possession counts, in every minute of the game and of the day. That gives you a clear focus. There are no times to rest. Work, work, work and a little more work. Chase and harry without the ball and make sure you are always creating options when you have the ball. When in possession make sure you decision making is on the money. It's a simple idea but its a mindset that you have to buy into.
How you contest each ball is how people will judge you but more importantly how you should judge yourself.
The first relates to the nature of what we do. Playing hurling and football has to be more than a recreational hobby. Aside from the time, money and energy we invest, the goal of the whole thing is to play to the best of your ability (ideally a little beyond) and enjoy it. You would hope that maximising your ability will bring you to victory and we all enjoy winning. So they go hand in hand; win and you will enjoy yourself. It also works the other way around, if you are enjoying yourself you are likely to be playing well and giving yourself the best chance to succeed. They are intertwined.
However, you should remember that to achieve the above you must have the right mindset, which is a competitive one. It's never a jolly or a road trip that you try to knock a bit of craic out of. That would make it recreational sport. This is different so the competitor in fellas must burst out of them on Saturday and every other day that they go out to compete.
The second thing I have been thinking about takes me back to last year. We went about our business with the mantra 'no excuses'. We had found comfort in them in 2009 but needed to kill that mentality. I think it worked with a lot of guys as it changed their mindset. Excuses can make you feel better and hide the real reasons for your shortcomings. Of course you should understand why things go wrong but you should focus on how to solve the issues rather than seek protection from excuses.
This will be especially prevalent tomorrow. If things start to turn against us, people can easily comfort themselves in the fact that we have split the panels. This would be a total cop out though. One of the points of splitting the panels, I'm guessing, is to see who would stand up and lead. I was critical mostly of myself towards the end of last year for not contributing enough in the Pan-E phase of the season. Of course, when I wrote the entry about it, I wanted it to register with guys that they should be deeply analysing their contributions and be totally honest with themselves.
The first two things I mentioned so far (being competitive and a no excuses mindset) are all well and good but how can you take something tangible from them? They are a bit vague. So then my thoughts turned to how to relate that to the game situations. 'Every single ball'. That is how and that will be my mantra for the year.
‘Every single ball’ means that every ball/possession counts, in every minute of the game and of the day. That gives you a clear focus. There are no times to rest. Work, work, work and a little more work. Chase and harry without the ball and make sure you are always creating options when you have the ball. When in possession make sure you decision making is on the money. It's a simple idea but its a mindset that you have to buy into.
How you contest each ball is how people will judge you but more importantly how you should judge yourself.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
JOE - Kelly getting stuck into European GAA
This weeks JOE feature is an interview with Sean Kelly. He shares his observations on the Euro GAA scene and highlights the need to get Gaelic Games recognised as an international sporting body.
The more he can get this message out there, the more chance those at home will prick their ears and do something about it. So get forwarding, posting or whatever.
Thanks to Kevin Keary for arranging the time for the interview. It can be found via the following link (may not work by clicking on it so copy and past into the address bar).
http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/kelly-getting-stuck-into-european-gaa-0010925-1
The more he can get this message out there, the more chance those at home will prick their ears and do something about it. So get forwarding, posting or whatever.
Thanks to Kevin Keary for arranging the time for the interview. It can be found via the following link (may not work by clicking on it so copy and past into the address bar).
http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/kelly-getting-stuck-into-european-gaa-0010925-1
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Luxembourg. Round 1.
Five days to Round 1 of the 2011 Benelux Championship. After nearly two months of training, it's finally time to let loose in Luxembourg.
We have fond memories from last year when the A team became the first team to wrestle the tournament trophy from the home team's grip in over ten years. The final performance against Den Haag was one of our most complete to date. It was also the day when the B team came to life, claiming an incredible third place finish.
We head into the first tournament of the year with a host of the usual unknowns. Players have left, like Big Jim, Collins, Enda (retired) and one or two more. James O'Dowd, Michael Hough, Paul Gavin, Shane Griff, Alan Rowan remain unavailable in the early part of the season due to soccer and other commitments. There are new faces too and Saturday will be the first opportunity to show their worth.
Even with all these absences mentioned, we are averaging around 25 at training each night. Eoin & Conan have decided to split the panel evenly this weekend. It's something Eoin pushed me to do a few times last year but I mostly relented. On one occasion, against Kilmacud Crokes, we did do it and the results were good as both teams eliminated our guests and contested the mini-tournament final. Looking at the panel for the weekend, we have a lot of guys at the same level and maybe it isn't as black and white as in the past in terms of selection.
Saturday will challenge everybody to step up and take the lead. If it works, we will come away comfortable in the knowledge that the panel is strong. If the teams perform poorly then it’s a case of nothing lost nothing gained. The ultimate prize will be contested in the autumn. However, I'd expect both teams to be competitive and the target should be to get both to the semi's and one to the final.
I'm down to play in goal at the weekend as the recovery plan isn't quite on track. I've trained once a week for the last few weeks and have done more and more with each passing week. The reaction after training hasn't been good though so I will bide my time a bit longer. It's tough. As you build back up into it, you want to push yourself more and more and there is nothing like the action out the field when you are pitted directly against an opponent.
Anyway, minds now turn to Saturday. We get so few outings that you tend to spend more time thinking about them in the build-up. You'd be running through all the scenarios and conditions; big, small, fast or slow opponent. Greasy or dry ball. Rain or sun. High ball or low ball. How you will deal with a multitude of situations you will face over the day.
Bring it on.
We have fond memories from last year when the A team became the first team to wrestle the tournament trophy from the home team's grip in over ten years. The final performance against Den Haag was one of our most complete to date. It was also the day when the B team came to life, claiming an incredible third place finish.
We head into the first tournament of the year with a host of the usual unknowns. Players have left, like Big Jim, Collins, Enda (retired) and one or two more. James O'Dowd, Michael Hough, Paul Gavin, Shane Griff, Alan Rowan remain unavailable in the early part of the season due to soccer and other commitments. There are new faces too and Saturday will be the first opportunity to show their worth.
Even with all these absences mentioned, we are averaging around 25 at training each night. Eoin & Conan have decided to split the panel evenly this weekend. It's something Eoin pushed me to do a few times last year but I mostly relented. On one occasion, against Kilmacud Crokes, we did do it and the results were good as both teams eliminated our guests and contested the mini-tournament final. Looking at the panel for the weekend, we have a lot of guys at the same level and maybe it isn't as black and white as in the past in terms of selection.
Saturday will challenge everybody to step up and take the lead. If it works, we will come away comfortable in the knowledge that the panel is strong. If the teams perform poorly then it’s a case of nothing lost nothing gained. The ultimate prize will be contested in the autumn. However, I'd expect both teams to be competitive and the target should be to get both to the semi's and one to the final.
I'm down to play in goal at the weekend as the recovery plan isn't quite on track. I've trained once a week for the last few weeks and have done more and more with each passing week. The reaction after training hasn't been good though so I will bide my time a bit longer. It's tough. As you build back up into it, you want to push yourself more and more and there is nothing like the action out the field when you are pitted directly against an opponent.
Anyway, minds now turn to Saturday. We get so few outings that you tend to spend more time thinking about them in the build-up. You'd be running through all the scenarios and conditions; big, small, fast or slow opponent. Greasy or dry ball. Rain or sun. High ball or low ball. How you will deal with a multitude of situations you will face over the day.
Bring it on.
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