‘Put that in your blog!’

Three years writing the blog and I was wondering how long it would be until someone used it to take a swipe at me. It was right out of the Jason McAteer repertoire of gags. I’m not sure why you would even acknowledge to a player that you know about his blog or anything else in a heated exchange. I’ll take it as a compliment. ‘Keep it lit’ they said, you can be sure Saturday’s exchanges with Lux will keep the fire burning in our club. More of that later...

We arrived in Guernsey on Friday evening and were greeted by members of the club who drove us to our hotel. Can’t fault that kind of welcome. Giller rocked up later with the local paper which had an interview with the club’s Chairman, John Payne. He was bullish about their prospects, saying they had assembled their strongest team to date.

Our opening fixture was against Lux. We happened to be on the same flight as them and it was clear they were very focussed, not engaging in any chit chat. They had a more physical approach in Leuven the last day and they weren’t shy on Saturday either. We got the tough start expected.

I have to put my hand up for making a balls of it. I changed the tactics and we were all over the place as a result. Lux upped the ante and we got frustrated with some persisting fouling. The advantage rule is always contentious, more so when you don’t avail of the advantage itself! We tried to adjust things at half-time but we’d totally lost our rhythm and we didn’t deserve any more than the three point defeat. It was a big lesson.

We needed to get back on track urgently and Jersey provided the next opposition. It was a dour and tight encounter, lit up in the first half by a great team goal. I received the ball in defence and played a one two with Liam Walsh before releasing Timmy. He carried as Giller made up the hard yards, arriving in time to fist Timmy’s square pass to the net. Jersey struck back and goaled after a couple of ricochets around our square. In was level until the last play of the game which would find its way to Timmy. He landed a monster winner to put us back on track.

Next up was The Hague. We had our stride back but a couple of early frees from them slowed our progress. The game revealed a serious issue in Saturday’s panel; we hadn’t one recognised forward in the travelling party. None of the lads would have been forwards when they played at home and we lacked the necessary cutting to claw back The Hague’s three point half time lead. Timmy did flash a shot across the goal in the second half and if that had rippled the net we may have muscled our way back in. As it happened, we went down by five points.

Our last game was against Guernsey and we made a couple of switches to freshen things up. Starting well and playing with a very strong wind, they took the lead and were then awarded a penalty. Up came their keeper and as I was in goal I thought it would be helpful to ask him what he was going to do with it. He told me but I was still a few inches away as it whizzed past.

We’d goal soon after through Ryano (i think!) so trailed by only a point at the break. We threw caution to the strong wind that was now at our backs and went for bust. There was a melee around the goalmouth and we were awarded a penalty. I was on duty for the day so up I went.

After initiating the banter with their keeper before his penalty, he now wanted to know where I’d put it. I didn’t respond initially but then he goaded me! I told him left, he asked which left, I clarified and then stepped back. The goals on the second pitch were particularly narrow, something between an U-12 goal and full sized one so it required more power then I’d normally like to use. He was close but not close enough.

As the clock ticked down, we trailed by two and we were awarded another penalty. Up I went again to try and win it with one of the last kicks. There was no banter on this occasion. I went left and high again but the keeper somehow reached it. We’d get one back with the next play but not enough to win it.

Guernsey were through to the final and on the other pitch, The Hague had launched a second half comeback to pip Lux to the final by a point.

Our day would finish with a 3rd/4th place playoff against Lux. Often these games can be a bit of a washout but we had plenty of motivation. We didn’t match them physically in the first game. Crusher had sustained a nasty shoulder injury in a challenge, Timmy received a late blow that caught him in the mid-section and some of the rest of us felt the brunt of some mistimed tackles. We knew we needed to step up.

The icing on the pre-match speech was a comment made as we had lined up a free in the first game. A Lux player roared, ‘We don’t want to lose to a shit team’. I don’t understand such comments. It makes virtually no difference to your own team’s performance but when the opposition hear it, they will bank that for years and the very mention of the incident will fire us up from now on.

We were going to give as good as we got which made for a tetchy encounter. It was fairly contained until half-time but then one of their players head-butted Griff as we walked off at the interval. That led to what you might call a ‘coming together’ of both teams and a frank exchange of views which took some time to sort out. Plenty of blogging advice was offered!

It turns out they were incensed by an incident which preceded half-time where Griff had put a shoulder into one of their lads. It occurred as Lux were about to take a free from the wrong spot and Griff pointed that out to their player. No need to repeat the response from the player but he probably misjudged that Griff would face down the threat so quickly.

As the half-time chit chat was broken up by the ref, one of them reminded me that this was Championship. So it is and you should be able to take it if you give it. They continued to give as Crusher was pinned down by his man off the ball but we kept our cool.

The half-time score of 0-0 to 0-1 in our favour gave a good indication of the type of game it was. It remained tight through the second half, despite one of their subs coming on and telling Ross he would kick six points off him. They would score one and Paddy would slot two frees over to give us a 0-5 to 0-1 victory. I was fairly wound up before and during the game. I hadn’t felt like that in a while but when I have that feeling my game lifts a level or two.

Lux had performed well during the day so it was good to reverse the earlier result. It’s brought a new edge to our rivalry with them and you need that. Nothing boiled over but it brought an intensity to proceedings and we always play our best football in those conditions. Hands were shaken at the final whistle but it was clear minds have already turned to our next encounter.

Reflecting on the overall day, we can’t feel too badly about the performance. We had 14 players travelling. Only 4 of those lads made the Championship panel last year. All the rest, except Liam Kelly, were here last year and playing Shield. Liam arrived a month ago and was a sub on the Shield team the last day. It’s a big step-up to make en masse but no-one was found wanting.

To battle to third in such a tough competition and be competitive was satisfying in that context. However, as I said to the lads after, we can’t always be content by finishing 3rd. We understand where we are on the learning curve but we can’t forget that the goal is to continue to improve and contest finals, sooner rather than later.

In fairness, everyone played to their max but three stood out. At the back, Crusher was immense. He could barely move his shoulder Sunday morning but got up and down the pitch all day, topping it all with a left footed goal.

Griff, playing his first Championship round, put in a massive performance. He’s the type of guy we need; big, strong and ferociously committed on the pitch. I’ve been reluctantly on his case at training to sharpen up his ball skills and tackling. I say reluctantly because he always looks back at you as if he will kill you.

The third player I’d pick out is Timmy. He missed six weeks training from mid-July to the end of August. When he returned, I was on his back more than most because I knew he was going to be a key man and we needed him flying fit. He barely missed training since and has worked his balls off. He was magnificent on Saturday, showing bravely time and time again for ball whilst leading the attack.

So now we all turn towards Limerick. Guernsey beat The Hague by a point in the final and as far as I know it means we still have a mathematical chance of winning the Championship. Considering the competitive nature of this year’s competition, anything is possible. We go back to work Tuesday.