Hurlers Show Improvement

I mentioned last week that we were looking to make progress down in Lux at the weekend and we can be reasonably happy with our first final appearance of the year.

It seems the tiny country of Luxembourg is graced with a plethora on tiny little soccer stadiums, all with immaculate playing surfaces. I thought we had visited them all at this stage but yet another venue was sprung on us last weekend.

Wikipedia gives a capacity of 4,830 for FC Avenir Beggen's little stadium but we were pretty sure that tickets for travelling support would not be a problem.

There was hint of sun, a threat of rain and a noticeable breeze throughout the day - not far from ideal conditions for hurling.

We opened against Holland, determined to banish our habit of bad starts. It was a game in which we competed well but showed our naivety by continuously being sucked in to double teams only for the ball to be popped out to the spare man for a score. We lost 1-10 to 1-04 and were left with a little to think about.

Next up was a combined Paris/Zurich team. One one hand, it’s great to see Paris coming back onto the circuit but the demise of Zurich is a little worrying. In the three tournaments to date, they have only fielded a team at their home one. They've gone from European champions to this in a little less than a year. However, it may not be as bleak as it seems and might just be a case of bad timing with injury/holiday/work commitments.

In any case, we controlled the game from start to finish and left with a comfortable win. We were to play Lux in the final game. This effectively became a semi-final as the winners would go onto face Holland in the final. It never felt like we would lose the game but our tendency of hitting all our goal attempts straight at the keeper was becoming a little irritating. Nevertheless, we did enough to progress to the final.

We werefairly tuned in at this stage and ready for what we expected to be a massive challenge. Holland have barely been tested all year and their panel has gotten stronger with each passing tournament. You always think there is one big performance in you and this would need to be ours.

There was great pace to the opening exchanges as we swapped points right up until half time. Disaster struck when they goaled three minutes before the interval. Hieler must have saved three point blank efforts before the ball eventually fell kindly to one of their attackers for a tap in.

Another goal after half-time opened a gap which we lacked the fire power to close. Mid-way through the second half I retired with a groin injury so was forced to watch Holland final march to claim the 2012 European Championship on my backside. However, I did get to see firsthand the lads continue to display a commendable attitude as they went in search of the impossible.

3-10 to 0-08 probably doesn't reflect our effort but it is probably a fair reflection of the gulf in class between the teams. Sometimes you just have to be content with the fact you have done your best.

The day threw up quite a few positives. Hieler's handling in goal was top notch. Darragh showed that when he has something to focus on that he can be a big addition! Crusher displayed the fruits which one can harvest from a dedicated training regime. I'm not sure why he continues to be overlooked in the player of the tournament stakes.
Ryano, after three years of pestering, finally saw the benefit in popping passes out of traffic and instantly looked a better hurler. Tom's pumped fist after his goal expressed his satisfaction at his progress he’s been making.
The road show stops and finishes in Thurles mid-July.