Keeping It Lit

Madrid Motoring Well

2012-01-24T14:55:00.002+01:00

I've tried my hardest to down all G.A.A. tools for the month of January; blog, organisation, chat and anything related. I just can't do it but by my standards, I've done pretty well. We resume training on January 30th. In preparation for that there is quite a lot of planning required, more of which will follow later in the week.

My biggest mission for the month was a trip to Madrid last weekend. The task was to run a practical course for adults who are training the kids down there. To get the most value for the trip, we also planned Ladies and Men's sessions. This was to be an introduction that we would follow up with a full blown Foundation Course later in the year in Spain.

Most of the participants were from the Madrid Harps club but they were joined by two former/current members who now reside near to Bilbao. Four more came up from Valencia. In all, we had around twenty people (you can see a selection in the photo above). It was interesting to see the number of Spanish people who know little of the game but have been drawn to it through their kids. A big challenge for them is to keep the kids interested and get them games. There are tentative plans in places to use one of their tournaments to bring the kids of Madrid and Valencia together for an exhibition game. Another thing is exposure to the game on television. They say it is very difficult to find somewhere that shows the games in Madrid which makes it harder to sell it to the kids.
Saturday's session focused on two concepts; IDEA and STEP. IDEA stands for Introduce, Demonstrate, Execute, Attend and is a process which a coach can follow when breaking down and teaching the skills. Using skills such as the punt kick and hand pass, we followed this process and then looked at ways to integrate them into progressively more challenging drills. A highlight of the skill work was Rodrigo (third from right, back row) from the Valencia club. The man was like a blocking down machine. I've never see anything like it.

The next focus was the STEP approach. It's something you can use when looking at designing game based drills. It looks at four elements; Situation, Task, Equipment and Players. By tweaking these elements in a game based drill you can achieve different things i..e if you have a 5v5 game and then adjust the # of players to say, 5v3, you will have a very different drill.

We followed this by bringing it all together into a seventy minute training session.

It was a different experience for me because normally I'd be used to training teams rather than coaches. There was more two way communication on Saturday and it was very good. One of the big things I learned at the Tutor course was how much we can learn off of each other. Everyone who attended on Saturday thought like a coach and the comments and interactions were very good.

Once we finished up, we headed back into town to the men's training. Currently, they have no coach so I took the session to allow all their players focus on training. With no fixed abode on a Saturday afternoon, the lads climb a fence to train on a University rugby pitch. As we arrived on Saturday, they were being kicked off. After a quick discussion, training was relocated to a bit of land at the end of the grounds which you could only describe as 'wasteland'. No-one seemed bothered. It's the type of thing that would lead to incessant b1tching and moaning at home but in Europe you don't carry such airs and graces.

The sun began to set as we finished the session shortly before six. There were around 18 lads in all and the team looks in good health. I learned that one of the biggest problems in Spain is getting teams to travel outside their home tournament. Wages are low and distances far so rounding up the troops is a challenge.

That evening I joined a few of the club members for dinner in the city centre. I'd be a massive fan of the Spanish vibe but I'll never get how they can eat so late in the evening. It must have been approaching 23h by the time we got stuck in. Something that is very different about Madrid v's our club here in Belgium, is the number of locals who form its backbone. Javi is the Chairman, or President as they say in Spain. Itizar is the Secretary and it seems there is a healthy mix of Irish and Spanish throughout the club. This was reflected by the attendees on Saturday evening.

A good example of the local connection is Nuria and her husband Jesus (pronounced Hey Zues for those of you with similar Spanish skills to me). Nuria is a teacher who has spent many summers in Dingle where she honed her English and football skills. She learned the football bit well but was unfortunate to pick up a Kerry accent when she switches to English. Jesus also plays and parades around training in a Kerry jersey and plays the game in such a way that you wouldn't think he was from anywhere else. They are also looking after the future of the club, with the next generation to arrive in a few months.

All in all, I think the trip was a success and we will look to build on it in the coming months with a follow-up Foundation Course.

Ugandan Shilling Lures Cotter

2012-01-13T20:48:00.000+01:00

The door stopped revolving a while ago. Now it seems it is just one way traffic, the wrong way. Darragh Cotter becomes the latest departee when he starts his trek to Uganda on Saturday morning. His leaving is sudden in the sense that he only heard about his new job last Saturday, accepted Sunday and leaves tomorrow.

Last night he had exceptionally well attended going away drinks in The Hairy. Some crowd for a Thursday night. It is an especially big loss as he lays claim to two invaluable characteristics; he's from Cork and he is a dual player - although some may merge those into one, since it seems to be almost given that one comes with the other. Darragh being Darragh, he didn't go quietly. Instead he was the first Belgium G.A.A. man to deliver a 'speech' upon his departure. Embarrassing.

The timing is particularly bad because it is January and lads feel the blow from departures all the more. Just back after Christmas, morale can be low and to lose another buddy worsens the whole situation. Shane was on to me the other night clearly disappointing by the whole thing. He got little sympathy from me though. I used get down about it but you become very cold about comings and goings when you've been here as long as I am and seen so many departures. Its Brussels life, you just plough on.

Back to Darragh though. It wasn't all hunky dory (http://s2.jrnl.ie/media/2011/09/hunky-dorys-390x285.jpg) during his second tenure in Brussels. The man was the ultimate 'drill wrecker'. At the beginning of the year, I watched with great amusement as Eoin became more and more frustrated. They nearly came to blows one night when Darragh repeatedly hopped the ball in a drill when he wasn't supposed to!!

Then Eoin left and he became more a problem for me! My lack of patience isn't much of a secret at this stage and his airy fairyness nearly drove me around the bend. I can't put my finger on why he couldn't just do sh1t properly! The man was one of the most committed lads to training but he was like that child in school who didn't have any badness in him but just couldn't stop flipping talking! It was especially prevalent in group drills but not so much in one on ones. I got caught in a tackle box with him one day and can speak first hand at what a nightmare that could be.

Warm-ups were the other thing. He was brutal at them, always lagging behind, doing something slightly different to everyone else. I'd want to kill him when I'd see him fluffing around. As a countermeasure I thought we could get him to take some warm-ups from now on. He took one towards the end of last year before an in-house game. It went like clockwork which nearly made me more frustrated!

In a perverse way, when someone leaves it delivers a very positive message to the rest. Like those that went before, Darragh was slightly emotional about leaving and the club was one of the central players fuelling that. His few words last night confirmed that.

His Uganda gig is eight months. That brings him up to the start of our Championship. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a Belgian jersey later in 2012.

Vanilla Version 1.0

2011-12-21T08:07:00.000+01:00

On the Sunday morning after the last football tournament of the season, someone approached Johnny Phelan and told him he'd hate to play for our team. Johnny questioned why he would say that and the reply related to our defensive style of play. Similar comments were relayed at the Guernsey tournament from opposing players.

I take no offence from the comments as I experienced first hand what it is like to play against us when we played some in-house games in the run up to Limerick. It was horrible. The work rate of the lads made it very difficult to find space in the attacking half of the pitch and indeed, it makes for a very dull and frustrating game if you are in opposition.

I would disagree with the suggestion that we are just a defensive team though. We were very focused on attacking in the same numbers with which we defended. I think good evidence in this regard was that we used five backs in Limerick; myself, Crusher, Ross, Keary and Diarmuid Lynch. Crusher was the only one not to score but he was the one who probably attacked the most. Whilst not registering on the score sheet that day, he was much more prominent on it in Guernsey.

Our plan was always to attack en masse but where we fell short was getting the required number of shots off. Bar maybe one occasion in the Pan-Euro series, we had the chances to win every game we played. Each time we created clear cut goal chances. You'll never convert 100% of those chances though so you need to create enough of them to make sure the percentages fall in your favour. We didn’t unfortunately.

There were fellas kicking great points in training games in the lead up to Limerick but we didn't bring that confidence to the tournament. Myself and Conan could be partly to blame for that. We gave most players a fairly specific brief but didn't emphasise the shooting aspect enough. Our focus needs to shift in that direction next year.

IT companies often have what they call a 'vanilla' package of their software products. This is basically an offering of the product in its most basic and bland format - no frills attached. Our style was like that this year but next year we will certainly invest in some new features. We focused on getting a strong work ethic in the team and setting solid foundations in defence. We touched upon attacking play but took the view that we needed to nail the work rate and defensive aspects first. I'd have no regrets about this approach. We learned a lot between mid-August and the end of October but to think we could have done more would be naive.

The reason I bring this subject up a month and a half after the season finished is because I head into the Christmas break confident that our work has had a lasting effect. In our recent in-house games, where all instructions etc were relaxed (!) as possible, lads fell straight back into the groove. Games were competitive despite being 7 a side. The work rate was good and we encouraged lads to shoot more. The result was not always so fantastic on the scoreboard but we will put that down to pressure rather than wayward shooting!!

Last Thursday's game was our final one before we restart training on the last day of January. To a certain extent I always felt this year was more about next year as we were rebuilding after the summer.

For now though, the focus is on Christmas. I head home via Amsterdam tonight and will stay until the 27th. I’ll then head for New York to bring in the New Year with Bolster before returning to Brussels on January 3. Not a blog entry or a spare thought for G.A.A. between now and then!

Merry Christmas!!

Drinking in the G.A.A.

2011-12-14T13:39:00.001+01:00

With Fianna Fail and the Catholic church in a heap, the G.A.A. has stood tall as the last of those famous three main pillars of Irish society. It is an onerous status to behold and one in which they are merely cast into the firing line rather than being showered with praise.

A simple example is the noise made about Guinness' sponsorship of the All-Ireland Hurling Championship. Never once have I heard anyone complain about Heineken's relationship with the European Rugby Cup and Champions League or formerly Magners' liaison with the Anglo-Celt (?) league. Even in other countries, you have Carling sponsoring the Premiership and the League cup in English soccer and for a period both Celtic and Rangers. The pillar that is the G.A.A. continues to stand so people will continue to try and knock it. It's a sad part of our psyche.

With that said, we cannot deny the sometimes suspect relationship between our players and alcohol. A study last year indicated that G.A.A. players drink more than their non-playing peers. Over half of those surveyed, binge drink regularly (more than six standard drinks). On the flipside, only 8% of players surveyed were smokers which was well below the average in the peer group. Smoking tends to be more frowned upon by players. I think it’s because the most noticeable effect of drinking i.e. the hangover, wears off with a good night sleep. On the other hand, the smoker will experience more consistent after effects such as coughing, shortness of breath etc when training.

G.A.A. is very competitive at every level in Ireland and players’ preparation seems to be greater and greater every year. When I go home now I notice the size of fellas and it's clear a lot more lads are in the gym then when I was last playing regularly at home. Some lads will go off drink for months during the Championship.

I know the situation well myself. I’ve always been a fairly conservative drinker during the season but then when we'd be done and dusted in November, I'd fully enjoy the month or two off season, countering the effects of drinking by playing hockey. We used to have a drink ban two days prior to matches and by and large I respected it but the rest of the week was my own. In accordance with the definition of binge drinking, I certainly fitted the bill. It was a case of all or nothing and pretty much still is but on a less frequent basis.

The extreme nature of a G.A.A. players drinking i.e. either 'on it' or 'off it' has led to some extreme proposals over the years. The one that stands out most for me is a proposal (which I think was discussed at Congress) to drill a hole in the bottom of all G.A.A. cups so as to get rid of the direct association between winning and drinking. Basically it was removing the possibility to 'fill the cup' and pass it around a pub, often into the hands of underage drinkers I guess.

The G.A.A.'s latest initiative is 'Off the booze, on the ball' and it is being rolled out by the G.A.A.'s drink awareness unit ASAP (Alcohol & Substance Abuse Prevention). The idea is to challenge players to have a 'dry' January and in doing so try and raise money for your club i.e. thirty players give up drink for the month and raise €100 each (€3000 collectively).

This initiative will generate publicity about the issue which is probably the main aim of it. However, what do you think will happen on February 1st? I'm pretty sure it will by a fairly impressive exhibition of binge drinking by G.A.A. players all over the country.

On the Monday prior to the Limerick tournament this year, Olof organised a party for Halloween. What I wanted to do was send a volley load of abuse in his direction about doing such a thing so close to the last tournament of the year. I have become better at not trying to entirely impose my ways on players so I resisted. It was a long weekend here and we had had a good in-house game on the Saturday.

To ask lads to not go out is particularly difficult in Brussels as the social dynamic is a bit different. A lot of fellas live on their own or with people they aren't particularly friendly with. Their families are not here. To get some social interaction they need to go out. Because of the way we are built, to go out and not drink, rightly or wrongly, will actually only create tension in someone which is not the way you want them feeling in the build up to a tournament, I know it myself because I struggle on such weekends if I don't have a plan or something to work on.

The Belgians have a very different attitude to drink. It would not be uncommon to see someone having a small beer at 10 or 11 in the morning. They'd drink it like we would drink coffee. At lunchtime, people will often have wine or beer and some workplaces even stock it in the canteen. You'd regularly see tradesmen with a can during a break. It's even common to see a policeman in uniform and in a bar drinking beer. However, it is very rare you will see anyone drunk on the street at night, even in the small hours.

Occasionally our lads may have a beer at 10 or 11 in the morning but not in the Belgian way! It will either be to finish off a session from the night before and kick start a session that day!

I'm not sure is it worth your while setting strict guidance about drinking. You set yourself up for having to make difficult decisions should someone ignore it. I think you can only drill home the importance of preparing yourself properly and ensuring that when the ball is thrown in, your body is in as good a condition as you can get it to.

Outside The Zone

2011-12-12T20:59:00.001+01:00

Looking a bit special during one of the exercises

Bring an assortment of random G.A.A. people into a room together and you can be sure it won’t be all handshakes and smiles initially. There’s a fair share of ‘scoping’ going on. Fellas looking you up and down trying to figure you out; age, build, gear. They all give clues. Maybe you will have come across one of the participants at some other event and you’ll warm to them slightly more easily but not the others!

There were over twenty of us on the recent Tutor training course run by the Leinster Council and held in Maynooth College. The initial meet and greet pretty much went to form.

The tutor trainers are good at what they do and within the hour the atmosphere had relaxed. This was aided by suitable energizers and ice breakers to break down any barriers. One in particular sticks out. We were all given a typical greeting from a country and had to quickly go around the room greeting everyone using it. There was a lad called Christy from Wicklow on the course. He’s bald, well built, basically not someone you’d mess with. He came up to me and eyeballed me and started moving his head back and forth towards me. Eventually I said ‘what?’. He replied, ‘eskimo’! His greeting was to rub noses.

I was there thanks to the European County Board who organised for four people from Europe (Tangi from Brest, Anna Marie from Rennes and Olivier from Liffre) to join the course and supported financially to make it feasible.

The aim of the course is to develop tutors, who will then go and deliver Foundation and Level 1 courses to coaches. The main skills which are developed on the course are presentation, listening, questioning and feedback. This ties in with learning the syllabus by making everyone do five presentations over the four weekends based on the course’s content.

The first night was intimidating enough to be honest. Coming from Europe you always feel you have to prove yourself a little more. You are away from mainstream G.A.A. and in many people’s minds, there is only mainstream G.A.A.

In the group was a mix of current and former inter-county players as well as lads working as Games Development Administrators for the G.A.A. Naturally you wouldn’t feel so comfortable sitting amongst such experience. However, it quickly became evident that everyone in the group had insecurities. In one of the first exercises, we had to list a few things which we were apprehensive about. Presentations, knowledge, ability to coach coaches were all listed as things which worried fellas. Once those were put out there, everyone felt more at ease.

Over the four weeks there must have been ten different tutors brought in to deliver different modules. The variety of styles was excellent and kept things constantly fresh.

We had five presentations as I mentioned. Mine were; Experience as a coach, Teaching the punt kick, The OTu Coaching Model, Effective use of playing facts in the half-time team talk and finally, tactical prowess (decision making). The punt kick and tactical prowess were practicals.
Through practice and feedback, we were all very comfortable delivering presentations by the end of the course. What I liked about the assignments was the individuality you were encouraged to bring to them. There are existing presentations to deliver on the courses but as long as you meet the desired outcomes, you were given a free reign to make your own. The fact you could test things out in a controlled environment really encouraged you to experiment.

I’d be at my most relaxed in a pair of runners and tracksuit so boarding the Brussels-Dublin flight for these weekends in such attire was a pleasure. Spending a weekend in them and amongst other coaches was like a dream come through. We learned as much off each other as we learned off the tutors and there was near non-stop discussion about coaching and G.A.A. over the four weeks.

We were broken into sub-groups and I had Colm Browne in our group. He’s the newly appointed Games Development Manager in Laois and the only Laois man to claim a football All-Star. He played in the Compromise Rules in 1987 and went on to coach Tipperary, Laois and his club Portlaoise.

However, Colm, like everyone else on the course, had no ego. There was a huge amount of knowledge and experience in the room and everybody respected each other’s opinion and freely shared theirs. Still, you can’t but feel a bit self-conscious when you are delivering a practical to fellas like Colm about decision making!!

Typically Irish, once the barriers are down, it was easy to make connections with people. I got a lift to the airport one weekend off James Devlin from Swords. He’s a club mate of former Paris Gael player Dave Lennon. Shane Flanagan is working for the Leinster G.A.A. and oversees many of these courses. I’d have met his brother Ronan when he was living in Brussels in 2005/2006. A new face, that I will see again is Eddie. In February he will bring his club over from Wexford for a weekend in Brussels.

One of the highlights was a workshop with Paudie Butler, the G.A.A.’s #1 hurling guru. The man has incredible presence. Initially he pretty much struck fear into us with his intensity. For the first time on the course, I was completely tongue tied when he asked me a basic question. I wasn’t alone.

We grew into his style though and he was drilling into us the need to be concise and cut out unnecessary words. He did this by repeatedly striking a tyre with a hurley, each time with the exact same technique. He went around the room one by one and you had to describe some part of his action, explaining with exactly the right words.

Paul Gallagher failed to find them when he said, ‘you stepped into the tyre’. Paudie duly stepped into the middle of the tyre and asked Paul whether he had really stepped into the tyre?! The point was that it you wanted to ‘spot and fix’ a players technique you had to be very precise about your instruction for the player to understand. You’d probably have had to be there!

You get a great sense of achievement during the course because you are constantly tested with the tasks and the situations you are put in, leaving you looking from the outside in at your own comfort zone the majority of the time.

As we finished up on Saturday, it was clear we had built a good rapport and fellas really enjoyed bouncing ideas off each other over the few weeks. We learned constantly off each other and I think most would say they left the course having learned a huge amount about being an effective tutor as well as becoming a better coach.
The tutor’s reckon it was the best group they’ve put through the course. Hopefully that means we all passed and can get going at delivering the courses in 2012. It certainly was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in a long time.

Catching Up

2011-12-06T21:43:00.000+01:00

There was a slideshow running on loop at the end of year dinner which told the story of the 2011 season. It was brought together by Sylvia and the 300 odd photos were broken up into all the different tournaments and events. When I watched it, I was somewhat taken aback by the number of different of places and activities which it included. There were trainings, tournaments, fundraisers, random drinking sessions/parties and even some holiday photos.

What struck me most was the expressions on everyone's faces. Most showed people smiling or lauging. Some were not so joyful but even those had a sense of togetherness as everyone appeared to suffer together, be it in defeat or hangover!

It reconfirms to me a point we made at the end of the season. Whilst the season was not a success in terms of winning the hurling or football championship, we pointed to the number of times we were in each other’s company - whether it be training, tournaments or socialising - and told the lads that they should remember how often they left those events feeling good about their involvement in the club.

Those good times and events are not confined to the season either. Most of my holidays and weekends away have been with people from the club. Aside from G.A.A. events, I travelled to Rome, Greece, Slovenia and Toulouse with teammates this year. The latest trip brought us to London and also highlighted another positive; we rarely lose touch, even with former players.

Myself, Tim, Colin, Crusher, Ger and Giller hopped on the Eurostar and headed for the UK to meet up with Ollie, Rochey and Micheal O'Flynn last weekend. Planning such an event is never difficult. Lads are always eager to catch up and fall straight back into enjoying the craic. It's nearly four years since Micheal was here and even then, he only stayed three months but he always makes the effort to link up with us. This weekend was no different.

We covered a ferocious amount of ground over three nights. A 'few quiet' ones in Clapham on Thursday were followed up with a bit of a hell-raiser on Friday night in Stockwell's finest nightclub, The Swan. It was Camden on Saturday afternoon and then out to Shepards Bust to see The Saw Doctors. A falafel later and we were heading east towards Hackney to join Rochey's girlfriend at a house party. We'd settle in The Dolphin until the early hours of Sunday morning.

There is no need to elaborate further on what happened between stepping on and off the Eurostar, except to point you in the direct of 'The Hangover' movie. Think a third edition, based in London. Unfortunately, I was the one returning missing half a front tooth on this occasion. Whether further details of the weekend 'are of public interest or in the public's interest to know' (Oliver O'Callaghan, 2011) is debatable but for now they are neither. As we crossed London Bridge at 5am on Sunday, Collie B lifted his head for the last time and declared that 'it was a pleasure to drink with ye lads....even you Giller'. That pretty much sums it up.

Someone said to me last night that the club was a bit flat this year. Indeed we are at a certain point of the cycle. The club has grown and there are pockets of different people but that is only natural. The important thing is that the club keeps bringing people in and that they can feel the bond that is there. That is our biggest strength, once you are in and you feel that, it is very hard to leave. It's why lads come back for end of year dinners and why we make the effort to visit them wherever they move on to.

Long may it continue (all be it with a few weeks break!)

Decision Making

2011-11-29T22:44:00.001+01:00

I'm currently doing a G.A.A. tutor training course in Ireland. The course is run over four weekends, in Maynooth College. Last weekend we reviewed the Level 1 syllabus and touched upon the area of decision making. The debate was lengthy and the master tutors said it was one of the trickiest modules to deliver because of the difficulties in nailing down practical examples of how to develop it.

As referenced recently, we had planned an intra-club league over the winter but player numbers have turned this into weekly head to head battles. One of the things we can't do enough of during the year is play full pitch games so this is a great opportunity to give lads more match practice and for them to learn how to cope with different situations in a match scenario. In summary, it can help improve our decision making.

There have been two main positives from the first two games. The first is that it has brought back in some guys who had drifted. Hieler, Bobby, Pat Barrett, Will, Alan Rowan, Deccie are a few lads who we hadn't seen much of during the 2011 season.

The second positive is that fellas automatically fell straight back into the style of play which we had in the latter part of the year, without prompting from me. This confirms that it is now engrained in the mindset and when we restart training in February we can look to build and improve on it, rather than having to spend time relearning it. The new/returning lads are also beginning to learn it and that will benefit them and the team when the new season arrives.

Of course, just because it is off season doesn't mean lads shouldn't use the opportunity to improve themselves. I'm currently reading 'Patriot Reign'. It's a book that tells the story of Bill Belicheck's early years in charge of the New England Patriots when he brought a very unfancied 'franchise' to Super Bowl success and onwards to create a bit of a dynasty in New England.

In the book, it mentions a meeting at the start of one season. He starts his address by telling the group that there is not one person in the room who cannot improve in the coming season, including himself. It's a simple and apparently obvious statement but not something we necessarily think about every time we step out on the pitch. It applies to everybody in every situation. Sometimes the stronger players get into a comfort zone because within the group they get the most plaudits and as a result feel they are doing enough. You can always improve but it's up to the individual to challenge himself to improve.

Back to the decision making point. To focus the minds, we just identified two improvement points for last night’s game. The first was to shoot more, as it is something we didn't do enough of last year. The second was to sharpen our passing as last week we gave very loose passes that weren't directly to the man and we turned over a load of possession as the ball skidded away on the surface.

The tricky bit for me is to keep my mouth shut and let guys have the freedom to make their own decisions. You have to hope by doing so they will see what works best most often and what doesn't. For example, some guys went for shots from outside their range or from tricky angles. You'd expect that next week, fellas would have learned, understand their range of kicking and make the right decision.

Relating to the passing, we pointed out after one of the 'quarters' that we were turning over a high percentage of balls with long kick passes. We showed only marginal improvement afterwards but the purpose of these games is not to continuously bang the drum. Again, guys need to think about their own game, figure out what they are strong at and make sure they play to those strengths. With that said, you also need to improve the weaker aspects of your game and by not ranting and raving (too much!) when kick passes go astray, it gives lads the freedom to find out by themselves.

The key to it all is what Belicheck said to his players; we can all improve. You must approach any game or training with that mindset and then you will reap the reward through continuous reflection and adjustment.

Fun Bus II

2011-11-27T22:14:00.000+01:00

A Belgium G.A.A. away day, a bus and Johnny Phelan’s GPS. We joked about the Munich fun bus(not really) all the way from Carcassonne Airport to Toulouse. It was going so well; Collie at the wheel, Mull manning the GPS and myself, JP and Johnny sprawled across the back seats.

We were staying in the Mercure and Mull directed us through the narrow streets towards the hotel. France being France, the entry to the car park was ridiculously narrow. The barrier said the max vehicle height was 1.80. Mull confirmed he was 1.80 and got out to do the safety check. Indeed, he was taller than the bus but we were deeply suspicious he was on his tippy toes.

The garage door opened and down we went. Collie B wasn’t happy, the roof looked to be closing in on us. He hesitated and the garage door got jammed on the back of the bus as it tried to close. We urged him on. The lads were hanging out the window guiding him down. I was at the back providing some helpful commentary.

Someone said he had four inches over head. JP got back into the bus to confirm what he thought to be four inches with his hand gesture. It looked more like four cm and the mission was called to a halt. At this stage the sweat was hopping off Colin and there were about five lads - a mix of guests and employees - watching on.

Getting back out was going to be far from easy as we had gone quite a bit down the steep entrance. I’m not sure where our driver did his test but he was struggling with the hill start. The clutch burned and burned as we edged our way back up. Then another stop. Collie B had enough and called for help. One of the French onlookers reached in to help steer our bus back to street level. Embarrassing.

I started to test the water with a few jokes. JP looked terrified at the potential consequences. Then Mull chipped in. ‘This isn’t the hotel, it’s on another bit on the GPS!’. We all took a huge breath awaiting the explosion. It never came. Collie B was just happy to be out! In the end it turned out two of us were staying in that one but inexplicably, four of the lads were around 500m away in another Mercure.

We found a suitable car park nearby and Johnny got out to confirm the dimensions were all in order. As the bus passed under the barrier, Johnny followed by foot. But then he stopped to talk to Mull and the barrier came down and knocked the glasses clean off him!! Haunted.

A dodgy start but we recovered quickly. A few beers sitting outside admiring the lovely ladies and then it was off to The Melting Pot. We were just getting into it when a fella stumbled next to our table and spilt half a pint over Colin’s jacket. There was steam coming out his ears but he held his council as it was a work colleague of one of the lads.

We thought we’d be a bit less predictable and head to some local bars afterwards. It was a tricky scene to get into. I departed around 1am. Next was Johnny, then Collie B but JP and Mull were throwing shapes until 6am.

We were up and about in decent time on Saturday in the search for a few cans. This is a very easy task in Belgium as there are night shops at every corner. JP was promoting the cause of SPAR at home where you can get anything you want, be it sausage rolls, beer or whatever. We succeeded in the end, even if they were warm.

Hagan was on the scene at this stage, already having texted through a concern that morning relating to tickets. He reckoned we had to pick them up at Castres stadium – the bones of an hour and a half drive away! We knew it wasn’t going to sell out so we didn’t panic.

The craic was good en route to the match. However, once there it was a bit of a letdown. The Munster fans were scattered all over the stadium and it was far from full. Of course, most people know how it finished; ROG knocking over a handy kick at the death.

We got briefly separated after the game but reconvened in a tennis club next to the stadium. The lads were tucking into plates of cheese and ham and had cracked open a bottle of red wine. It was a quiet kind of place, not somewhere they would be used to a good row.

I don’t know who brought up Saipan but I couldn’t hold myself. What continuously annoys me about the ‘Mick camp’ is that their whole argument revolves around how Keane ‘walked out on his country’. They flatly refuse to acknowledge the facts – which in this case are, as ‘Mick’ told us, that Roy Keane was sent home.

Anyway, another table intervened and to be honest, I’m not sure how it all came about. Whatever happened, Mull ended up pointing at one of the lads at the table and repeatedly asking him if he was from Waterford. The significance of this was lost on us. Yer man responded by telling Mull that while he was pointing one finger at him, he was pointing three back at himself. After calming Mull, we were about to leave when Hagan spilt a glass of red wine on Collie B!! ‘Paul, these are €150 jeans!’ He’d lost the group at that stage as we struggled to contain ourselves!

We’d learned our lesson the night before so stayed mainstream Saturday night. That meant Trevor Brennan’s De Danu bar. The place was hopping. We ran into a few of the Toulouse G.A.A. crew and I had finally linked up with David Shortall at this point. Shorty plays with Kinsale but only joined after I had left so I felt it necessary to give him a full debrief on a host of topics. I’m sure he felt it valuable and necessary input!!!

With no knowledge of the city, it was remarkable that we all managed to walk home unaided both nights. When we left De Danu, myself and Mull were across the street waiting for Colin. He was trying to read a map upside down and get some directions. We were eager to push on so went over to speed up the process. Feeling brave, I ‘playfully’ knocked the map out of his hand once or twice. I’m usually pretty good at judging his temper but he got very cranky. He may well have pinned me up against the wall leaving my legs dangling! Off he stormed leaving myself and Mull to rely on our instinct.

By the time I got back to the room, the whole thing had been forgotten and he extracted revenge with an exhibition of snoring.

The journey back was far less eventful if you leave out the fact that myself and Mull panned out in the airport and when we work up everyone had boarded the plane!!

Next stop London.

Silence Wears Thin

2011-11-23T21:19:00.000+01:00

I’d be a big fan of the off-season. As much as I love training and playing hurling and football, I also love having a few months off to do as I please. If I want to play another sport I can do so, if I want to go drinking a little more frequently I can do that too. I find myself appreciating giving the body a rest more and more these days though.

Others are getting itchy feet already and we are not even three weeks into the winter break. The Shield win gave everyone a huge injection of energy and brought the whole group closer together. Fellas were onto me in the week after about keeping lads active with soccer or whatever during the winter.

We couldn’t get a hall for the soccer but Shane is on the case organising squash and we’ve also decided to arrange some full pitch matches. Personally I’d rather guys had a few months totally free of football but a match one night a week can’t do much harm.

It also gives lads who may have drifted off the scene a chance to come back into a pressure free environment and acclimatise themselves before the season kicks off in February. Last week we put together an email list of such guys and invited them to come back out over the next few weeks. The response so far has been good.

Quite what form the games will take I’m not sure. In the past we had a four team intra club league but we don’t have those numbers at the moment. I’m not too disappointed about that considering how heated that became. We may vary it up each week but everyone should get plenty of football.

That starts tomorrow night and then on Saturday we have the end of year dinner in de Valera’s. It’s a night that has never let anyone down. I think my first one was in 2005 or 2006 and there were around 10-15 people at it. This year we should be pushing 80 or 90.

One of the highlights of the night is always the people who make the effort to come back specifically for it. Ruairi, Ollie and Rochey are a few that spring to mind who are coming back this year. I think the fact that lads are willing to make such an effort says it all about what people here (and in many other GAA playing cities around the world) get/got out of the whole thing.

By coincidence I got a mail from a former player today saying how lucky we were to have it and how much he missed being part of it. He wasn’t here a long time but he caught the bug. It’s a sentiment that is repeated many times during the year as lads move on.

Thursday is a night for tearing lumps out of each other but Saturday will very much be a celebration of this year’s successes on and off the club.

University Challenge

2011-11-12T22:02:00.000+01:00

The 2011 season may be just behind us but already we must start to address some of our failings of the year gone by. One of the biggest has been our efforts in recruiting players. For whatever reasons, we struggled to even breakeven in terms of players in / players out. We are in the red and have become somewhat complacent.

The result was that we could not field a third team on any occasion (we did twice in 2010) and failed to field a second team on two occasions. From the panels in Limerick, we will lose at least seven ahead of next year and whilst some guys didn’t travel, we don’t have nearly enough players at the moment to be sure we can continue to field a second team next year.

When we got going in 2008, we quickly realised the importance of giving as many guys game time as possible. It’s important from many viewpoints; numbers at training, overall club numbers, supply people for committee positions, ensure you can travel with two teams to tournaments so everybody can get game time etc. If we hadn’t persisted with a second team, we may well have struggled more in the Championship this year as we wouldn’t have had the supply coming through.

Our 2012 drive starts on Monday night in VUB (Brussels’ main University). The opportunity sort of fell into our lap but has great potential. VUB will become our home ground as of next year and the college contacted us about offering Gaelic Football to their students.

They offered us the pitch for half price for nights where we would invite their students to training. After discussing with Colin, we thought it would be better to start with the students during our off season and get them up to speed before integrating them in with the other lads when we restart in February.

So on Monday night, myself and a couple of others will kick-off what will be a series of seven training sessions prior to Christmas. There will be three additional nights, starting December 1, where we will play an intra-club league, integrating the VUB players with our own players.

We will treat it as a pilot exercise but I’m already thinking of its potential to be developed after Christmas. The idea would be to extend this to two other Universities in Belgium initially; Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve where we know there are Irish Erasmus students who we could work with to get it off the ground.

We could run a kind of ‘Celebrity Bainisteoir’ competition where we would allocate two/three of the lads to each University and train the students up over ten weeks, culminating in a three-way tournament over Paddys weekend.

The icing on the cake would be if you could get some MEP involvement to provide the ‘Celebrity’ to the management teams. It would help raise the profile of the initiative no end and give us a potential source of new players.

That is a little further down the road so for now we will concentrate our attentions on the VUB and hopefully we will get a good response in the coming weeks.

Championship Bar Raised

2011-11-09T09:02:00.000+01:00

In the build up to any tournament I’m always looking for something a bit different to capture guy’s attention. It might be a video clip, an article, a quote or something like that. During my search last week, I stumbled across a youtube clip which Hudson sent me.

It was of John Wooden, former basketball coach to UCLA. In it, he was talking about the journey that is a sporting season. He talks about how a Championship winning team experiences the ultimate feeling during that moment in which they achieve success. But that passes and we should look at the journey as a whole and reflect on more than just one moment. Success, he says, is not always judged on whether you end up holding the trophy or not.

For the Belgium Championship panel, 2011 was a success in my opinion. We consolidated from a very difficult position after losing all those players mid-summer. We brought through many new players from the Shield panel. We devised a system and gave players clear roles. We created a panel which could be interchanged seamlessly.

In the end we didn’t win the Championship or even contest a final in any of the three rounds. We had to settle for third on each occasion. It’s hard to swallow in the sense that I hate being on the outside looking in but sometimes you must put that aside, assess where you started from, assess where you finished and make your judgement.

On Saturday we opened against The Hague. It was level at half-time, we had what many onlookers thought was a clear goal, ruled out for square ball. Our downfall was the concession of frees and as always, our opponents were clinical. We would lose 0-8 to 0-6.

Beating Valencia qualified us for a semi-final against Guernsey. We led at the interval but their charge came strong in the second half. Trailing by two, Cillian fisted a high ball against the post. We were denied a penalty which looked clearly inside the box. A free was given instead. We lost out 0-8 to 0-5.

Virtually every occasion we met The Hague and Guernsey, there was at most a goal between us. We are close. Inches, as they say.

For me, this team is still very much a work in progress. My barometer is always how many guys do you have that were playing football up until the day they arrived and how many will be playing football when they go home. That indicates how much work a team will need. We don’t have so many when you compare us to our opponents. What we do have are players with a growing commitment and potential for further improvement.

That is why my disappointment is not so deep. I believe in the direction we chose to go this year and I believe that the team will continue to improve and we can mount our challenge in 2012.

When wrapping up on Saturday, I went back to Wooden’s idea about the journey. I asked the lads to reflect on the successes of the year, in Frankfurt and Amsterdam. I told them to remember all the nights they left training feeling good about themselves and being part of the team, the craic we had over a bit of grub after training and the good times we have spent in each other’s company drinking cans in one of the lads’ gaff’s, travelling Europe etc.

2012 certainly wasn’t a failure. Progress can never be considered like so and we certainly achieved that. Guernsey, winners of the Championship have set the standard. They gave up the drink for weeks prior to the final tournament. They organised cinema nights, go-karting etc. They are worthy champions and in the bid to become so, they have set that standard for the rest to strive towards.

I’ll be giving more and asking more of the lads in 2012. I believe that if they believe, then that small gap can be closed. We have weathered all the storms of 2011 and emerged as a tight group. The Shield win gave the whole set-up a massive lift. We head into the winter eagerly waiting for the new season to start. Not a bad way to have it.

Every Dog Has Their Day

2011-11-08T22:32:00.002+01:00

And what a day. It’s hard to find the words to do justice to what our Shield team achieved on Saturday evening, under the fog and the lights in the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick.

The journey to Saturday was longer and tougher than you could imagine. The team had its first outing in the corresponding tournament in Maastricht in 2008. From there they travelled Europe time and again, taking blow after blow against first teams from some of the best teams on the continent. Every time, no matter how hard they were hit, they got back to their feet and faced up to the next challenge.

There were glimmers of hope. A third place in a Benelux in Luxembourg last year. There was a semi in Budapest. On other occasions the team would leave clinging to little bits of hope; a good first half or a strong finish.

From the outset, every effort was made to take this team seriously. The club bought a new set of jerseys. The likes of Conan, Johnny P and Ruairi invested every drop of energy in it. As we said on Saturday, the players came and went but there was a constant spirit which followed the group on the long journey from Maastricht ’08 to Limerick ‘11.

What a day they chose to land their greatest blows. Back home in Ireland with family and friends looking on in disbelief at the drama which unfolded in front of them.

Amsterdam stood in waiting, already having claimed the overall Shield for 2011. Worthy winners as they swept all before. Our lads were controlled but a bit manic before the game. The tone was set.

0-4 to 0-4 at half-time. Leading 0-8 to 0-5 when the referee indicated to Brendan that time was up. The kick-out was sent to the stand but there was no whistle. The ball was returned into the square, hopping and skidding and bouncing off players. Then it was in the net and everything was square again, heading for extra time.

We took the lead but again Amsterdam bounced back. Then another mortal blow landed. Ricky weaved his way through the defence before shipping two hefty challenges, slightly out of sync. He’d jarred his neck and lay motionless.

The game was delayed as the excellent medical team attended to him. Fortunately the x-rays that evening were clear and Ricky was up and about again on Sunday morning. The aftermath showed that despite the competitive nature of games, the community spirit is strong. Many people from other clubs enquired about his well being and I was asked to pass on best wishes from Stockholm, The Hague and Munich. All very much appreciated.

Once the game restarted, the lads came again. Fitting that it was Mike Lucey, close friend of Ricky, who kicked the equaliser. Level at the end of extra time. On to the unprecedented ‘sudden death’ extra time. The next score would seal the victory. The Belgian crowd in the stand made an awful racket as they roared on the lads. The Gaelic Grounds could never have dreamed such a day.

Sheanon was fouled out on the left wing. It wasn’t unimaginable that he could kick it. The strike was clean but it was dropping short. Amsterdam tried to clear their lines but the ball only travelled as far as Pearce on the 21. He’d been telling Cillian a week before, how he’d love to be one of those players who struck the last gasp score and have the crowd storm the pitch. One swing of the boot and a volley over the bar realised that dream.

It was pure ecstasy. I couldn’t get onto the pitch fast enough. Johnny was crying. Conan’s dad was crying. There was a ridiculously dangers pile on of Belgian lads and ladies. A feeling ran through me that I have rarely felt. I don’t think I could have been any happier had I played in the game. I must have hugged everyone twice. That’s twice nearly being squeezed to death by Johnny Phelan.

The Amsterdam lads were incredibly gracious. They are deserving champions and carried themselves like so. We have a competitive but healthy relationship with them. I hope they didn’t take offence to our celebrations but part of it was because it was such an achievement to beat such a strong team.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the victory was how everybody shared in it. The lads on the Championship panel couldn’t be contained. The faces in the pictures which have gone around since tell the story.

I get a disproportionate amount of credit when we have success and it was no different Saturday. However, the real drivers of Saturday’s success were Conan, Johnny P and Ruairi. Eoin’s decision to split the panels in Luxembourg at the start of the year contributed. The fact we (unfortunately) only had one team in Guernsey contributed. Going together to The Oak for food after training contributed. Guys sharing houses, living on the same street and generally looking out for each other contributed. All those things have helped created a ‘one team’ spirit, bereft of division.

Facebook has been jammed with messages of congrats from Belgium’s current and former players. They logged in everywhere from Brussels to Haiti to Holland to Poland to Oz. The lads deserve every bit of it.

As I said at the beginning, players may have come and gone through the team but the spirit never left. On Saturday, the dog had its day.

Panels Finalised

2011-11-01T20:15:00.000+01:00

And so the last ball has been kicked in anger at training in 2011. We wrapped things up with a 7 v 8 match out on Toyota’s shortened soccer pitch today. With the Halloween parties going on all weekend, it was important to have one session to reset the minds before the remainder of us depart for home in the coming days.

The last three sessions highlighted a lot of the improvements we have made in the last few months. Our patience on the ball is much better, our foul count is under control and the communication has improved. On Saturday, Griff was pulling the strings, instructing guys about positioning. Giller has taken a lot of ownership as well and his talk has become more specific and instructive.

Following today’s session, we issued the panels by e-mail. This is a somewhat impersonal way of informing the group but it’s the only way you can ensure everyone gets the same communication. At home, you can get the entire panel together much more easily but here there are always lads here missing for work or personal reasons.

In the past we’ve never had any major fallouts over selection and that is because the lads understand the difficulties selecting panels. There is no one formula to do it. Training attendance, skill level, strength, speed, power, reading the game – they all play their part and in the end you just have to try to be fair to everyone and get the right mix.

Conan and myself tease it out over a few discussions and as Colin Byrne is injured, I ran a few things by him. He was putting the case forward for a couple of guys and there sure is a case. The counter to that is who do you drop? This was a particularly tough group to split and he recognised that.

The last three sessions threw up some dilemmas. Guys who had been underperforming pulled performances out of the bag to catapult themselves back into contention. Others were going very well but just simply timed their run too late in the year and faced too much traffic ahead of them for their position.

One of the toughest calls was Eoin Sheanon. He returned to Ireland in July but we asked him to put in a weekend transfer so we had him as an option. We have never brought in weekend transfers on the Championship panel but saw his case a little differently. He was with us since 2008 and was one of the top forwards in the competition, as well as managing the team in the first half of this year. His last game was in Lux when he bust his shoulder and we wanted him to get a proper opportunity for a send off.

However, the lads just kept on knocking over the last few sessions and we couldn’t deny them. I’ve been out with some on extra sessions, seen more in the gym working away. You can’t turn your back on that or they will not sustain that effort. It’s not just about Saturday, it’s about setting standards for the future too.

The temperature in the camp is just about right ahead of the weekend. So far this year we have got what we deserved. We weren’t far away in the last two tournaments but there was a gap that needed bridging.

We’ve worked very hard to close that gap and I’m certainly relishing the challenges we face at the weekend.

D Day Looms

2011-10-30T11:05:00.002+01:00

Our last training weekend of the season and it started with many question marks remaining over the Championship and Shield panels. On Friday night we were out in the BSB focussing mostly on kicking, shooting and some conditioned games. On Saturday we moved to a grass pitch in Brussels centre and played a full pitch match.

Going into the weekend, I had a fair idea of how I thought the panels would shape up but myself and Conan had yet to sit down and go through them. However, after the back to back sessions, a few more lads clawed their way back into contention and that makes the decisions a little less straight forward.

Since the beginning of the year when Conan and Eoin split the panels in Lux, the door has remained open for guys to stake a claim for a place on the Championship team. The result is that we now have a much larger array of options in each position and have been able to cope with the loss of a hoard of players.

Within today or tomorrow, we will finalise everything and the lads will be waiting eagerly for the news. There is a healthy tension there at the moment and it was needed heading into the weekend. Tom Lane, back from his global travels, was down at the match yesterday and he commented how there was a noticeable edge to the game.

We played four twelve minute quarters and by the final quarter many of the issues had been ironed out. Our foul count has dropped massively in the last week and that would be one of the main improvements we are looking for in Limerick. Our defensive set-up is solid so we will be hard to score against but we must make sure we don’t cough up innocuous frees and give teams an easy way into the game.

The tension I mentioned was visible right through the group over the last week both on and off the pitch. It brought the best out of the majority of fellas and we have a much more tuned group than we would have had a couple of weeks ago or even before either of the last two tournaments.

The immediate priority now is to get the panels named and not have that tension burn up energy unnecessarily. Many of the team have already left for Ireland and others will go in the coming days so we will have one final run out on Tuesday evening and leave it at that.

The roadwork is done and I'm confident that when the lights go on next Saturday, we'll have two teams primed for action.

Big Week

2011-10-25T07:58:00.001+02:00

It’s the biggest week of the season for everyone. We will train Tuesday, Friday and hopefully have a full pitch match on Saturday. With a public holiday next week, a lot of the lads have planned in a couple of days at home prior to Limerick. It will be the last chance for many to stake their claim for a place on the Championship panel so that should bring an extra edge to things.

The clutter for places has reduced a little with the news that both Johnny O and Hudson have been ruled out due to work commitments. On top of that, we lost Collie Byrne to a recurrence of a calf injury last Friday night and the Bull will be in Haiti building houses.

Despite this, we have enough lads available to give myself and Conan selection headaches. We’ve options on each line of the pitch and separating guys won’t be easy, especially as so many have stepped up at recent tournaments. The fact the tournament is in Ireland will mean that family and friends will be in attendance and that is driving everyone on that little bit more.

By Saturday evening, everything will be a little clearer but we will probably still hold back on naming the panel until the middle of next week as you are guaranteed someone will have to pull out for one reason or another.

Whichever way it turn out, we should be competitive in both competitions. In the previous two rounds of the Championship, we couldn’t complain too much about the manner of our exits but we still left knowing we were only a score or two off the pace.

The Shield team has only had one outing and were eliminated by a shoot out in Leuven. Looking at the potential panel that will be on display, there is serious potential to cause a shock or two. They will face some heavy hitters with Amsterdam leading the charge. Our neighbours travel with one hand very tightly gripped on the cup but the likes of Frankfurt will be hell-bent on spoiling the party.

So plenty to focus the minds this week. Five sessions and counting.

Friday Frustrations

2011-10-22T21:15:00.001+02:00

Training took a bit of a dip Friday night and it turned out to be our least satisfactory session in a while. In fairness, we have very few lads who turn up to go through the motions so we were all a bit pissed off leaving the BSB last night.

There was a combination of factors which contributed to it. After the warm-up, Conan put us through a series of kicking drills and the quality of the kicking was cat. Even after a stoppage to point this out, we continued on a downward curve. Concentration levels looked poor and I’m not sure was it the fact everyone was at the end of a working week or what.

Numbers had also surged and that put off the planning a little. Conan planned for the usual number and he always sets out all the drills at the start of the session to ensure we can have a smooth and quick transition between exercises. When numbers are far higher than expected, it means groups are bigger and that impacts the amount of time each player gets on the ball, so the players aren’t happy.

I faced the same problem with my shooting drills. The ball to player ratio was far from optimal so that led to too much delay for each player. I’d also set the drill up to favour the right footed player which displeased renowned drill wrecker Darragh Cotter. I’m all for feedback but I didn’t take kindly to the tone of his so we had a sharp exchange. He then proceeded to try and kick every ball over the fence when it was his go!! I was nearly climbing up it to stop him from getting satisfaction from succeeding in his goal.

Despite there being aspects of myself and Conan’s planning which could have been sharper, the player still has no excuse for not executing the majority of the drills properly and lads should make sure that when they are in play on an exercise that they are fully concentrated. There was a fleeting return of the ‘excuses mentality’ on Friday which needs to disappear fast. I don’t think that will be an issue though.

The session did finish well with a tough last ten minutes of running. Paddy Cassidy was telling me a couple of months ago that his club used to always finish with a hard running drill and called that part of the session, ‘the final ten’. He told me it was to try and create a mentality to finish the game with one final burst (correct me if I’m wrong Paddy). I passed this on to Conan and he has brought it into the sessions. I find it good as you are hanging at the end of the session, which is just what you want. Special mention this week goes to Paul Gavin who seems to have a rocket up his ass. The man is displaying fitness and speed prowess that he has previously kept fairly well hidden.

We headed back to Schuman afterwards and popped into the Coolock for a change of scene. There is a good buzz with the lads at the moment so the banter over a few pints is always enjoyable. Apparently Griff knew we were in there but he still rocked up with a bird on his arm. He looked sheepish enough as he shuffled by and then ignored us for the night.

Another lad giving the cold shoulder was John Van Pool, FC Irlande’s premier net minder. John, from Oklahoma goes by JVP when his name is mentioned in written form but I’m sure from the way he carries on that he’d rather ‘MVP’! He was awkwardly shifting from one bird to another, looking like all his planning had had some unfortunate collision.

We picked up a couple of new players in recent weeks, most notably Diarmuid Lynch from Cork and Cillian O’Donghue (from Cork originally, but moved to Meath when he was eight). Both are capable footballers and also very good trainers. We needed the influx of a couple of guys like that and it helps too that they have integrated seamlessly.

Brussels being Brussels, there is rarely such thing as a couple of quiet pints. Johnny P, Keary, Mul and Darragh all disappeared around midnight and I thought they’d headed for home but apparently they ditched us for a party that Hagan had an ‘in’ for.

Curiosity pricked, we got the phones out to see what the story was. Naturally the questioning revolved around the ladies at the party. Mul, the only single one amongst the lads, tried hard to put us off the scent but the others suggested it might be worth the trip. Off we went and with us went any chance of a productive Saturday.

The main comment I remember from an otherwise hazy enough night was one Ger made about me losing some sprints during the week. I was conscious of this in my head but it’s good for someone to mention it to you as it gives you a jolt to up the ante.

Hopefully the few pints will have washed away the malaise from Friday and everyone will be in much better form come Tuesday.

City of Sports Welcomes Euro G.A.A.

2011-10-20T20:23:00.002+02:00

The season end is approaching quickly and we’ve entered the final phase of training. This year, as part of Limerick being the European City of Sport, the final round of the Pan-European Championship & Shield will be hosted by UL.

We avoided the usual post-tournament dip last week and lads showed great eagerness to get straight back to work after Guernsey. The only hiccup was Friday night. I was back in Ireland but Conan was keeping me in the loop. The above picture was the scene at the appointed start time. Apparently there are three lads somewhere in the dark.

Everyone eventually arrived, citing a bomb scare for the delay. This is the second time they’ve pulled this one. The last time I bit my tongue and went home to check the internet and found nothing about it. I’m not sure I’d have been so gullible this time.

Conan is back on board full-time with the training. When he is ‘in’, you can barely buy five minutes of time at training to do stuff!! The chemistry has the right balance now though as we have two trainers hungry to take sessions and that should benefit all. Looking further ahead, it may also solve any potential trainer issues next year.

We have six sessions left and its clear guys are up for the last trip of the year. Darragh is back after a shoulder injury and looked like a man feeling the heat for his place after Olof and Griff’s performances in Guernsey. I thought he’d drifted into the periphery in training before he got injured but he was much more engaged on Tuesday night.

Practically all the regular trainers have got a shot on the Championship panel this year and it leaves us with a lot of options . We finished third in both the last two tournaments using over twenty players. The perception would have been that the team for the Belgian tournament was stronger than the one for Guernsey. However, with both groups achieving the same placings, it knocks that idea on its head a bit. There is great competition and the key thing in two weeks time will be getting the blend right to improve on the previous results.

The Championship has been the most competitive since we started playing in 2008. The amount of games which have been won by a point in the last two tournaments is unreal. The Hague and Guernsey have been a step ahead but ourselves and Lux have been there or there abouts. Jersey have been slightly further back while it’s difficult to judge where Stockholm are at. They missed the Guernsey tournament and were pitted in a tough group in Belgium against The Hague and Guernsey. Amazingly, we’ve yet to play them since they joined the ‘circuit’ so we’d look forward to the challenge of testing ourselves against them.

So, three sessions left in the British School and hopefully we will never have to return there again. It’s a pain in the ass to get to and the surface wrecks havoc on the body. In the week preceding Limerick, we move back to the VUB who have just laid a new astro. It will ensure we start the final week of the season on a good note.

Kinsale - County Intermediate Football Champions 2011

2011-10-16T20:49:00.001+02:00

County Intermediate Champions 2011. I texted Barry Gray on Sunday evening and when he replied he tried to soften the blow of missing it by inserting ‘probably’, when telling me it was one of the best days. When you haven’t won an adult title since 1932, there’s no need to understate anything.

I made it back from Guernsey in time to tune in to the commentary and tweets online. I wasn’t alone in cyber world. Conor was in a McDonalds in Wellington. Paul Hurley was tuned in from Thailand whilst Leary and others were in on it too.

From the moment Jeremy broke his leg early in the first half, the lads never looked back and they controlled the game. Wardy, who didn’t even make the panel for the semi, came on and kicked two points. David Coughlan had the game of his life. But the crucial score, a second half goal, came from the boot of Barry Gray - goal poacher extraordinaire. Twelve years on from his goal scoring debut against Courcies, he raised the green flag again on the club’s biggest day.

The victory is an incredible achievement. The team has mixed two generations of players. Both were talented but neither were what you would call a ‘golden generation’. Plenty of work needed to be done to bring this team together to achieve what they did last Sunday.

Gearoid gets a bulk of the credit. The papers were full of praise for the team’s style of play and their usage of the panel. ‘Modern management’ came up more than once. Part of that management was getting Brian Murphy more involved and getting Ollie Cahill and Tony Griffen fully on board. He’d say himself that their input gave fresh impetus to the whole thing.

They won a county with what may be considered by some as ‘unfashionable’ players. Throughout the year, the team was doubted and even afterwards some people unbelievably tried to play down the achievement.

Still, the majority drowned out the minority and the town was buzzing all week by the sound of it. The Primary Schools were visited on Monday and the session looked like it continued all week.

I’d be in touch with Gearoid on practically a daily basis and you can’t imagine the amount of work and thinking that goes in behind the scenes. Getting a group of players fully focused in a town like Kinsale is a very difficult task. There were times when I’d say he was ready to walk but he stuck with them and he showed unreal resilience to keep believing in his ways, in the face of some fairly persistent criticism.

Bolster was home from the States and saw the team play for the first time since last summer. He said the transformation was incredible. He commented about how composed and confident they were, especially in defence. He said the work rate was incredible. The work in progress became the finished product.

There is no doubt that it’s a killer to miss out on last Sunday but such is life. If I was only here a year or two, the pain would be greater. The longer you are away the more you can accept that you’ve just become an interested spectator. Well, I say that but I barely mean it.

It will be some Dinner Dance when you considered the amount of All-Irelands, Munster Championships and Sigersons that came back to the club this year. To put the final bit of icing on the cake, Brian Coughlan finished a memorable year by winning a Senior Football Championship medal with UCC today. 2011 will live long in the memory. Hopefully it won’t remain a reference point the way in which 1932 did. At least not for so long.

‘Put that in your blog!’

2011-10-10T20:28:00.000+02:00

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.

Belief The Only Barrier

2011-10-06T12:48:00.000+02:00

Trains, planes, cars and boats are all on stand-by for our imminent departure to Guernsey. It's the trip we dreaded all year but now that it is upon us, we are looking forward to the adventure. More importantly, we are eager to take our chance to improve on our showing in the last tournament.

The team is much changed from Leuven. Out go Brendan Lynch, Darragh Cotter, Ciaran Hudson, Paul Gavin, Diarmuid Laffan, Diarmuid Lynch and James O'Dowd; all unavailable. In come Shane Ryan, Ger McMahon, Shane Griffen, Olof Gill, Johnny Phelan, Conchur de Barra and Liam Walsh.

In past years, our A and B teams pursued different styles of play. You could accuse the A team of having a more individual focus whereas the B team was more team focused. In the last couple of months we have set out one template for both teams. It was done so we could counter the situation which presents itself this weekend. With our approach of the last couple of years, we would be cannon fodder this weekend had we not sorted it out.

The transition process between the two teams can now be made much quicker and the lads coming up are going well. Bull has missed a month with injury but his secondment in Toronto over the last twelve months seems to have knocked some of the edges off his game. He looks more composed on the ball and in the tackle.

Ger McMahon has been the big plus of recent weeks. He returned in March after 2.5yrs in Japan. The ramp-up was painful enough for him as he got back in shape. In Maastricht he was good and in Leuven he repeated the performance. At last Tuesday night's training session, he looked powerful and sure of himself. He plays to the plan as well as anyone which makes him a big asset.

Shane Ryan is serving his goalkeeping apprenticeship currently. So far so good and he should gain confidence from the settled defence in front of him.

Unfancied teams are filling the sports pages these days. Carrigtwoill won the Cork SHC for the first time in 94 years last weekend. They were 100/1 at the start of the year and there was no noticeable revolution along the way, just a very quick evolution under a new system and management team. Their hero was Seanie Farrell. Seanie was a star in the 90's winning Minor & U-21 titles with Cork and capping it all with an All-Ireland Senior in 1999.

For an assortment of reasons, Seanie's career never progressed and he mixed some seriously productive spells in his club's jersey with some less than impressive ones. His star has been falling and at the start of this year he was playing Junior B. On Sunday, he came off the bench for his first appearance with the Senior team this year and he fired over the winning score.

If anyone is looking for a bit of inspiration, there is no shortage of it these days. Seanie and Carrigtwoill's story shows the endless possibilities in sport. From tales like that, we should derive the necessary belief that we can still regain the Pan-Euro Championship this year. Impossible is nothing....as the slogan goes....

2001 – Where are they now?

2011-10-05T22:43:00.003+02:00

A check-in with the starting team of 2001.

1. John O'Connell

John would have been better known as a wing forward but successive injuries to Andy Lynch led to his conversion to keeper. It proved a successful move as he was a very steady head between the sticks. John's personality wouldn’t do panic and that made him a great guy to play in front of.

Where is he now? In recent years he has stepped into the breach when the team has been stuck but by and large he is now retired.

2. Michael O'Sullivan

2001 was Mick Sull's breakthrough season. I think it was the South-East semi-final against Shamrocks when he broke into team and he hasn’t been out since. He had a tough task that day, marking Kevin O'Sullivan in a two man full forward line but acquitted himself well. Despite spending six or seven years in Dublin, he continued to be a fixture in the team as well as captain for a period. He has also been a regular on the Carrigdhoun Senior Football team for years.

Where is he now? Pretty much where he was then; playing in the full back line.

3. Lyndon Kiely

One of the most talented footballers to come out of Kinsale. Couple his talent with his powerful frame and you get a fairly devastating full back. He was on a Cork Minor team who were beaten by Kerry but went on to win an All-Ireland with the Cork Juniors in 2000. He also put in a more than respectable performance marking The Gooch in the first series of The Underdogs.

He looked to be gone off the scene this year after injuries had caught up with him. However, he reappeared at the quarter final stage at full forward and has been a steadying influence since. Surrounded by young players, his presence is important to ensure they don't get bullied by more seasoned opposition.

Where is he now? Full forward

4. Dave Barrett

I'm not sure of the logic of playing me, a right footer, in the left corner and Mick Sull in the right corner with his left foot. That was the way we lined up in 2001. It was something of a 'comeback' year for me. I'd broken onto the team as a minor in 1999 but had been badly exposed in the opening exchanges of the South-East final that year.

I survived until full-time but the memory had lodged in the selectors minds. 2000 proved very frustrating as I started and finished every single league and challenge game. I was on the bench for the first round of the Championship against Carrigaline. I started and did well at wing back against Shamrocks in the next round before being dropped for the semi against Crosshaven.

A late cameo wasn't enough to earn a starting place against Courcies in the final and maybe it was just as well as it was one of the most miserable performances we delivered in the last ten years. We had new management in 2001 and they placed all their faith in the younger players and I’d benefit from that.

I started on Kieran Daly in the 2001 final but moved to wing-back when they brought him out as a third midfielder. I put in a good shift on Jason Whooley but it was a massive step up. They were one of the fittest and strongest teams I ever faced and as I mentioned previously, they were a Senior team playing Junior. No doubt about it.

5. Jeremy Keohane

He too was breaking through in 1999. Funnily enough, he would benefit most from my struggles in the '99 final as we switched corners and he went on to win man of the match!! Powerful like Lyndon and with a great recognition of his strengths. He would rarely make a wrong decision. A human wrecking ball. In those days he would have been a very committed player but in years after he would become distracted and disinterested.

Where is he now? The lads have him back and fully focused this campaign and he is a lead figure in the defence, lining out at centre back.

6. Ricky O'Hanlon

Ricky was a year older than me and a hugely talented underage player, captaining our Minor team in 1998. How he never even got a sniff of playing Cork Minor shows up everything that was wrong with the Cork Minor set up back then. Ricky would go on to join Lyndon on The Underdogs but it was at club level he would make the biggest impact. Better known as a forward, Ricky was converted to play centre back in 2001.

His long clearances suited our game plan and he adjusted remarkably well to the position. He was immense that year. In future years he would revert to a role in the forwards where he would get us out of jail more than once, 2005 against Ballinhassig being the one that springs to mind. Also became a regular for Carrigdhoun Seniors.

Where is he now? He wouldn't say he is retired yet but he has been working in London for the last six years so he's pretty much in the same boat as me.

7. Kenny O'Regan

As I get further through the team I get reminded more and more what a steely defence we had. Kenny is like an iron bar, with a set of fists which did a fair bit of damage in the boxing ring. He spent some of his childhood in the States and that was probably why he was in his best buddy Lyndon's shadow as an underage player. 2001 was his year though. Anyone who was in Drimoleague for the semi against Adrigole would remember his match winning goal. It was a trademark run from wing back and a rocket finish from an unattractive angle.

Kenny flirted with the U-21 panel in 2000 but in the end he settled for winning an All-Ireland Junior medal alongside Lyndon that year. Carrigaline would have been our big underage rivals around that time and Nicholas Murphy was their star. They may have followed different paths since but you can be sure Nicholas never forgot their match ups. Kenny became a regular Cork Junior and Carrighdhoun Senior.

Where is he now? Still playing football but unfortnautely for Kinsale, in Boston.

8. Gearoid Condon

He was part of one of the most successful underage teams Kinsale has produced. My brother John was also on those teams. The age gap was four years and I can remember being in awe of them as we travelled around the County following their success. Gearoid would have been 24 in 2001 but he was pretty much the only survivor from that generation of players. What a shame.

He was captain in 2001 and it was that summer in which we became good buddies. He didn't look like an enforcer but on a team with so many young players, he was the one who would do the sorting out if an opposition player was acting the maggot. I can remember Blondie (former Kinsale G.A.A. hero) saying he should pack up his boots and sell them at Bolands Corner. He was one of those players that only a teammate would truly appreciate. Selfless, with a great brain. He'd come up against more talented players but would put a lot of thought into how to counter them and more often than not he would be a match for any of them.

Where is he now? Playing Junior and managing the Intermediates on Sunday. In his playing days, Blondie was one of his detractors. Nowadays, he has many many more.

However, without bias, I would say he is one of the main reasons the team in contesting Sunday's final.

9. William Cummins

Son of the famous Cork dual star Ray Cummins (who was a selector that year). That may be the toughest cross to bear. William was a Cork Minor with Lyndon and a schools star with Criost Ri. When he finished school in 1998 he went up to The Curragh to become a pilot and from then on, it became an awful chore for him to get released for matches and training. I remember playing Dohenys in 2000 in the U-21 County. He raced down the night of the game but hadn't been released in time and I can still see him standing, looking on from the wrong side of the fence.

2001 would be his final year with us but he remains one of the most stylish players we have had. That was his best year.

Where is he now? Still in The Curragh with the army. As far as I know his football & hurling days are at an end.

10. Colm McCarthy

One of the most diligent trainers I ever came across. Sometimes he probably over trained. Unbelievable work rate and has shown great versatility over the years, playing in virtually every line of the pitch. Has juggled working in Dublin with reinventing himself as a back (where he started out actually) this year and claiming a starting berth. Along the way he played with Carrighdhoun Seniors and that spot was secured after his performances in 2001.

Where is he now? Most likely manning one of the defensive berths on Sunday.

11. Conor O’Brien

What a talent. I’ve marked my share of decent forwards but you’d rarely find one with the full package. Barry Gray had blistering pace. Gerry Murphy was mercurial. Gavin Farrissey had a great brain. And they are just the lads I’d mark in training. Colm O'Neill is the natural stand out when I consider the opponents from other teams. I remember saying after the 2005 County QF that I didn't think he had the pace to play Cork Senior (how wrong I was!). O'Neill was the guy most like Conor to mark.

Conor didn't have blistering pace but countered any shortcoming in that area with his strength. You might arrive at the ball around the same time as him but he could muscle you out of it. Four years in UL coupled with a few more in Dublin probably held his progress back. He should have been a Cork Junior and Carrigdhoun Senior at least.

In 2001, his connection with Gerry Murphy was a joy to watch. It was as if Gerry had found the heir to his thrown and their link-up play was unrivalled. In the first half of the 2001 final he went desperately close to getting a goal before the interval. That would have sent us in ahead. It may not have been enough but who knows.

Where is he now? After delivering a master class in the 2009 QF against Fermoy, he packed his bags and headed for Oz. At the time of writing, he is somewhere in a camper van in New Zealand. Don't be surprised if you see him on the edge of the square next year.

12. Brian O'Connell

Brian joined us late in 2000 and was a magnificent addition. He had won a Sigerson with Queens and had soaked up everything he was taught. He had all the right habits, on and off the pitch. Brian was a mature footballer, less of a rough diamond that any of the rest of us.

He was also very versatile. In 2001 he lined out at wing forward but in 2005 he would man the centre back spot. He's one of the guys I most enjoyed playing with. Coolness personified and tidy off both feet. I learned a lot from him.

Where is he now? New Zealand. And I'm pleased to say that after becoming a bit disillusioned with football in his last few years in Kinsale, he's back playing down there.

13. Noel O'Sullivan

Noel was the big benefactor from Gavin Farrisseys injury in the quarter final against Mitchelstown and earned his stripes in the semi against Adrigole with a goal.
He was a jack of all trades and as the team developed that cost him. Knee injuries didn't help but he recovered to play his part in 2001.

Where is he now? Retired from football and in goal for the Hurlers.

14. Fergal O'Hanlon

'Horse' as he was known. I'm not sure if it was because when he was younger he wanted to be a jockey or if it was because he grew into a giant of a man.

Our tactics then were very simple. Let the ball in long to horse and the rest would play off him. When he blew hot, he could destroy anyone such was his power and big hoof. Nightmare for a small man at training like me to mark.

Where is he now? Not quite retired but barely active last I heard.

15. Gerry Murphy

Kerryman. Captained Laune Rangers to the All-Ireland Senior club in 1996. We never got to the bottom of his Kerry career but he was there or there abouts. Gerry suffered badly with back and knee injuries and that is regularly cited as the reason he didn't cement a place on the Kerry team.

He was still an awesome force when he joined us in 1999 and won me my medal that year. 40 yards out, into the wind in Riverstick to give us the lead for the first time in the last minute.

Him being corner forward and me being corner back meant that I got to know him pretty well. It was a great challenge to mark him. Some nights you'd go home and sit on the couch with your head in your hands wondering why you even bother trying to mark him. Other nights you'd be buzzing because you just broke even. What a talent and he was immense in 2001.

Where is he now? Owns The Greyhound Bar in Kinsale. Trained us in the mid 00's and is still on hand to give advice when required.

There were many more lads who played a role that year but these were the men who started the final. Five lads remain, four playing - not bad ten years on. Five more emigrated and the rest are retired.

Date With Destiny

2011-10-05T22:02:00.000+02:00

Kinsale Intermediate Footballers contest their first County Final since 2001 this coming Sunday. Their opponents will be Beara men Castletownbere.

Since we went up in 2006, the team has struggled to make an serious impression and has had to fight off a few relegation battles along the way. Two years ago they did win promotion from Division 4 and last year they consolidated in Division 3. The best Championship runs had brought them to quarter finals in 2006 and 2009, losing to Castletownbere and Fermoy respectively.

With such a record it is difficult to build on underage success and keep the momentum. You are out of the Championship mid-Summer but must keep ticking over to complete the league. As everyone who plays G.A.A. knows, getting motivated to train for league games doesn't quite fit in with the psyche.

That league promotion in 2009 wasn't without significance. It showed there was promise in the young lads coming through. They'd won a couple of Minors and an U-21 South-East so the pedigree was confirmed. Still, they needed to transfer that success to Intermediate Championship. The longer the gap is between those underage successes and adult success, the more and more that momentum diminishes.

In that sense, this was a make or break year in my opinion. Gearoid Condon has been involved with much of this group for the last ten years, either as player or coach. He was captain in 2001 and led those recent underage teams to the successes I mentioned.

When he took over the Intermediates a couple of years ago he had a clear plan about what he wanted to do and how he wanted to develop the group. He put a big emphasis on the Junior set-up because he knew he would need a big panel and to get that, guys would need plenty of opportunity to play. And not just play for the Juniors. Even previously 'unfashionable' players would be brought into the Intermediate set-up and be given a shot. Commitment was rewarded and lads responded.

That plan I mentioned is pretty much on track. He said to a few of us at the beginning of the year that if the team could get to the quarter-final, anything could happen. Once there, momentum can really kick in as the games come thick and fast. And that's how it has unfolded. A replay win against Youghal was followed up with a convincing victory over pre-Championship favourites Kildorerry in the semi. Now the seasoned Castletownbere stand in their way.

What has been most notable about the campaign is how the team has evolved. The selectors haven't been afraid to make bold decisions, dropping some guys and bringing more in from the cold. Some outside the camp have been critical of some of the players chosen and decisions made but the management have been vindicated so far.

I'm don’t know where Kinsale were in the bookies rankings at the start of the year but I'm sure it was somewhere in the bottom third of contenders. On Sunday they will again be underdogs but that won't bother them. They've been upsetting the odds all year.

The position they are in ahead of Sunday contrasts starkly with our last County final in 2001. Then we lined up against Ilen Rovers who were really a Senior team playing Junior. They would prove that when breezing through the Intermediate ranks and contesting a County Senior final soon after. Their full forward line of Kieran Daly, Brian & Kevin O'Sullivan were all around the Cork Senior team at that time. Outside them, Pat Connolly and Jason Whooley were no strangers to the National League. Ed & John Sheehy were Cork Juniors as was Diarmuid Duggan who would progress to Senior level along with John Wycherley. And that's before we mention midfielder Fachtna Collins, another Cork Senior. There were a few more with Cork Minor and U-21 experience in their ranks. It was an ominous task.

In 1999, they had put up a cricket score against us in the County semi. It was an absolute embarrassment. Our players were either too young or too old at that time. By 2001 we were a hardened team having come through some massive battles. Two stand out for me, against our most bitter local rivals, Courcey Rovers.

Courcies and ourselves are separated by the Bandon River. Most of the lads went to school together and the rivalry is intense to say the least. The build up to these games is unreal, with everyone in the town wanting to talk about it.

The first game was in 1999 in the South-East semi-final, my Championship debut. They had beaten us after a replay in the 1997 final. It was one of the first Championship games I remember attending. I wouldn’t forget it though. At one stage, with the ball down the other end of the field, everyone’s attention was drawn to an incident away from play. There were two Courcies sprawled out on the ground and a fairly guilty looking Kinsale man standing in between. He’d get the line but that wasn’t the end of the shenanigans. There would be more rows and punches thrown by both players and mentors. Wild west stuff.

The ’99 game was played in Innishannon’s town pitch, a great venue for a game. There’s a big bank on one side of the pitch where the crowd gathers and you have to pass through them on the way down to the pitch. It never failed to get heart pounding.

Anyway, they started the stronger and had a penalty just before half-time which went over the bar to give them a five point lead. We had a fierce young team with a host of the previous year’s minors and the ’99 minor team. We were up to the challenge though and ripped them in the second half. The decisive score came from one of those minors, Barry Gray. I can still remember it. Barry’s pace was unreal and he got in from the bank side of the town end and burst the net. A two fingers to all the doubters. Funnily enough, ten twelve years on, it was a Barry Gray left footed point that rescued a draw in this year’s quarter final against Youghal.

In the 2001 South-East final, we had to dig even deeper against the same opposition. Trailing 0-7 to 0-1 at half-time, our trainer Seamus McCarthy had us believe our first score, just before half-time would change the world and we could kick on and win. We were now within two scores of being level he told us. He instilled great believe in that team and on we went, led by Conor O'Brien and Gerry Murphy, to tear the Courcies apart in the second half.

By the time the County final came around in the first week of December we had huge self belief, despite the task facing us. At half-time we were level against our much heralded opponents and Conor had gone close with a one on one. The pace was frantic though and I can remember being bollicksed in the dressing room at half-time. We couldn't live with them in the second half and they cleared the first hurdle on their journey to Senior ranks.

The task facing this year’s team is more of a hill than a mountain. It's well within their capability to win it. They've met Castletownbere in recent years and even though they haven't beaten them, they've been there or there abouts. Kinsale have improved this year and some of Castletownbere's stalwarths aren't getting any younger with the passing years.

I was comparing the 2001 team and the 2011 team over the weekend but quickly realised it was futile. I haven't seen enough of the existing group to really judge. What we had in 2001 was a battle hardened core. Those local derbies were the making of us. We were a very close group both on and off the pitch. The team was made up of nine of the 1999 U-21 team. Eight of the first nine names on the team sheet were of that ilk. Having a defence who had played that much together was invaluable. Colm McCarthy was the ninth member of that team. However, from that U-21 group, it should be noted that Cian Quigley came on in the 2001 final, Conor O'Brien (sub in 1999) started and Barry Gray played a key role in the campaign. That was some return from an underage team and there was a great bond.

A lot of the current group haven't been through as many testing campaigns and had the same experiences of local derby dogfights. They are getting that experience this year though and have had to stand up for each other on more than one occasion. Just last Thursday they played a crucial league game up in Mallow and stood up to some overly physical play to come away with a win. Then they faced Newmarket last Sunday in a win or bust game and won convincingly. Those are the type of games that harden lads and this year the team has bridged the gap.

Any shortfall in experience in the younger lads will be made up by the older lads. Lyndon, Barry, Colm, Mick Sull, Keohane and Quigley have over twelve years under their belts in the adult grades. The 2001 team never had that kind of profile.

We had our stars in that team, no boubt. Fours lads who either played Cork Minor of Junior. Two Underdogs. Brian O'Connell won a Sigerson with Queens and Gerry Murphy captained a Laune Rangers team to an All-Ireland club.

Compare that to the current team and it's not necessarily so impressive! Rich Sull was on the Cork Senior panel until last summer when he walked by choice. He won an All-Ireland Junior from centre back this year. Captain Derry O'Callaghan was a Cork minor midfielder. Former Cork Minor, Junior and Underdog Lyndon is still around. Niall Mac and Alan Gould have gone as far as All-Ireland finals with Cork Vocs. Brian Coughlan is the forward jewel having won a Sigerson with UCC this year as well as Munster U-21 medals and an All-Ireland Junior. The pretender to his crown is Gearoid Finn, who has scored freely all summer despite his tender age. He is currently with the Cork U-17's, pushing for a Minor spot next year.

I used to think our team was talented but these lads may well trump us. The biggest thing we had in our favour was that bond I mentioned. It's been more difficult for this group because it's required two generations to mesh together. The process has been ongoing over the last few years and now they are ready.

A lot of credit is given to Brian Murphy in making this happen. He’s been involved with Gearoid in the under-age successes and would have trained the likes of Mick Sull, Barry and a few more back in 1998-1999. The combination of the two has worked well in challenging the players to go to the next level.

Sunday is Kinsale’s date with destiny. County winning teams are never forgotten. I only regret now that I didn’t back them in January.

Fit For Purpose?

2011-09-30T08:07:00.000+02:00

With two of the three Pan-Euros outside the normal travel circuit this year, it opens the door to a skewed Championship.

Given the presence of the EU institutions in Brussels, there are frequent air routes to every major destination in Europe, heavily bolstered by a large number of Ryanair routes in and out of Charleroi. Combine this with Brussels being within driving distance of the majority of the most active clubs and it makes for a very accessible (from travel and cost point of view) venue.

The same could not be said of the other two venues this year; Guernsey and Limerick. Guernsey in particular, is an absolute nightmare, as mentioned in the previous entry. This is reflected by the necessity to cancel the Ladies round due to a lack of teams. The Men's Championship survives but with some threadbare panels expected to travel. I heard The Hague were struggling to get bodies and Stockholm couldn't get a team together at all. Lux are travelling as far as I know but I presume they are in the same situation as us.

Everyone understands that it is difficult and expensive for the likes of Guernsey and Jersey to participate so teams have made as big an effort as possible to travel this year. I can't see many teams doing it again considering the cost and the time off work required. A compromise for the future would be to host a tournament in somewhere like Rennes which is close to the crossing to the channel islancs. It is well connected by train from Paris and is within driving distance (just about) for a lot of teams and would require max half day off work. Still that wouldn't help the outliers in Scandinavia or Eastern Europe much.

When you don't have all the teams at each tournament it distorts the overall competition. Guernsey and Jersey will be red hot favourites for next weekend considering the struggles of so many teams to travel. With the competition being decided over just three tournaments, such an advantage is difficult to claw back for the rest.

The water gets further muddied by the final round being in Limerick. Again, this is a difficult venue to get to as the air routes in and out of Shannon are limited, especially on a Friday evening. Still, people can stomach taking a bit of time off work seeing as they can link in a visit home but it is still far from ideal. We are lucky in Brussels that there are a couple of flights to Dublin on a Friday but these are always expensive as they are full of politicos. Our other option is to drive to Amsterdam and then go to Cork or Dublin and go on to Limerick from there. Again, difficult without taking time off work and increasing cost.

Something that came up in a conversation with one of the lads from a competing club recently was the 'weekend' player. It is still within the rules to utilise a limited number of such players during a season. His team are considering bringing a couple of guys on board for the Limerick weekend. He recognises that a situation may occur whereby his club is already out of the running for the Championship but by bringing in such players, it could strengthen their hand and ruin the hopes of a team in contention. Is such distortion fair? And these are the guys talking about doing it above board. One can only imagine the shenanigans which may go on below the line.

We are now in a situation in Europe where our competitions are competitive and the majority of teams can easily field without fishing into the pool at home. The rule seems dated and inappropriate for the current state of the European game.

Staying on the whole player movement topic, I heard (but can't confirm it is true!) that one club processed eight transfers in recent weeks. The word is that these guys may indeed be living in the city they represent but the timing of the transfer suggests they may have waited until their home clubs have been knocked out. I'm not sure of the circumstances of these situations but how player transfers are handled in general probably needs reviewing. Is there a rule about playing in two County championships in one year with two different clubs (excluding Colleges)?

Another issue, but more linked to the final round (in any year) itself is that teams make an extra effort to attend. We had an example two years ago where Budapest arrived with a very strong team and created quite a stir. It was the only Pan-Euro they attended. In the end, The Hague saw off their challenge but how fair would it have been had they knocked out a contender in the semi-final despite not having taken part in any other round?

The structures and rules implemented in Europe were made at a certain point in time and I am sure they fitted the purpose then. With the game developing rapidly, it may now be time to review these and discuss whether they are still fit for purpose.

Changing Tune

2011-09-29T09:36:00.000+02:00

This time last year we were preparing to go to Budapest for the second round of the Pan-Euro Championship/Shield. My frustration with everything had peaked. I'd told Collie B that I was done with it once the season finished. I'd been thinking about it for a good while so it wasn't just a knee-jerk reaction.

For fear of sounding like a broken record (!), I won't regurgitate all the factors that would bring one to that point of disillusionment but they could be summarised in a few headline one; Munich, team selection, organisation, players buy-in, trainer-player role.

My biggest issue is always the players as Colin leads the off field logistics. The size of the gap between what I would expect as trainer and what players actually do has always fluctuated and rarely aligned (speaking generally). In my mind, the expectations are very straight forward.

- Make every possible effort to turn up to training and be available for tournaments
- Show up on time
- If you can't make training or will be late, communicate that to myself, Colin or Conan
- If you are injured or sick, proactively keep us up to date on your status and what you are doing to solve it
- Don't treat being part of the group as a recreational pastime; it is more important than that!!

Stealing a phrase coined by Cork Ladies Football coach Eamonn Ryan, it's about making the 'winning choices'. I like his play on words. He uses the phrase instead of the word sacrifices, which he hates when it comes to G.A.A. Sacrifice implies some sort of pain or loss. In his mind and mine, being involved in hurling and football is a joy, not a pain. The things which need to be cast aside on the journey are sometimes unfortunate but always necessary if you are going to enjoy it, improve and ultimately win.

I struggle to understand many of the reasons lads give for missing training/tournaments. If you are busy at work, start earlier, work through lunch and a little later.

Lateness is down to the individual in most cases. The same guys are always late, no matter what time training is. In general, it's their own carelessness for not organising themselves properly.

Since Guernsey, a good few guys have gone totally AWOL. Not a word from them. I know their status because I ask their friends what the story with them is. I find it hard to believe that you'd want to be part of something and not be keeping the people running it in the loop. I used to contact fellas when they were injured or absent. Now I don't. The communication channel is two way and thus I'd expect a more proactive approach.

I've tried to disconnect from all the above issues in the last couple of months. It's not that you don't care or you don't think it's important to push home these points but at a certain point, you have to protect what you are getting out of it. As importantly, you must protect what those who are out training and doing the right things are getting out of it. I'm sure there is some consequence to stepping back like this. There will always be a few more that you will get out if you constantly harass them. We may have lost them or get less out of them now.

Back to the current situation and those present. The week immediately after our home tournament we only had six and eight players on the nights we trained that week. Now it is around 12-14. Far from the number we would normally expect or be happy with. The fact I've sidelined the aforementioned frustrations means I've focused more on the positives i.e those at training, and credit to all the lads, the effort has been fantastic.

I've sat out a few of the sessions and from that placing, you can easily observe who is putting it in and who is not. You can tell by the concentration on their faces, the way their body is moving, how they react to a mistake and how vocal they are. It's been very good and it would be difficult to find fault with anyone.
I think the players would generally agree that the sessions have gone well. We've got a good mix of ball drills, running and games. We've also taken on board some of the feedback from the training before the last tournament and incorporated it i.e. more point shooting!!

The tone at training has been a lot more positive too. I’ve ranted less and guys have talked more. A throw away comment by Timmy a couple of weeks ago about how close he’s come on occasions to snapping back at me gives me a good idea where the line is. The relationship between player and trainer is difficult in our situation. We’ve always managed to manage it without conflict and must continue to do so.

Tomorrow, we’ll know where we are at in terms of Guernsey and will use the last two sessions to tune things up. We’ll be down lads but we will again highlight Maastricht 7’s as a turning point in our mentality. The collective is more important than the individual.

Plan B

2011-09-22T10:14:00.001+02:00

The primary objective of all the teams competing in our competitions is to win. Ours is no different but from the end of 2008 we were faced with the challenge of increasing numbers. In Maastricht ’08 we had two teams for the first time.

In 2009, numbers at training continued to grow but it was touch and go in terms of fielding two teams when we travelled to some tournaments. We’d go with somewhere between 22 and 25 players which meant two very tight panels, when you consider how draining a tournament day can be and the high likelihood of picking up injuries.

This often meant the A team would have the bare 11 or maybe 12 players for a whole day. The likes of Paris and The Hague would often come with 18 or 19 and that allowed them freshen up their team as the competition progressed.

We persisted because it meant it encouraged greater numbers at training and also because the club should aim to promote participation. To do this, you must give guys games. The pain was short lived as numbers continued to grow and we got to the stage where we had too many for two panels of 15.

The next challenge we faced was that our second string were regularly facing off against some big hitters in Benelux. Frankfurt and Amsterdam are two of the top Shield teams, surely with Championship ambitions in the future. Furthermore, The Hague, Belgium A and Luxembourg have won the last four European Championships between them.

Only on very rare occasions between 2008 and 2010 did another club enter a B team in Benelux. This made for long days often punctuated with some heavy defeats for our lads. Last year, we saw some light and a third place in the final Benelux round in Luxembourg was testament to the undiminished commitment of all those involved in the team.

During the first half of the season, it’s the thought of the Pan-Euro Shield that gives lads the drive. The team knows it will be more competitive at that level and last year proved it with some sterling performances, especially in Budapest.

In 2011, there has been a growth of numbers in the other Benelux clubs. Luxembourg and Amsterdam have regularly fielded a second team. However, similar to the struggles of our B team in recent years, they have to scrap for every positive out of the regional rounds.

Looking ahead to 2012, I think there should be a push to run a Shield competition at each Benelux round. This competition would include the second teams of each club (with a provision that there are at least three teams) and run along side the ‘Benelux Championship’ round on the same day.

The competitions would be broken up along the following;
Championship; Belgium A, The Hague A, Luxembourg A, Amsterdam A and Frankfurt.
Shield; Belgium B, The Hague B, Luxembourg B, Amsterdam B, Dusseldorf.

I named The Hague B and Dusseldorf. The Hague have rarely fielded a B team but considering the close proximity of the Benelux tournaments and the fact that we don’t all go at them as intensely, they could use it as an opportunity to get more players involved.

Dusseldorf is a club who came to the Maastricht 7’s so there is clearly some interest there. The Shield would be a suitable standard for them to find their feet. I’d even suggest that this competition could have the option of playing games 9-a-side in cases where one club is a few short on the day. As a start anyway.

For a club to take off, it needs to capture as many players as possible. There are a lot of things that need doing during the year and many hands make light work. To get people involved, you need to give them an opportunity to play. Beyond that you need to give them an opportunity to improve and then ultimately, have a chance to feel the buzz from winning.

In the current Benelux structure, we don’t encourage that growth so we risk losing players and club members. Of course, the logistics of it all would need to be considered but I hope this is something which is progressed over the winter.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.

Europe Make A Mark

2011-09-19T08:23:00.001+02:00

As we assembled in the hotel lobby on Saturday morning, we became quickly aware of the task ahead. Sharing our accommodation were 2011 All-Ireland Junior Champions St. Marys of Kerry. Also in situ were the 2010 Down Junior Champions Drumanees as well as Cork’s 7’s specialists St. James. It reminded me of my favourite G.A.A. quote, given by a team mentor at half-time in a Championship match where they were suffering heavily. “Lads, the longer we stay in here, the longer we stay in the Championship.” The hotel lobby seemed the safest place to set-up camp for the day!!

Our team flew in Friday night from exotic destinations like Brussels, The Hague, Maastricht, Oslo, Malmo, Stockholm and Goteborg. There were some late adjustments to the panel after the news that Paul Bradfield of The Hague would need to pull out due to hamstring problems. Fortunately, Colin Courtney of Stockholm was in town for the All-Ireland so he filled in. The tenth member would Paddy from Dubai, famous for breaking Eoin Sheanon’s nose (allegedly) in Dubai in 2009.

Most of the panel were strangers to each other so mixing up the rooms worked a treat, except for the fact that it left me to square off for a double bed with Billy Finn. It’s well known that I don’t do bed share so well but Billy doesn’t look like someone you’d mess with so I offered him the bed and I called for a camp bed.

Our bus driver for the weekend, Frank, was a right lad and we knocked a good bit of craic out of him. There was a quick get to know you opportunity en route to St. Jude’s, Templeogue on Saturday morning and already a bit of banter to build the spirit.

We got to mull over our draw whilst watching Ireland’s win against the Aussies. We had the aforementioned Down champions along with St. Brigids, St. Judes and last year’s Ulster champions and defeated All-Ireland finalists, Swalinbar of Cavan. It wasn’t going to be easy.

The average age of the teams was probably around 22. We calculated ours to be 29.4. They all looked young, fast and fit. It was the source of great amusement. Had we dismissed 21 year old Simon Malone, we would have been comfortably in the thirties.

As game time approached, our focus narrowed and we began to sideline thoughts of all the possible advantages our opponents had over us. We had two great motivators in any case. The first was to put Europe on the map, so to speak. When I was watching Ireland in the bar, I overheard a good few people commenting about us. No-one knew anything about the team and no-one seemed overly concerned with the challenge we would pose.

Their viewpoint was totally justified but that’s one of the reasons we were there. We all believe there are quality footballers in Europe and that our competitions are tough and competitive. People at home pay us lip service and think it’s all a bit of a jolly. Competitions like the 7’s are where we can gain respect and that was our collective mission.

From an individual point of view, it was a rare chance to test ourselves back in Ireland. For some of us, these are the last chances we have and that’s the main reason I opted to play this year.

Shay O’Doherty is the Football Officer on the County Board and he was the main who pulled the team together this year. Niall Scullion’s injury misfortune meant he would support Shay on the line. There initial challenge was to get everyone up to speed on the 7’s game. Some had played it previously but others hadn’t and we couldn’t afford a slow start.

All our group games were on the same pitch which had a fairly steep hill running from one end to the other. To compound this, the wind was strongly favouring the team playing down the hill. It put pressure on you to score as much with the wind and to defend like dogs against it.

Our first two games were drawn. First with Judes and then Swalinbar took a share of the spoils with a last gasp point. We had earmarked Drumanees as the toughest game and it proved so as we went down to two quick goals in the second half, one a wicked deflection and the other a penalty. However, to demonstrate the competitive nature of the group, St Judes (who we drew with) beat them both in the group and Championship semi.

A draw with Brigids left us in fourth place (out of five) and heading for a tough Shield draw. We would play O’Donnells of Belfast. There was relief that we had at least qualified from the group but also a steely determination that we would progress. We’d got to grips quickly with the game and the togetherness in the team was clearly evident.

One major set-back was the loss of Darragh Cotter who came out worse from a shoulder challenge with a big bullock from Cavan. On we went though with a slight tweak to the tactics, playing Simon a bit higher to give us more attaching threat.
The impact was instant and we blitzed the Belfast team in the first half, hitting them for four goals. They got cranky and distracted and we were able to close the game out comfortably.

At this stage, we were ticking over nicely, learning with every passing half. Lads were showing great versatility, with the likes of James O’Dowd and Billy Finn appearing regularly in both attack and defence. Mark O’Kane and Michael Lynch were everywhere as was Colin Courtney who looked like he was developing a reluctant liking for defending.

We would face off against St. James (Ardfield) of Cork in the semi. Our big advantage at this stage of the day would be our tournament experience. A G.A.A. players mind can be weak enough when it comes to their own fitness. They worry when they lose their breath early in a match or can’t keep the pace an odd time at training. Put them into a stop start tournament and I’m sure the doubts come in when they feel the pains, aches and tiredness that go hand in hand with this format of play.

This is our bread and butter though. We all know the feelings well and we know our bodies have reserves unimaginable to a player who is used to playing sixty minute matches.

The St. James game would prove tough and it was tight enough at half-time. Probably because we had more to prove, we were able to dig that bit deeper in the second half. A couple of goals gave us a lead that they had to come out and chase. They searched for goals but Shane O’Sullivan was using every body part to block their advances. Their attacks left gaps in their rearguard which we gratefully exposed to run out eight or nine point winners.

There had been talk since the quarter final that we were in bonus territory. We saw it more as no mans’ land. We’d achieved nothing and everyone wanted to make our mark on the final. When you consider what Swalinbar achieved last year and that they didn’t make it out of the group, the shield is far from a second rate competition. We came to gain respect and winning the final was the way we wanted to do it.

All the teams involved on the day were perfectly kitted out with their club gear. We’d arrived like a rag ball rovers outfit. No-one had matching gear and there were various crests on show. Our jerseys were without sponsor and even crest. Previously, they had a habit of going missing so the County Board bought a set of bog standard gear in the hope no-one would even want to knick them.

People were looking at us all day wondering who we were. As we came out for the Shield final, people’s curiosity was pricked further. I don’t overdo the pride in the jersey craic but I did feel very proud to be part of this group of unknowns as we headed out for the last game. Our mindset was unchanged on that walk to the pitch. We had been very calm all day. The instructions were to the point and as we progressed, the focus only sharpened. We’d broken new ground but there was still one hurdle to jump.

By now, our support had swelled. Mick Cryan had come over after completing the half marathon to accompany Tony Bass and Tom McGrath. Darragh’s sister and husband were there and Eoin Sheanon had also popped in. It really was a boost to see some familiar faces and hear them cheering you on as the bodies tired.

The final was against a Galway outfit whose name was a struggle to pronounce or spell. They flew out of the traps, knocking over a few scores but we settled and recovered well, taking the lead before half-time. Then they got a crucial goal from a breakaway. It was a one on one and with a bit more experience I may have stayed on my feet a fraction longer. I didn’t though and they took a two point lead.

Their goalmouth was by far the busier in the second half but we couldn’t get the goal we needed. The lads were out on their feet. With the clock ticking down, we trailed 1-06 to 0-07. We needed to get the ball back so I came out to join the effort. Such risks must be taken in 7’s but it didn’t pay off. They held it well and then, with the very last kick of the day, sealed victory 2-06 to 0-07.

To come so close to doing something so significant, but ultimately not getting over the line, is very disappointing. Still, we are realists as well. On Saturday we faced club teams who have been very successful in their grade. They train together a few times a week and have played together most of their lives. Some of our guys’ season finished months ago. Some had never played 7’s and many had not even met until we hopped aboard Frank’s bus. To get as far as we did, leaving some big names in our wake, was a big achievement. It’s the furthest any European team has ever gone, in any code.

Our team received many compliments during the presentation and not the usual patronising ones. We had done what we had come to do. We had gained respect from our opponents and the people who came to watch.

As I left the presentation area, I had a number of people follow me to congratulate us on our team’s performance. I don’t take it as a moral victory but I do take a lot of pride in it. I haven’t played at home in six years. For others it’s been longer. We proved we can still do it and as individuals that was one of the goals of the weekend.

Even yesterday morning at breakfast, people were coming up wanting to talk to us about where we were from and pay their compliments about how we played. Everyone wanted to know where we were from. When our lads were asked the question, everyone answered with the name of their adopted European club. The questioner, nearly frustrated, would say, “no, no, where are you really from?”. Well, these days we’re really from Brussels, The Hague, Maastricht, Oslo, Malmo, Stockholm and Goteborg. And this weekend we were from Europe and proud to be so.

Our good performances had stemmed from how quickly we gelled. Shay had tried to get guys in who he thought would get on well and be up for making a mark. On paper we may not have been as strong as last year but on the pitch we proved stronger.

We’d topped the day off with a few pints in town on Saturday night. Yesterday morning we parted ways and now we will head back to fight it out between ourselves for the Pan-Euro Championship and Shield. We’ll remember this trip though.

Runners-up medals and plaques usually mean absolutely nothing to me. However, there will be a place on the mantle piece for this St. Jude’s one. Personally, I haven’t enjoyed a day’s G.A.A. as much in a long time. Hopefully our performance will give other European teams confidence that we can compete. Next weekend is the Ladies turn. They have a strong team so may even go one step further.

Europe On The March

2011-09-16T08:21:00.001+02:00

7’s in Dublin this weekend with a ‘County Europe’ selection. We’ve fielded such teams in Hurling before but last year was the first year we got it together in football.

That wasn’t the smoothest of trips and most of us went away feeling it was less hassle than it is worth. It wasn’t necessarily anyone’s fault, just that it was all pulled together so close to the actual tournament. Trying to coordinate a Pan-Euro team and making sure everyone books flights etc can’t be easy. There is funding from the County Board for such weekends but because the flights were sorted late, that ate into it meaning there was nothing left for accommodation so we were scattered around Dublin in friend’s houses. Not ideal preparation.

This year Shay from Maastricht took the lead and has been plotting since early summer. That’s not to say it is much easier as the panel was only confirmed this week. And that was after we lost Stockholm’s Niall Scullion who injured his knee at the Belgian Tournament last Saturday. I haven’t seen him play that much but he looks quality, so will be a big loss.

Two of his fellow clubmen join the party; Colin Courtney and Mark O’Kane. We could claim they are more ours i.e. Belgium’s, than Stockholm’s though! Back in 2009, when the Swedish club was just a thought, they travelled to Copenhagen and played for us. Turns out Colin and myself have a mutual friend in Conor O’Brien. Small world. But we know that already.

The Hague contributes Shane O’Sullivan, Simon Malone and Paul Bradfield. From Malmo and Oslo (correct me if I’m wrong), come Michael Lynch and Billy Finn. We’ve never crossed swords but Shay tells me they are two of the shining lights up in Scandinavia. Then there is myself, Darragh and James from our club.

That brings us to ten players with Niall swapping playing duties to help on the line and Shay may well yo-yo between playing and managerial duties.

How we fare will largely come down to how fast we pick-up the nuances of 7’s football, like utilising the keeper, creating overlaps, working backwards and forwards en masse and retaining possession at all costs.

The first couple of times I played, I hated 7’s but the tactical aspects of it have grown on me. It being a game for young whipper snappers means that this may well be my final venture home for it.

We’ll be up against very well drilled sides; twenty of the thirty two County Junior champions of 2011 plus a host more quality teams. The clubs may be Junior but when you take the 7-10 best footballers out of a Junior team, you are talking about Intermediate and Senior level footballers. The task is huge but we have nothing to lose and I certainly plan to get as much out of the day as possible.

It’s also a good opportunity to meet up with some former Belgium players. Big Jim, Eoin and Gearoid Sayers should be knocking about. Rumour has it Eoghan Kelly is around too. All in all, it has the makings of a good weekend.

See The Light

2011-09-15T12:18:00.003+02:00

I had two main concerns heading into Saturday. The first related to our fitness levels. The test results from a couple of weeks ago indicated that only a limited number of players were at the required level. This was not such a surprise considering the extended holidays people take in Brussels and that most people don’t consider including strenuous physical activity into their plans.

Based on the attendance of other teams at the Maastricht 7’s, it was a worry, as they seemed to have most their players around in August. This suggested they would have a head start on us on the training front.

The second concern was the player pool. As I mentioned on numerous occasions already, it was decimated during the summer. Not only did we lose numbers, we also took some big hits in terms of established footballers. The likes of Eoin, Colm & Collins had all played football to a high level at home. Mike, Duffer, Andrew and Ricky were also key members of the panels. There were more on top. Thus, you could say we are a team in transition but this could be said at anytime of the year and by any club in Europe, such is the revolving door nature of player personnel.

The goal on Saturday was to win, no question about that. If we weren't to achieve that, as a minimum, we needed to consolidate. By that I mean, our teams needed to stand their ground despite losing the lads. If we couldn't push forward and win then we certainly wouldn't be pushed back. In the end, I believe we pushed forward with some small but significant steps, even if we didn't achieve our ultimate goals.

There is little need to separate the basic analysis for the Shield and Championship teams. Both teams went out to play with the same plan and they executed it very well. We moved the ball in the ways we've worked on at training and some of the scores we got came from fantastic free flowing moves. There was a much better awareness of space than in previous tournaments and a greater confidence to go forward. Both defences were on top, possibly the tightest in their respective competitions. The Championship panel conceded less in the whole day than The Hague scored in the final alone. Bob only had two shots on goal to contend with (with 50% success!)

Our substitution 'strategy' also changed significantly. In Europe, you can rotate the subs as often as you want, within your panel of fifteen players. It's not something we did so much previously. The main factor was probably because we didn't put enough trust in the panel. I'm sure that lack of trust filters through to the guys on the line and in some way has a negative impact on their confidence.

To rotate players regularily, you have to change the mindset. Lads must not be focused on starting or finishing a game. They must not focus on how long they are on the pitch. What they must do is make sure they are always in a condition where they can deliver their maximum when they are on the pitch. If that means bursting a gut for ten minutes and coming off for five, then so be it. There is an element of selflessness about it. The lads bought in and saw its worth.

Back to the games and the Shield team scored freely in every game except for the first one against Amsterdam when both teams threatened to keep the scoreboard reading 0-0 to 0-0. It's difficult to pick out players but there were a few whose contribution stood out.

Bull's composure on the ball was much improved and his foul count drastically cut. Alongside him was Conor Mescall, who is growing in confidence and stature with each passing tournament and again got himself on the scorers list. Johnny Phelan showed plenty of gusto after his return from injury. Ger McMahon was very steady around the middle. Griff is back involved and his barnstorming play gave the team a massive lift. Up front Michael Hough complimented his usual scoring prowess with some great hold-up play and lay-offs.

When a club loses so many 'A' players, there is a big impact on the 'B' team because players will be pulled. Considering that fact, it was a very positive day. We lost out on the semi in a points shoot out and then to Prague by a point in the placings game. Two defeats by a solitary point (one against the overall winners) and two convincing wins. Final assessment; top third in the class with scope for improvement.

Over to the Championship and it was a case of opportunity knocks for many. Kev has spent most of the last two years battling injury but showed strongly in training during the build up and earned a starting berth. Ross, Conor Mul and Paddy had yet to prove themselves (or be given opportunity) at Championship level. Diarmuid Laffan was only just back in Brussels whilst Diarmuid Lynch was making his debut.

The panel interchanged perfectly through the day and two group wins set up a semi with The Hague. It was all going to plan until half-time when we were leading 0-3 to 0-2. Inexplicably, we failed to score in the second half. We did have sufficient possession in their half and created the only goal chance of the game. Composure let us down on that and one or two other occasions.

I didn’t realise at the time, but our two full forwards didn’t touch the ball in open play in the second half! It wasn’t a case of them being beaten to the ball either. We carried up the pitch rather than let it in. On reflection, I played too deep and this was one of the causes of this. Normally I’d be floating around the middle picking up loose ball and letting it in fast.

Linked to this, if I were to add a third concern to the worries mentioned at the beginning, it would have been that we only worked on our attack at the last sessions prior to the tournament. Plenty of time and ideas to address that though and we will need to ahead of Guernsey.

Our defence put massive pressure on The Hague but they were still able to get the crucial scores. We coughed up some very bad ball in the tackle, something we had avoided doing all day. We also gave a couple of frees when we had two guys swarming a man. We should be the only winner in a situation like that. Guys should be roaring ‘don’t foul, don’t foul’ in those situations and waiting for a sight of the ball to rob it.

We lost 0-5 to 0-3 in the end. Fellas were naturally disappointed in the aftermath. There were a lot of good constructive comments offered in the last few days. What I particularly liked was the absence of blame or excuses. There has been a good balance between comments related to the team’s performance and lads’ own performances. It’s good to see everyone switched on in such a way.

Now we move on to Round 2 in Guernsey. We’ll be down players but some of the Shield players did enough to suggest they would be comfortable stepping up. Everyone showed on Saturday that with clear instruction, the teams will still be competitive. On we go...

Nearly never won the race

2011-09-12T14:35:00.001+02:00

A quick summary of the weekend's events, before more in depth reporting later in the week.

A few clichés to start. It's a results business and at the end of the day, neither of our team's cut the mustard. On the face of it, that is indeed correct. However, dig beyond that simple assessment and you will uncover a solid trail of hope.

The Shied team were very unfortunate. Convincing wins against Niort and Luxembourg A were offset against a 0-3 to 0-2 defeat to Amsterdam A. Because of the number of groups (3), it meant only group winners qualified directly for the semis. The second place teams in the two groups of four teams would have to have a points shoot out to determine the fourth semi-finalist. We lost out to Liffre and so our hopes of a first Shield win were dashed.

Amsterdam A, pre-tournament favourites, went on to claim victory in convincing style, beating fellow Benelux side Frankfurt in the final. The fact we came so close to beating Amsterdam ourselves is a good indicator that the lads weren't so far off the pace. The team can move confidently forward knowing it is on the right track.

Over to the Championship and the expectation in the build up was that it was going to be very competitive this year. We were grouped with Lux A and Jersey (The Hague, Guernsey and Stockholm were in the other group). After a slow start against Jersey, going 0-2 to 0-0 down, we kicked into gear and recorded a 1-6 to 0-2 victory. The margin didn't feel that big out on the pitch though.

Next up was Lux. We had reasonable control of the early exchanges but a goal after half-time gave them a lead. We didn't panic and went up to claim a goal of our own. That would be the key score as we ran out 1-6 to 1-3 winners to top the group.

Our semi-final opponents were reigning champions The Hague. Leading 0-3 to 0-2 at half-time, we were well placed to kick on. It didn't happen though and we reverted to an old habit of taking ball into contact and being dispossessed. I counted about five instances and we can nearly directly attribute our downfall to this factor. In the end we ran out two point losers. The Hague went on to win the final at a canter.

As both our squads were at capacity, we had to 'loan' out a couple of lads to other teams. Adrian played with Amsterdam B whilst John Harkin and Paul Hagan lined out for Paris. Armagh native Hagan showed some Stevie McDonnell qualities to bag the decisive goal in his adopted teams placing game.

The Ladies won again, defeating Paris in the final. Further details escape me as our pitches were a distance away so we only saw their final where they battled through the mud to claim their win.

On a more general note, it was the first time we hosted a Pan-Euro Football round. I'm not involved in the committee but can easily recognise the work that was needed to pull off Saturday. There were fifty four games played over four pitches and controlled by just four refs. All of the approx twenty five teams needed to be registered and fed. The pitches needed to be lined and the goalposts transported out to Leuven. Dinner for nearly 350 people needed to be organised for the Saturday night. These are just a few of many examples of things that need doing.

Some lads took time off work on Friday, others were up at the crack of dawn on Saturday. The volunteer effort is/was incredible (and is the same in every other club when they host an event). Parents flew in for the weekend, friends who are not involved in the G.A.A. club manned stalls and took over the administration. Even past players returned; Eoin Sheanon flying in to help myself and Conan manage the lads. Alec Elliott flew in from the States the morning of the tournament, played for the day and flew out to Asia Sunday morning.

The highlight of the day though? Without doubt, it was having Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh in town. He commentated brilliantly on both finals and hearing his voice echo around the Leuven sports complex will rank high in my list of G.A.A. memories. To make sure I didn't get the spelling wrong, I put his name into google when writing this. The first site that comes up is his wikipedia profile. It introduces him as 'an Irish Gaelic Games commentator'. If ever an intro didn't do a man justice. He is so much more than that. Mícheál is an icon in Irish sport and any intro should address his status appropriately.

He was still going strong as the clocked ticked towards midnight and the trophies were being handed out. He must have talked for a half hour or more. I say talked but I mean entertained. The restaurant was located at the corner of the Grand Place, which is always thronged with tourists. Mícheál's voice was carried by the PA system and drew a healthy crowd towards the premises. Everyone inside sat in silence and awe. Incredible man.

So incredible that he managed to auction a Mick O'Dwyer signed Wicklow jersey for €200, a signed Dublin Hurling jersey for €350 and a signed Kilkenny jersey for nearly €500. That will cover any loss on the day and also boost the club coffers, which is badly needed considering our homeless status at the time of writing.

The after party moved around the corner to 'Six Nations'. Plenty of pints were drank and not without their own bit of significance. The pub donated 50c from every pint bought to the Mark McGovern fund. Mark is the Fermanagh player who, after an incident in a G.A.A. match in San Francisco in June, ended up in a coma. His medical costs are spiralling out of his family's control. Whilst the gesture of Six Nations may not put a significant dent in those costs, if the global G.A.A. network rallies, a lot can be done to help Mark and his family.

Round 2 of the Pan-Euros’ moves to Guernsey in October and with the competitive nature of this year's competitions, it is still all very much to play for.

More ‘analysis’ of Saturday to follow later in the week…

Ready To Go

2011-09-09T13:52:00.003+02:00

It is what you make of it. ‘It’ may not be a one off Championship game at home, but it is Championship none the less. Saturday is the first of three tournaments which will decide who becomes the 2011 European Football Champions.

The week of a tournament is hectic; chasing jerseys, doing the paperwork, confirming numbers and picking teams. The latter is the toughest part and takes a few painful days of deliberation between myself and Conan to settle on it. Some guys will be happier than others but all you can say to lads is that each case is debated to the full. There is no magic formula to selection.

Yesterday I got a mail from Eoin. I’d been meaning to get onto him with an update as I knew he’d be thinking about it. We had a couple of lengthy enough exchanges. He knows the stresses I describe above and the to and fro relaxed me a bit. I feel mentally fresh and enthusiastic about the weekend.

We wrapped things up last night. Numbers were up above the twenty five mark and Conan focused on getting the basics down to a tee. There is a good focus in the whole group; as good as we’ve seen in a while. Not even our guest broke the lads’ concentration. Michael O Muircheartaigh is in town for the weekend’s tournament and his presence should be a great boost to the profile of the event. He’ll be closely observing his son Aonghus’ work with the all conquering Belgian ladies.

Making a training session run smoothly isn’t an easy thing to do. We ask injured guys to make the effort to come down and help laying out cones, pumping balls etc. It’s especially important for the sessions directly preceding a game or tournament to go well. In that sense, Hieler was a massive help both nights this week. He came out in the p1ssing rain and did all the dirty jobs. His input was greatly appreciated.

From the lads’ point of view, we’ve worked very hard on getting everyone on the same page in terms of how we want to play. It’s not an easy task when guys are coming and going but it gives me the perfect opportunity to get out my magnets and start moving them around to try and visualise what we are talking about!

Up until now (i.e. since 2008), we haven’t really tried to get the whole team working in tandem. There have been different kick-out strategies and simple instructions of the what to do’s and what not to do’s but not a total plan. We’re working towards that now but it will take time.

The biggest danger when you try to implement something is that fellas have something to blame when things start to go wrong. If you have no plan, you can’t blame it. It’s a point I raised last night. The only thing that can let us down on Saturday is our concentration, our work rate or our attitude. Success and failure rests in our own hands. We own it. We’ve seen the effectiveness of what we are trying to do but now we must believe in it, without reservation.

There will be times in every game when a team gets on top of you but you must stay calm and keep believing in what you are doing. When the likes of Dublin and Cork put the panic button under lock and key in the last couple of years they began to thrive. I think the word is composure.

Big Show Beckons

2011-09-05T20:57:00.000+02:00

The first round of the Pan-Euro Championship & Shield is nearly upon us. This year we will host a round for the first time. It’s a massive job for the committee as there will be over twenty teams participating across three competitions; Pan-Euro Ladies Gaelic Football, Men’s Football Championship and Shield.

Our girls have already wrapped up this year’s title but the lad’s competitions are starting from scratch. The shadow boxing of the regional’s are over and every team will likely arrive at or close to full strength.

The Championship will be contested by Guernsey, Den Hague, Luxembourg, ourselves, Stockholm and newcomers Jersey. It’s a small but competitive field. Stockholm made their debut last year and whilst we never got to play them, they looked a balanced and committed side. They also have that advantage that comes with the continued breaking of new ground; enthusiasm and hunger.

Guernsey gave as good as they got last year and we’d expect the same again. For me though, the favourites come from closer to home. Luxembourg showed enough in the regional’s to justify being high up the list. The Hague still top it though and backed up their intent with victory in the last regional and then the 7’s. They are shooting for three in a row and have set the benchmark in recent years.

Two disappointing omissions are Paris and Amsterdam. For Paris it’s been a case of so near yet so far in the last three years as they just missed out on overall victory in the Championship. We’ve had some great high scoring battles with them and I’ll miss our duels. It seems they have just lost one too many players and need to opt for the Shield.

That’s where Amsterdam place themselves also. Their club is really beginning to take off and most of us expected to see them in the Championship. One of the things a club needs when it’s building is success and they’ve been unfortunate because they are in what is probably the most competitive region; Benelux. In the four rounds this year, three different teams won. Amsterdam themselves got to a final. The lack of a breakthrough seems to have dented their confidence and they have entered The Shied and will surely take the favourites tag.

Quite where we are at, I don’t know. If we had time to be in transition, then we would be deep in it after losing so many players. We’ve built up deep reserves of players but the pit is far from bottomless. Still, we have two packed panels this weekend and may even have to leave one or two out as we can’t quite muster enough for three teams.

I make for bad company these days. The frustration of not repeating the 2008 success is alive and kicking inside of me and starts to boil over around this time of year. I put a lot of value on a football Championship medal because they are so hard earned. The competition is ultra competitive and the effort required in terms of training and travel makes for a very satisfying result if you achieve your goal.

For those who weren’t there in ‘08, it is difficult to really make them understand what a feeling of achievement it gives you. It’s also difficult to get guys to understand why it is such a step up from the regionals. In the Championship every game is competitive and that drains the energy more. There won’t be any easy match where you can drop into cruise control. There will be no weak links in the oppositions armour. It’s intense from the off. Some guys did well in Benelux but that is not where the final judgement will be cast on any of us.

I’ve no problem replicating the required intensity for myself in the build-up. The only concern you’d have is that you’d burn yourself out thinking about it. Getting the balance is important. The clock is ticking though and each passing year is a passing chance that needs grasping. You must take every possible opportunity to compete and to win.

There are two sessions left before the first ball will be kicked in anger. We’ve a good three weeks work done and if we can top it off with two purposeful sessions this week then both of our teams will be in good shape.

Different Ball Game

2011-09-04T20:31:00.001+02:00

Having skipped last season to give the back a break, I’m gearing up for a winter playing with FC Irlande. The club was a massive help when I was trying to settle in Brussels. It provided regular training and games but more importantly, a lively social network.

I played regularly from the 2006/07 season and combined that with club trainer duties from 2007-2009. It was an enjoyable time but with the G.A.A. club beginning to boom from 2008 onwards, my involvement lessened. The G.A.A. became all consuming and by the 2009/10 season, my appearances were more irregular than regular.

Last Monday night I lined out at right back for the seconds against the first team. When I got onto the pitch I was happy to see I wasn’t alone in making my comeback. Emmett Devine, captain of our 2008 Euro Championship team was also there. We would have formed a tight bond on that maiden voyage but with Ruby and Mia having arrived in his house in recent years, we’d rarely see each other anymore.

There are a few glaring differences between FC Irlande and Belgium G.A.A. The first is the number of foreigners. FCI is awash with them and their different customs and languages. Everyone shakes hands when they see you, regardless of if they know you are not. If they don’t know you, they will most often just shake your hand but not actually introduce themselves.

Of course then there is the nature of the soccer player which tends to be a little less impressed with physical contact beyond a friendly handshake. It is particularly bad in the league we play in here, where you can barely say boo to someone.

Yesterday we had our first game of the season. I lined out with the seconds who had no less than nine Irish in the match day squad. This was way above average for the club and is a big draw. It has a cluster of current and former Belgium G.A.A. stalwarts. The likes of John O’Donnell and Emmett Devine from the ’08 generation. Paul Gavin is still dual assigned. Pat Ahern flirted with Gaelic for a time and of course, we cannot leave out Ollie Smith, the controversial Cavan man who lined out for Munster in the 2010 Intra-club league.

We won the game 1-0 with a late goal from Pat. I did fine at right back but it’s not necessarily a natural thing to me. Playing 5-a-side is one thing but 11-a-side is completely different. You need to keep a shape in soccer and in defence that means you all need to move back and forward together, managing the offside trap.

It’s the touch that’s a killer though. I’d be fairly confident of ‘trapping’ a gaelic football descending from the sky but a soccer ball is totally different. It’s lighter and more inclined to fly off your foot when you are not used to the weight of it. Even a straight forward pass can pose issues at the beginning as the ball doesn’t come off your foot with the same consistency.

Kicking the ball poses another issue. You’d be surprised how much shin guards affect it when you aren’t used to them, especially when they begin to slip down your shin during the game.

How to keep your balance is also different. You can use your arms a lot more when backing up to catch a high ball in G.A.A. In soccer you can’t use the arms in the same way and I ended up on my arse a few times Monday night.

Still, with a group like we had on Saturday, it should be a good way of keeping active in the winter. Plenty of the G.A.A. lads are talking about joining up so they should swell the ranks further. I’d certainly recommend it.

Poster Child for Integration…

2011-09-01T08:32:00.000+02:00

…maybe a slight overstatement.

I landed in Brussels six years ago today and as I said to Dad this morning, there have been far more ups than downs.

The first year here was disrupted as I was still travelling home to play football and then was sent to the UK for a couple of months work on the production line with Toyota.

In the summer of 2006 I joined FC Irlande and that’s when things kicked off (pardon the pun). Sport is the only drug I need to keep me on a constant high and training twice a week, with a game on Saturday satisfied my fix. I became more involved in the following couple of seasons when I took on the position of trainer for the club.

The G.A.A. was lingering in the background all that time. We had a hurling team and an enthusiastic group of people but hadn’t got enough cutting in us to really make a go of the G.A.A. club.

The tide began to change in 2008 when we expanded to include Gaelic Football and changed our name to Belgium G.A.A. (formerly Brussels Hurling & Camogie club). We haven’t looked back since as European Championships followed in every code. I spent three thoroughly enjoyable and frustrating years training the Footballers before stepping back this year. Although that break was short lived as I will assist Conan now that Eoin is gone.

On the work front, it is difficult to imagine getting better experience than I have done in my job. The challenges of a merge of two separate Toyota entities was quickly followed by a financial crisis, a recall crisis and last but not least, the latest crisis linked to the Japan earthquake.

I have made my friends through sport and that has given me, like all the others in our clubs, a network of people across Europe and even beyond; that you would be comfortable calling on anytime you may land in their city.

My language skills show slower progress. I can say hello and thank you in Flemish and rely on a limited number of individual words, rather than sentences, to communicate in French.

Any regrets? Just one that will linger on - more of an itch that needs scratching than anything else. The missed South-East Hurling final of 2005 and subsequent victory that followed a year later. With a career that is likely to conclude in goal, it may not be out of reach yet.

Maximising the gain

2011-08-28T20:59:00.000+02:00

A lot of our fellas face a challenging couple of weeks to get their fitness back up after their extended summer breaks. Last Tuesday was the first session in nearly a month for some guys. It means they have three weeks to find every possible gain they can get.

Finding ways to maximise those gains will be key. The first thing we did was to put two additional Saturday sessions on prior to the first round of the Championship on September 10th. That effectively gives us an extra weeks preparation considering we normally train twice a week. It means we will have the equivalent of a month’s work done.

Another important point is what lads do when they are not training. I raised this point last Tuesday. If guys want to get the full benefit out of each session they must do the right things in terms of recovery. Of course rest is a part of this but also what we eat and drink will be key to making sure we take as much out of each session as possible.

In days gone by, I’d rant at lads to be doing more on their own. However, the guys who are likely to listen to this are already doing a bit extra and the others fellas are unlikely to take heed so there is no point banging anyone’s head.

What players can do is control their diet a bit better. Cut out the needless two or three Thursday night pints and burger in The Oak or where ever else they may have them. Again, there is no point in lecturing guys, you just have to hope they understand the benefits. And I certainly wouldn’t ask anyone to stay off the booze totally – just pick and choose more wisely.

After that session on Tuesday, I was starving when I got home. There was nothing in the apartment after my holidays, bar two borderline out of date eggs and an English muffin. My default option would be to go back down the stairs and get a take away from one of the many pizzerias on my street.

I did my part though and boiled the eggs and called them dinner. Another thing I did was buy a recovery drink. It’s made by an Irish company called Kinetica and comes in powder form. I’ve long been sceptical about such products because you hear a lot of dodgy stories about them. Some of them contain low quality ingredients and traces of creatine, glucose and other things that can lead a fella to start bursting out of their clothes, and not in a good way.

This one is endorsed by the likes of Mike McGurn and Graham Canty and is made from 100% natural ingredients. The idea behind it is that it helps your muscles recover faster after training and that’s something I welcome with the high training volume at the moment between gym and field sessions.

You have to believe that these behaviours i.e. managing diet etc will make sure that you get as much benefit as possible out of training. I’m convinced you will see a difference even within two weeks. That puts your mental state in the right place and quite often that can nearly be more important than your physical state!

Mission: System Override

2011-08-27T17:12:00.000+02:00

With the exception of the Benelux tournament in The Hague, I’ve pretty much been a transformed personality around training and tournaments this year. Gone are the rants and moods. In their place a more jovial character, content with his role as captain and not missing the stresses of management one bit.

Even after Eoin’s departure, I’ve taken the odd session and even if I was on edge when I arrived at the pitch for different reasons, training still provided a great release. The lads have generally kept good concentration levels and we’ve all got on swimmingly.

However, Conan hasn’t been able to offer much support in recent weeks and with Eoin gone, the training responsibilities are meandering more and more into my path. This is certainly not the scenario I want but it’s a case of needs must. One of the sometimes unfortunate aspects of my personalities is that I’m pretty much all or nothing. So after taking a string of sessions in a row, I take a more personal interest in what we will actually do.

The 7’s in Maastricht gave me a lot of hope. On paper, we were maybe the 4th strongest team. However, tactically we got it spot on and each guy bought into that sum of the parts mentality; by and large. The result, as you know, is we came within one score of a draw and two of a win.

In my previous reign as trainer I had all but given up on tactics. There are many reasons. The main two are that you simply don’t get the same guys at training often enough to get the messages across and the other is that not enough guys probably really want to invest the thinking time in understanding and learning the tactics.

The Maastricht experience combined with a discussion with Dad last night on the topic, convinced me to try again. The project started at training today and showed many promising signs. Both teams were given different instructions and we played in five minute bursts. Each team was asked to rigidly stick to those instructions. The first five minutes was pretty good. You could clearly see the plus and minus’ of the different set of tactics. This was the objective of the exercise.

In the second set of five minutes, both teams were given different sets of instructions. This is when it fell apart. The team opposing my team decided to change their direction when they started to lose. In a normal situation, this is commendable behaviour. After all, doing the same thing will only get the same results.

However, the purpose of the exercise was to clearly see the pros and cons of different tactics. There would be a third five minutes to give more scope for changing. We never got this far though.

Mid-play I pointed out that the other team should return to the original instructions. After it was ignored a second time, I called a halt to proceedings. What followed was one of my more slightly over the top rants, impressive enough to draw a reasonable sized crowd of onlookers. With that, the session came to a close.

There is a train of thought, which I buy into, that you should always finish the session on a positive note. However, there is also a train of thought which says, always finish training with the players wanting more. I backed the second one today.

Ger took the warm down and there was ridiculous tension in the already thundery Brussels air. Having calmed, and recognising I was the cause of this tension, I decided it needed defusing. Normally I would rarely reference any personal experiences when talking to a team but one story illustrates the pain of trying to achieve what we were trying to achieve at the session i.e. impose a style of play on a team.

I’m sure I have told the story in a previous entry so forgive me if you are familiar with it. My dirty secret is I used to play field hockey. For one season we had a coach called George Treacy. He was a former international player and manager with Ireland and the first coach I ever had, bar isolated sessions with the likes of Eamonn Ryan, who improved my technique (there was plenty of scope!) and brought truly tactical insights to our game.

Getting up to speed on his system was a painful exercise. In one of the first games against Cork Harlequins, he hauled myself and Lenny off early in the game. As the the two central midfielders and were not used to sitting in the dugout. We were later reinstalled but the message was clear; stop doing your own thing and buy into my way.

Actually, this is something that is in my make-up. I wasn’t blessed with blinding pace or an exceptional skill set. I trade on determination and an ability to read the game and distribute the ball reasonably quickly and accurately. I also do what I’m told (although many many people my disagree) and have always been happy to play whatever role necessary in the team.

I started to develop this mindset when I was eleven and playing Basketball for St Pius X in Indianapolis, Indiana. In Basketball, the game plan, to put it simply, is made up of a series of predefined plays. Everyone knows where and when to move and where they ultimately want to get the ball too. Your role is clearly defined.

Anyway, back to George and his tactics. He persisted to make myself, Lenny and the others understand. We spent many a cold night on the training pitch in the Mardyke being drilled. It bore fruit. A few months into his reign we played at home to CofI. To put this in context, the Munster Senior League is like the Scottish Premiership. CofI and Harlequins are miles ahead. Back then, they were littered with current and former Senior internationals as well as a host of others who played at U-21 and U-18 level. In fact, I doubt they had anyone in their panel who hadn’t worn a green shirt at some level at the time.

We had Lenny, a former U-18 international, Eoinzy who had played for Leinster U-18 and myself who made a few appearances for the Irish Universities. I should qualify my representative career by mentioning that I wouldn’t have been everyone’s cup of tea. There was a Nordie called Grimes in the management team and he wouldn’t have appreciated the qualities a ‘converted hurler’ brings to a hockey pitch.

Sorry, I’m reminiscing now. Anyway, that gives you the context of the difference in quality of the two teams. Considering we had lost 12-0 to the same opposition in a cup game a few weeks previous, to trail only 2-0 at half-time could have been considered a decent improvement. At the interval, George insisted to stay with our system. We did and got one back quickly.

I’ll never forget the passage of play that led to the second. We progressed up field with the ball and looked to find a gap on the right. Nothing on so we dropped the ball into midfield and looked left. Nothing on their either so back and forth we went. This period of ‘sustained’ pressure was an achievement in itself as you rarely enjoy much of it against CofI or Quins. Our patience paid off when we found Lenny in a gap and he equalised. 2-2.

With time nearly up, Eddie Coogan, a guy who was a third team player at CofI before moving to UCC, even had the cheek to search for a winning goal but a magnificent save denied us a spectacular winner.

Again some context. I’m open to correction, but that is the only time in at least the last fifteen years that either CofI or Quins dropped points to any other team in the league (besides each other).

As I said, to get to that place was painful. Players play to instincts or habits and overriding those in-build systems is a massive challenge. It’s not just one player you have to do it with either, its 11, 13, 15 or however many you have on your team. Today, we made a start. The pain we went through was part of the process. If we/I can convince guys of the value of buying into a system, we will definitely achieve. Despite the couple of misdemeanours, there was enough to suggest guys could see the bigger picture.

Comment; People shouldn’t think that tactics are regimental and box everyone off. Every team needs an x-factor. However, consider Barcelona. Messi is their x-factor but they clearly play as a team and Messi is an integral part of their system. The point is, don’t think a system can’t allow for an x-factor but don’t think the x-factor can be exclusive of the system.

Good times in Kinsale

2011-08-24T22:24:00.000+02:00

Timmy was telling me that when Cork played Sligo in the All Ireland Junior Football semi in Croke Park a couple of weeks ago, it was the first time a Kilmacabea man appeared in HQ in the club’s history. His name was Daniel O’Donovan.

It wasn’t a first for Kinsale but with Richard O’Sullivan lining out at centre back and Brian Coughlan taking station at wing forward, we were will represented. The lads helped Cork to last weekend’s final and through extra-time to claim a third All-Ireland in three years at this grade. Richard also played in the last triumph.

It was another success in an eventful year for Brian who claimed a Sigerson medal with UCC as well as a Munster U-21 football medal with Cork. He started the U-21 semi-final against Galway but unfortunately the team failed to live up to the high expectations.

I also noticed an O Finn coming on for the Cork Ladies in their All-Ireland quarter final against reigning champions Dublin. I’m pretty sure it was Orla Finn from Kinsale. Her point contributed to a magnificent comeback to shock the champions and book a semi final place against Laois.

A little further afield, Cian Quigley is captaining the Irish Aussie Rules team down in Oz. They’ve qualified for the final of the World Cup.

Whilst people may think Kinsale is a big town, it doesn’t translate into big numbers in the club. With rugby, sailing, soccer and a host of other sports (not to mention a lively nightlife) to compete with, the G.A.A. has struggled to hold its own.

In recent years , a lot of the lads have worn a County jersey; Niall Mac, Gearoid O’Leary, Alan Gould and Derry O’Callaghan are some of the young players driving the Intermediates run to the quarter final of the championship which takes place this Sunday night in Pairc Ui Rinn. With a semi-final in the South-East hurling also pending, the year is beginning to take shape.

Hopefully the lads’ success will rub off on the rest and a good year for a few individuals can translate into some badly needed collective success!

Maiden, double, triple, quadruple

2011-08-22T22:28:00.001+02:00

Champions for a fourth year in a row is deserving of more than a paragraph at the end of the lad’s report. Our ladies dominance of the European Championship is unquestioned. It can be argued that they simply have the best players but that would ignore their relentless commitment to training. I can remember more than one occasion trying to get the full pitch off Caoimhe for a night and being rejected because they couldn’t possibly miss a training session!!

It’s a case of what next now for them. It must be difficult for other clubs to keep going when they are facing such dominant opposition. Our girls can’t do much about that though but they need new challenges or new teams to emerge.

Travelling to 7’s tournaments in Dublin or London would give them that but it would add more expense and time to an already taxing calendar. It’s a tough situation as you sense many of them could improve even more if they had more regular competitive games. Hopefully things will take a swing in Paris or Holland in the coming months and they can build themselves back up. Maybe even Iberia could combine their talents to force a challenge.

The girls were dominant again on Saturday despite missing their defensive lynchpin Grainne. Sinead Fitz led from the front with her usual ‘hustle’ and even cracked a smile when she picked up the Player of the Tournament.

So a fourth successive success, claimed with three tournaments left. The trophy will sit nicely alongside the 2011 Camogie Championship until well into the new year.

Not quite 7th Heaven, but a good day

2011-08-22T22:23:00.001+02:00

7’s football. I’m growing to like it. We had a bad start in Dubai 2009 when the hosts gave us a lesson in the semi-final. We had a good team and high hopes but the nuances of the game were lost on us. Our opponents were hiding balls and playing keep ball, much to our frustration.

Then I went to Dublin last year for the Men’s 7’s in Judes. We learned as the day went on and our performances improved. In the end we bowed out to the Cork County Junior Champions, Glanworth, after a right ding dong battle.

A week later I was back for the Ladies 7’s and I was becoming more fond of the tactical side of the game. The girls put in some gutsy performances and we exited with our heads held high.

This year, Maastricht G.A.A. club decided to host a 7’s event alongside the Ladies Euro Championship round. With such a gap between the end of Benelux and the start of the Pan-Euros, it was a rare opportunity for football.

To an outsider, it’s hard to explain what Brussels is like in August. The city, well, the part of the city around the EU, literally empties. Restaurants and shops often close for the month. With so many involved (I hasten to use the word working) in the public sector, training numbers dive. We had +/- six in the week prior to the tournament.

Some urgent action was required so I re-launched my soccer career. It proved fruitful as I plucked 39 year old Enda from G.A.A. retirement. Evan, a friend of injury dropout Colm, joined up and on the eve of the tournament, a Kerry man called Micheal Duggan was on the blower to Colin saying he had just landed in Antwerp and was up for it. We had 10 and would need them all.

The format of the day was gruesome. We would play 6 group games and if all went to plan, a semi and final on top of that. The pre-match shaping suggested Lux, Amsterdam and The Hague looked strong. Maastricht, Dusseldorf and Munich would be the unknowns.

It was Maastricht up first and they were a combination of lads from different teams. We had a head start on the tactics front from our previous experiences and that gave us the edge. Lux came next and our disciplined defensive formation kept them at bay. Darragh struck the crucial penalty to separate the sides.

In what is a rarity in International G.A.A., we had a set of brothers on board; Colin and Tiernan Byrne. Tiernan has spent the last two summers working in Dev’s and I’m sure he will have enjoyed Saturday, topping his hard work with a sweetly struck point.

We played The Hague in the third game and had identified this as the toughest assignment. They led by 1-3 in the second half and we had a difficult decision to make. When you get a lead in 7’s, you can run the clock down by using your keeper as a spare man. We could burn energy chasing shadows or stand back, let them kill the clock and concede defeat. Looking at the bigger picture, we let them have the ball and didn’t even press in the closing minutes.

Next up was Munich and an atrocious run of individual errors saw us cough up a series of points in the first half. It was our worst performance of the day. We rallied in the second half but it was too little too late. Conor Mescall saw red for striking. It was a frustrating one as the guy was clearly blackguarding when he went down holding his head. He managed to drag himself off the field to have a good laugh about it on the sideline as a last ditch strike at goal struck the bottom of the post with the last kick of the game. We lost 0-5 to 0-3.

It put the pressure on as we faced undefeated Amsterdam next. Our objective now was to finish 2nd/3rd in the group and so avoid The Hague until the final. We conceded a goal early and then lost Tiernan to a nasty ankle injury. His loss, following on from Conor’s suspension, meant we had to do battle with just eight players. Battle we did though and Ger, Micheal, Evan and Co worked like dogs to get us back in the game. We pulled an unlikely win out of the bag to keep us on track.

Dusseldorf provided opposition for our last group game and they were probably the weakest team on the day. They saved their best for last though and we were unconvincing two point leaders at the interval. We pulled away in the second half and then quickly exited to see the final placings. Third meant a semi against second placed Amsterdam.

This fixture is beginning to cause Udson a few issues. He has recently moved to the Dutch capital and is training with the lads up there. However, he is committed to seeing out the rest of the season with us. His form on Saturday, combined with the fact he has a lot more training under his belt than most of our lads, puts him in a strong position in the selection stakes for the upcoming Belgium tournament.

Back to the semi and a carbon copy goal gave Amsterdam an early lead again. Their panel was bursting at the seams and their freshness was running our ragged legs into the ground. Somehow, we stayed in touch but when the ref indicated there was thirty seconds left and we were two points down, it looked like we’d be better off shortening the road. We pointed but all that Amsterdam had to do was to keep the ball.

We put the press on and it worked. Amsterdam lost composure momentarily and a wild clearance fell straight to Enda. He directed the ball towards Darragh who proceeded along the end line only to look like he lost possession and it had gone dead. The umpire ushered play to continue and the ball was in the back of the net moments later. The final whistle followed. Amsterdam were devastated. We were elated. It was a harsh end to their day as they were clearly better than us in that semi.

It was a true never say die performance out of us and came about through a collective determination. That was one of the most pleasing aspects of the day. Considering we nearly always have two teams, it creates a division in the panel. It means some of us never get to play together but there was no such division on Saturday. I saw the qualities of Conor in much closer proximity and Ger and Tiernan got on a lot more ball than they usually do. We had a clear system and everyone bought into it, which is something that we’ve struggled to do over the last few years.

Back to the final and our old friends The Hague. They were strong with some of their main sharpshooters in their ranks. We had the defensive set-up down to a tee but needed another attacking option up front, so we pushed Darragh a bit further up as there was no point in him providing me another option alongside Udson for the kick-outs. We went toe to toe for virtually the whole game.

Trailing by three points late on, I went for a point but took too much time over it and was blocked. Regaining possession, I took off along the end line. There was a possible appeal for a penalty but with the momentum, advantage was given. I’d been forced onto my left foot though and my goal attempt flew over the bar. It was our best and last chance.

There were no arguments with the result. We had maximised our potential on the day. Darragh reckoned we were probably 5/1 at the start so to get so close was satisfying. I was very happy going home and if the lads’ focus and discipline spreads to the others at training, we’ll hope to make the necessary improvements to challenge in the Shield and Championship this year.

Ramping Back Up

2011-08-08T21:15:00.001+02:00

Normally we would train throughout the summer and battle the weariness brought on by the massive gap (two months) in the fixture list. We went against that habit this summer and after the last regional up in The Hague, we decided to take a two week break. It allowed the hurlers just hurl and the rest have a few weeks to do whatever else they do.

Returning last week gives us a six week run-in to the first round of the Pan-Euros which is a nice manageable amount of time to build up your fitness and maintain your focus. The break also draws a line under the Benelux phase and creates a new starting point for the season. That’s especially necessary this year as we have lost so many lads.

We didn’t manage to win Benelux but that was more down to the fact that we were mixing up the teams a bit. We won two of the four tournaments, the ‘A team’ winning one and the ‘B team’ winning another. We weren’t too concerned about this point as the purpose was to unearth a few new lads.

The likes of Paddy Cassidy, Ross Church, Darragh Cotter and Colm MacEoin were those to shine most often and should bolster our panel going into the Pan-Euros. There’s a few more knocking on the door but they were the ones who performed most consistently.

Benelux was at its most competitive in years. Den Hague and Lux both won a tournament whilst Amsterdam proved the nearly men. They appear to be a coming team and their ambitions lie in the Championship this year which signals their intent.

Personally I was happy enough with the four tournaments. When we went to Lux back in April I was still struggling badly with the back and played in goal. In the following two tournaments I played outfield and some good ‘game time’ management by Conan and Eoin allowed me get through both tournaments. I was still in second or third gear though, focussing on my defending rather than contributing going forward. I’d been thinking prior to the last tournament in The Hague that I’d made maybe four or five breaks up field in those tournaments. That was purely down to trying to make sure I’d get through the day.

I started in similar fashion up in The Hague and was letting ball in early. Then I heard Giller - who falls into the Sunday Game category of analysis at times - roar at me to start carrying the ball more. Considering it to be such a rare, specific comment, I felt obliged to take note and started to get forward. It cost me in the end though as all the games were tight, meaning I had no rest time and the tank was running on empty in the last game. I wasn’t unduly concerned as the goal all year was to be fit enough for the Pan-Euros.

The back is as good as it’s going to get now so it’s full steam ahead. The first two sessions back weren’t excessively hard but the legs were still hurting a bit so there will be no layoff for the next five weeks. Myself, Crusher, Johnny O and Colin are heading for Slovenia next week but I’m not sure they know what they’ve signed up for. I’ve a handsome new pair of blue Puma V1.10’s courtesy of Johnny’s new employers and will be eager to try them out down there.

July and August are terrible months in terms of attendance at training here. Most of the EU institutions shut up shop and that means from around mid-July until the last week of August, guys are scattered all over the place. I can’t imagine many of them will put training high on their agenda of holiday activities so they will be in for a serious dose of catch-up upon their return.

One can only look after your own house in this regard. There are ten team sessions between now and the first round and those combined with a bit of gym work and the odd running session should ensure I have no excuses come Championship.

A tale of two personalities

2011-08-04T09:51:00.003+02:00

Grit v flair, arrogance v modesty, maverick v conservative, controlled and measured v wild and unpredictable, intense v relaxed, team player v individual, back v forward. I could go on but I wouldn’t dare try and separate these attributes between myself and Eoin Sheanon. However, I know for sure that if I was black, he was almost always white. Nearly every facet of our individual personalities opposed each other. Still, somehow it worked, in the end. The only explanation is because it had to.

Eoin spent a bit of time working at Toyota when he first arrived and landed at my desk one day. It was our first encounter. He wanted to know what the story with the football was. We had only just started the team properly but had played one tournament the previous year, taking a few unmerciful hidings. Displaying all the usual preseason bluster of a Dub, he declared, on the basis of no relevant info, that we should be trying to win the Championship.

And win it we did, with the defining moment coming in the final at the last tournament in Maastricht. Eoin dispossessed his man after a short kick-out and laid off to Collie B to goal. Champions at our first attempt and a highlight in all our GAA careers.

It wasn’t all plain sailing that year and ‘managing’ Eoin had already offered some challenges. In the week up to the Budapest tournament he had no flight booked. He sent me a mail banging on about getting a bus through the night to get down there. In the end we switched Bull’s ticket at the very final hour. He won Player of the Tournament that day.

It was the season of 2009 when we hit one of our rockiest patches. Eoin and a few of the lads missed a fair chunk of the first half of the season as they were on the Euro election campaign trail. He was irritable when he returned and becoming more frustrated with me. I was getting crankier as the season went on and we were on course for a clash.

It came one night in June of that summer. Time keeping, discipline and diligence in doing drills would be high on my list of priorites. Eoin knew well how to push my buttons if he wanted to piss me off. That night he sauntered in late and was dragging his ass in the warm-up. We had a quiet exchange just after I explained the first drill. Eoin, by choice, headed for the gate. We didn’t see him for weeks.

He would have felt I was too demanding of lads in terms of what I expected in terms of commitment. I unapologetically look at this aspect of things through my own lenses and my opinion on what guys need to do still hasn’t changed, even if I do not drive home the message as much as I used to. The initial success of the football was built on creating a set-up that was as organised and as ‘professional’ as possible to make sure we could attract and keep players.

We survived 2009 just about and headed for 2010 a bit deflated. I needed Eoin on the same page as me. The fact that I would ask him to be captain surprised everyone (because of our relationship, not necessarily his credentials). It was the only way I could make sure that we stay somewhat aligned. Ownership and all that.

Team selection remained my responsibility but Eoin would have significant input. He could be a bit of a nightmare in this regard, coming up with some outrageous selections and totally disregarding circumstances like attendance at training! He would become more measured in his approach when he took the reins but at the time I’d regularly get lectured about ‘ruthlessness and conviction’ with regard to selection.

We had another blow-up in the intra club league. He had picked the panels and robbed Munster of the Clare lads and gave me a panel with some lads who weren’t even active. I took things into my own hands and did a bit of recruitment which infuriated everybody, basically only because we were hammering them!!!

Anyway, it came to the Munster Dublin game. I started full-back to mark Sheanon but instead he started midfield and put Johnny O in on me with the clear tactic to try and expose the height difference. Soon Eoin wandered in and I kicked a point after our first exchange. Naturally this pumped me up more and coupled with his growing frustration at his teams’ performance, his pot began to boil.

There were a few stray arms and fists flying about and he took offence to some of my challenges, as did I to his. Then there was a volley of verbal abuse, focussing on me being a cheating so and so and going to extremes to win. It was personal and heated. We shook hands at the end although I took some convincing.

No story would be complete without mentioning the Munich fun bus. The story is not short of airtime at this stage. In short, the lads got lost the morning of the tournament and arrived late after some jolly phone calls explaining their predicament (which had followed on from the previous evening’s calls about lost jerseys etc). I didn’t try and get the game delayed and instead started with a mix of the A and B team. The lads arrived at half-time and I refused to bring any of them on. We lost narrowly.

Mostly our rows have been behind closed behind closed doors but Sheanon went loopers after the game and we had probably our most public and vicious exchanged of words. To this day, that incident with the bus can ruin the night when we are all out together, such is the feelings the incident provokes.

There were plenty of more blow-ups along the way and I often thought about how much more interesting the blog would be if I could have told people about them.

On a one to one level, the majority of our meaningful communication was done by email. We operate in an environment of self-rule where we must respect the input and decisions of lads around the same age. It’s not easy. At home there was always an ‘adult’ who had distance from us. Here our lives are intertwined.

There have been very few lads who would have given either of us direct feedback. Some may think I can’t take it but if you read the blog regularly you should know I am my biggest critic. What I won’t listen to is one liners picked up off the Sunday Game. Sheanon often provided me feedback and I valued it and reflected much of it to my approach. He would be less acknowledging of mine i.e. not respond (it was normally done by email) but I think some of it got through.

His best tournament last year in my opinion was down in Maastricht and I sent him a mail before that, questioning what he had been bringing to our game and what I thought he needed to do. I presume he read it but I can’t be sure if he listened. Much of his game that day reflected those points though. I particularly refer to his increased assists!!

It was time for a change this winter and I handed over to Eoin. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I enjoyed watching his painful transition to management. For three years he thought I gave out too much at training. Now, he was at the helm and you could hear his ranting and raving all around the VUB complex. He probably understands a lot more about me and my approach after his six month in charge. He also asked me to be captain this year, highlighting his acknowledgment that we needed to be on the same page. Not quite keep your friends close and your enemies closer but some similarities to the sentiment!!

To say we were never friends wouldn’t be right though. We were team-mates but we were never overly close off the pitch, despite both of our closest friends being the same people. We’d struggle to hold a conversation or look each other in the eye during normal day to day chats! We wouldn’t exchange non-GAA related texts or emails. However, give us a few pints and we could converse about hurling and football for hours with little or no confrontation. As team-mates the relationship was strong and he was always the go to man when I had possession or needed advice.

Those conflicting personality traits I mentioned at the beginning were no doubt the blocking factor to our relationship being anything more. I’d often say that if we were in the same club at home we probably wouldn’t have got on at all. We’d have been marking each other at training and our style would have conflicted to such an extent that I’m guessing the hostilities displayed in the intra club league would have boiled over more than once or twice. We needed each other more here because we had to take bigger roles than we would have at home.

We shook hands on last Thursday night and he thanked me for everything. I did likewise. It’s been a hell of a journey with him. The impact we’ve had on each other’s existence in Brussels has been significant. We probably wouldn’t have survived this long without the G.A.A. and both of us have made our marks on it in our own way. He’s truly old school Belgium G.A.A. and there is not many of us left; one less now.

I wish him luck with his next challenge. We may not have been best friends but I think I know him reasonably well. He needed to move, especially after the guys he would have spent the most time with have moved on. His head was elsewhere. I wouldn’t rule out him coming back at some stage though. Brussels was a home to him and he probably realised in the last few weeks that, despite so many guys moving on, there is still plenty here for him should he decide to come back some day.

Chasing Daylight

2011-07-31T13:11:00.000+02:00

The closing paragraph of my last entry said that we were capable of ending the season on a high. It needed Martin to get the blend right and the players to perform. Both happened and we claimed a third win in a row in our home tournament.

It was a day that didn’t belong to summer. It was damp, with sporadic rain showers and soft underfoot conditions. Den Hague and Zurich opened proceedings with a physically contested draw. I watched from a distance and was impressed with the strength of the panels they brought and the purpose with which they approached each exchange.

We started off against Lux. They’re struggling at the moment but to their credit, they put a panel together and made the journey. We all know how difficult it is when you are blending only a few experienced hurlers into a largely inexperienced group. We won the game well with the highlight coming from Michael Hough who showed agility you would not associate him with to swivel and connect first time to raise a green flag.

Next up was The Hague; a team playing for the Championship. We were relaxed before the game, far too relaxed for Martin’s liking and he gave us a fairly animated dressing down. They hit us early with a few frees but we tipped away with scores from Hough and Shane. Still, we trailed by a point at the interval.

We struck back immediately after the break with a goal. It’s difficult to know who did what when you are in goal at the other end and lads have helmets on. I think it was a ground strike by Crusher. Things heated up as the stakes rose for our opponents. Colm MacEoin came into his own then. Having had a couple of exchanges with him in training I know he has bite and the hurling definitely brought it out of him. His fire lit the fuse of those around him and helped by another goal, we won by six or seven points. We showed a relentlessness that had been absent all year, especially around the middle where Bull and Shane were making some big tackles.

Our defence was going well. We were limiting our opponents to points from distance even if a few too many of them were coming from frees. Willie and Keary were keeping things tight in front of me. The only concern point was the communication and this time I was one of the guilty parties. There were a couple of moments of indecision between myself and Willie. A heavy wet ball descending from the sky through traffic can do that to fellas!

Those two wins meant we had qualified for the final. Now, The Hague needed us to beat Zurich in our last group game to qualify for the final and thus keep their hopes of an overall Championship win alive. If it was a run of the mill tournament we’d have emptied the bench and rested lads. We respect what each team puts into the whole thing though and did what we thought was the right thing and went with a strong team.

Zurich’s greater need was giving them an edge on the scoreboard but we kept in touch. Until Keary’s red mist moment. A ball broke and he did a fair job of trying to break his hurley off one of their lads. Kev knew straight away that he had done wrong. Anay wasn’t impressed either and she literally hauled him off the pitch. It made our task all the harder. We went down by a couple of points in the end.

I wasn’t worried about the prospect of facing them again in the final. We made some mistakes in that game, played a lot of the second half with ten men and as much as we wanted to win in our heads, a guy will never put his body on the line in the same way when the goal is already achieved.

Martin had a few decisions to make. The void left by Keary being the first one. He brought in the old warhorse Fergal Mythen. There were problems further up the field though. We got no change out of their full back line so he brought Daire Cott to half forward and put the robust Aonghus in full to fight that battle.

It felt like they were well over us in the first half and I was surprised to be level at 0-5 to 0-5 at half-time. Like against The Hague, we goaled again early in the second half. I think it was Crusher. We were coming strongly and added another goal when Aonghus laid off brilliantly to Daire Cott to fire to the net.

Zurich had already been crowned Euro Champions by virtue of getting to the final but we know from our experience in the football in 2008, how important it is to finish the job. They came again but found player of the tournament Darragh Cotter to be an immovable object in defence.

Behind him Fergal Mythen was winning some crucial ball. He’s some man. We still don’t know his age but rumours were rife on Saturday that he was in Hayes’ Hotel on that faithful day. If he was, he showed all that experience to close the game out. When you’re in goal he’s a great man to have in front of you. The kind of minder that a keeper will always appreciate. I’m sure it was an especially satisfying day for him, with his wife and army of kids watching on from the sideline.

It’s hard to explain to people at home how winning one tournament can be so satisfying. This was especially so as if we ended the season empty handed it would have been a massive blow to hurling in the club. Instead, we beat the two top teams in this year’s championship and proved to ourselves that when we have most of our players, we can compete. And we managed on Saturday without Eoin Sheanon. He has been by far the most prolific forward in the competition for the last few years. The victory was the daylight at the end of the tunnel which we wondered if we would see this year.

I’m glad I copped on last week and realised I had to play. The outing in goal went largely to plan except for the concession of a goal in the final. It was from a free which started on the wing and due to persistent moaning, was brought in front of the posts. It was a very savable shot but we let it slip in. I reckon we’d have been the first team to keep a clean sheet over the course of a tournament day if we had kept it out. Disappointing.

That miserly stat wasn’t down to my brilliance. Our defence did very well and I had no clean shot to deal with, just the usual dirty slippery balls you get. Fortunately the eye was in and the confidence grew as the day progressed. I was happy with the puck outs too and reckon we won a higher % of our own puck outs than any other team. That was partly down to me and partly down to the lads who put their hand up and made the right moves. One other part that could have been sharpened was clearances in open play. I may have had options on shorter on a few occasions but opted to go long. That just comes with that bit of confidence.

Needless to say, we celebrated with excess in Devs that evening. And it wasn’t just our tournament win but also a double from the ladies who not only won the tournament but also the overall championship. Camogie has had the biggest struggle in Europe. Standards were very low in recent years but this year it was turned on its head. On the back of 4 wins, the girls were deserving winners but Paris had a quality team too. The lack of numbers on a long day went against them on more than one occasion though.

Our ladies won well in the final with Catriona putting in another massive performance at the back. The highlight was the combo of forward duo Niamh and Irene. They had an almost telepathic understanding and linked up for some fantastic scores to lead their team home.

Despite many cups being handed out and speeches galore, the highlight of everyone’s night was when Joe McDonagh got up and sang The West’s Awake. It’s not easy to quieten a pub load of hurlers that late in the night but you could hear a penny drop. He’s some man and a great supporter of European G.A.A.

There was more daylight as we vacated the premises in the early hours of the morning. Amazing how one day can change the story of a season and send you to the long winter with renewed hope.

One Last Crack

2011-07-22T12:57:00.000+02:00

I’ve been in prima donna mode for the last couple of weeks. I knew after Budapest that I would miss Zurich so I took the opportunity to sit out training as it’s the hurling that aggravates the back more than anything. I went back a couple of weeks ago but after fifteen minutes of what was a light session, it started to seize up again.

I’ve been able to manage it somewhat from a football point of view this year but the hurling has been a disaster from the very start. I can barely remember a session or a match I have enjoyed as a result. Considering that and the fact that we are out of the running for the Championship, I was pretty sure I’d sit out the final tournament in Leuven this weekend.

There are few things that frustrate me more than a lad humming and hawing about his availability and I’m sure Martin felt some degree of frustration towards me in that regard. If I had stayed away from training my decision would have been easy. Instead, I wandered down Tuesday night and with numbers at their highest all year, you could sense a greater level of enthusiasm.

We trained out in Leuven again last night and I’d pretty much decided I’d play when I was heading out there. I discussed with Martin afterwards and it’s likely I’ll play in goal. That suits me fine. I used to protest about playing in there when I was at home because it’s a difficult place to escape once you get put in there. Secretly, I always got a buzz out of it though.

I insinuated above that being out of the Championship was one reason why I could justify sitting out but that suggests we are just making up the numbers on Saturday. That’s not true though. We have our strongest panel of the year and have a real chance of proving that we are as good as Zurich and Den Hague. We’ve struggled to get guys to travel this year and there is no denying those two teams have had the edge on us. We’ve never been too far away though.

The Championship will be decided between them but how we perform can have a big say in it. For the first time all year, Martin has some proper selection headaches all over the pitch. If he manages to get the blend right and if we all perform in our positions then what has been a disappointing season so far may very well end up finishing on a high.

Race Night Raging Success

2011-07-19T21:45:00.000+02:00

The rules that govern the treasurer’s purse this year dictate that each code organise a fundraiser to contribute towards the spiralling costs that come with an expanding club. The lads seemed unmoved by such direction until Collie B got it into his head to run a race night.

In barely over three weeks it went from a good idea to one of the best fundraisers the club has had.

The beauty of a race night is it offers many avenues to generate money; selling horses, races, VIP tables and bets on the night itself. Despite needing a bit of a slap in the build up to the event, the lads stepped up and everything that could be flogged beforehand was, meaning we had over a grand in clear profit heading into the night.

We got great support from former players like Ollie, Carlo, Enda, Emmett and many more. Some of our newest members like Fred also came up trumps big time with support. It was great to see and shows that whilst the lads may have moved on, they haven’t forgotten the good times.

On the night, we had VIP tables from Coca-Cola (Mairtin and Paddy), FC Irlande, The Perm Rep, Toyota, Fred and one or two more. Shane and Olof ran an efficient mobile bookies around those tables, although Giller’s inability to remember names doesn’t bode well for his political ambitions. Fortunately, any difficult questions were taken out of his hands by the excellently prepared race guide which a credit to Sylvia.

Timmy, Johnny, Darragh, Collie B and Ross kept the main bookie stand going and the steady stream of punters insured they were kept busy. It’s quite an operation on the night as the money must be collected, quickly counted and then redistributed (not all of course!) to the winners.

The night was also heavy supported by the politicos of the city with Sean Kelly sponsoring a race and working the floor for the night. Commission Maire Geoghan-Quinn was very generous with her sponsorship as were many other MEPs (I’ll leave Collie B thank them officially!).

The highlight of the night was the final race; The Belgian Champion Hurdle. This featured a piggy back race, with five of the lads and five of the girls paired off. The race was filmed beforehand, amid great secrecy and the couples were sold off for €20 a pair.

Ross worked the crowd and somewhere along the way, Fergal (with Christine on his back), became the fan favourite with heavy betting on him. The build up to the race itself was magnificent with the crowd being able to observe the couples in the paddock prior to the race. In the end, it was Conor Mul who upset the form guide and stormed to victory.

With the final race run, Colin took the purse and disappeared into the night. He was last seen on the South coast of Spain but we hope when he returns that he will confirm our estimated earnings of €2500.

The great support, especially from outside our membership, was very much appreciated and will be even more when we get some decent balls at training again!! Special mention my brother John and his wife Zoe who sponsored a race and also the Kinsale lads who bought all the horses in it. David Shortall now has €100 worth of riding lessons for himself!

Crash and Burn

2011-07-11T16:28:00.001+02:00

Be warned; 2094 words - a personal best.

Disappointed and despondent. That is how I feel after Saturday’s tournament in The Hague. I totally recognise that they are extreme emotions considering it was a tournament which in the grand scheme of things, was far from make or break.

However, I’ve been knocking around long enough to understand that you need to take every opportunity you have to win and we blew it big time on Saturday. That is where the disappointment came from.

The despondency is more linked to a combination of what caused the failure and what lies ahead. Our management team of Conan and Eoin will split in less than a month’s time. Conan is coming into a very busy period for his expanding business. Amid that uncertainty, it seems inevitable that my responsibilities as captain will have to expand beyond the limits which I want. Myself and Conan will sit down in the next couple of weeks to thrash out exactly what that means but hopefully it will not bring more training responsibility.

My reaction to our 3-09 to 1-06 win against Amsterdam A in the first game hinted that my subconscious has already immersed itself into some form of management mode. It’s rare that we put away teams and this was an Amsterdam team which we struggled to finish off in Frankfurt a month ago, when on paper at least, we were stronger than on Saturday.

I was furious coming off the pitch with some of the things we had done and was totally unconcerned with the margin of victory. We’d coughed up possession regularly, failed to track men, kicked ball away and given up an awful goal. On the flipside, the outlet Timmy and Paddy gave us in the forwards was reaping reward and Olof was holding his own in the competitive area of midfield but I felt defensively we were very disjointed and only wayward shooting spared us on occasion.

Eoin and Conan tried to reason with me by pointing out the margin of the victory and that we had suffered injuries, late arrivals etc but as funny/ridiculous as it sounds, I was nearly inconsolable!

Next up was Luxembourg. They pretty much picked two even teams and put one in each group. The side we faced looked to have the more dangerous midfield and forwards. We led by two points at the break but couldn’t shake them off. They missed a free to level with the last kick of the game which meant we won the group. It was an improved showing.

That meant we played their other team in the semi. This side looked to be stronger defensively. We were extremely slow to start and conceded a goal early on. I’d carried the ball up field and as I approached their goal I tried to layoff to Mike. My pass was too low and he had to reach for it in traffic. The ball broke free and Lux went up field to goal. It was sloppy on my behalf.

Timmy cut the four point half time deficit with a great goal but again we coughed up another shocker. Their young and diminutive corner forward managed to fist a high ball to the net. We couldn’t claw it back. I committed two school boy errors by dropping two shots just under the crossbar into the keeper’s hands and Mike Lucey missed two very scorable frees in the closing minutes. We could have goaled too when Olof and Mike had a two on one but Gill’s pass found the defender and not Mike. We lost by a point.

I’m sure many will feel my description of how I feel/felt to be totally over the top. I can’t help that though. There’s only one reason I’ve ever played sport and that is to win, no matter if it’s some sort of game at training, a challenge game or a championship game. My primary purpose for playing sport is not to have social interaction or to make friends. It’s the enjoyment you get from working hard and winning. And I certainly wouldn’t link the feeling to being a bad loser. Lux fully deserved their victory and I certainly wouldn’t contest that.

The most difficult thing about playing sport is that not everyone is really focused on winning. Some know they aren’t, others think they are but actually are not. In the case of successful teams, they just happen to have more people with that priority on winning and with the willingness to do what it takes. It’s not necessarily linked to talent either. I’ve gotten on teams ahead of guys with more talent over the years and that was purely down to wanting it more.

Anyway, to get away from the philosophical and back to the specific. Win or lose I had intended to have a quiet night in on Saturday and that’s how it went. On Sunday morning I headed for an outlet mall just over an hour away. I was still pissed off. When I got back I headed for the gym with Crusher. He hadn’t played but didn’t mention anything about it until I brought it up. One of the first questions I asked him was who he had been talking to about it. He’d clearly been warned to avoid the topic for his own good!!

It’s easy to rant but you must put some sense on it or you can’t communicate the key points. After Saturday I came up with the following;

<1> Fitness – You often hear people say that a team isn’t fit enough. That infers the training isn’t getting them fit. In our situation that is not the case. Conan’s programme got anyone who attended training enough plenty fit. I offer Darragh Cotter as an example of a guy who is going from strength to strength and I have no doubt that it is because he has attended nearly every session and is getting the benefit.

However, some of the rest of us have not. I haven’t enough training under my belt and I knew it in the semi when my tank was totally empty. Timmy (he’s missed training due to neck injury) looked completely bollicksed in the semi and the surging runs from earlier in the day were nowhere to be seen. Colm MacEoin has picked up injuries in each tournament. He hasn’t trained enough. There are more in the same boat. The bottom line is that individuals are not fit enough and each person needs to address that and fix the reason they are not in the right condition.

<2> Ball carrying – On an 11-a-side game on tight pitches, there are very few people who should carry the ball and those who do should be further up the pitch and be the ones with the pace to get away from the man. Everywhere else on the field and anyone not blessed with that pace should look to move the ball as fast as possible.

My biggest issue against Amsterdam was that we were being blocked down or having the ball flicked away when we went to hand pass. In addition to that we lost possession by carrying it into contact numerous times. Worse again, we often tried to carry the ball past the man right along the sideline. That’s a dream for your opponent because he can easily push you over the line or force you to let fly aimlessly.

<3> Work rate – It’s a two way thing. You must work going forward and you must work going backwards. Invariably, people find it easier to work when you have possession and are moving forward. As a back, it’s the thing that makes your blood boil most; watching guys streaming through. There were countless examples at the weekend where our opponents broke up field and their marker either stood static or gave up the run after a while.

In the semi, the exact same situation occurred in the space of a couple of minutes. My man won the ball. I ushered him towards the sideline. He dilly dallied as he tried to find a gap to get past me. He must have had possession for 5/6 seconds. That means that even if support players had broken free of our lads, he was holding the ball sufficiently long enough to allow them track back. On both occasions, when he went to turn and give the ball back, he had at least two unmarked options.

Work rate must be relentless and unconditional. It doesn’t matter if it is your man or not, your error that led to the situation or not. As a minimum, the opponents in the most dangerous position must be picked up.

<4> Support play (linked to previous point)
At times, we really enjoy admiring our passes instead of moving on again to give an option. Hudson is especially good at this. He clenches his fists, places them on his hips, puffs the chest out and stands with a look of admiration on his face. Even if there is traffic blocking his view, he won’t move off the spot. Instead, he kind of reaches with his neck to adjust his view.

Anyway, give and go. Aside from helping the receiver, it also makes you a nightmare to mark as you are always moving. When we deliver a pass we tend to go very static.

Beyond that, our movement off the ball has plenty of scope for improvement too. To give an example; three of us were stuck up in the left corner with the ball on Saturday. Eventually Paddy found a gap and burst along the end line but the other two players stood still instead of shadowing his run into the box. Paddy drew the men but had couldn’t expose the space they left because no-one had moved into it. We must stay switched on and moving all the time.

<5> Communication – This covers a load of areas. I’ve been banging on about this for ages. On Saturday it improved as the day went on. Shane Ryan was in goal and if there is anything that man does well, its talk. I didn’t hear him in the first game though. Some of that may just have been a confidence issue as he is new to goalkeeping. As the day went on, he grew into the role more and more.

Ross is becoming much more vocal but others need to be heard more. Paddy is one guy I’d like to hear a lot more from on the pitch. I reckon he has a lot to offer.

In general though it’s not something we do well. Twice in a row our players collided because they didn’t call for high balls. Three times in a row, the opposition took successful short kick-outs. It always comes back to rugby for me when you want an example of good communication. Those fellas never shut up.

<6> Adapting – They say if you do the same things you will get the same results. We’ve been slow to be able to adapt to different situations in games. In Frankfurt, there was very little on for the direct ball in the final against Amsterdam. I had been intercepted a couple of times and instead of reverting to a shorter game, I persisted a couple of more times. There was a couple more at it too and we didn’t show an ability to quickly adjust.

On Saturday the pitch was tight. Shane’s kick-outs were clearing the half forward line frequently. Our inside forwards continued to hug the end line and were too far from the landing zone to take advantage. It happened time and again and we didn’t read it.

I realise that all sounds very doom and gloom but I do recognise that we only lost one game by one point despite being short many regulars. Furthermore, we were the only team to win two tournaments in the regional section. However, I also know that the Championship will be a big step up. Last year we cruised through Benelux and maybe that covered over some cracks. If we are to be serious challengers we need to address all of the above.

Very little of what I mentioned is linked to skill. The majority of the things i.e. fitness, work rate, communication and decision making (when to carry ball) are linked to attitude and commitment. Our club and our training are geared towards nourishing these things.

Whether we learn is, as always, down to the individual. We have two weeks off and then a six week run-in to the first Pan-E round. Time will tell.

Opportunity knocks to push forward?!

2011-07-07T22:23:00.000+02:00

Until last Sunday, there was a perception that the Cork bench extended the length of the pitch, oozing quality all the way from flag to flag. Down goes Ciaran Sheehan and we began to scratch our head. With O’Neill already on the injured list we wondered who the scoring forward being brought in would be. Fintan Gould was the answer! Fiachra Lynch followed shortly after! Then there was midfield. With Walsh off colour, we again looked to the bench. No Kavanagh. No Murphy. Few options left.

For the first time since Copenhagen in 2009, our panel looks threadbare. That was the last time we struggled to field a second team and it was someway understandable considering the pricey location.

On Saturday we head to The Hague for the final Benelux round and less than 36 hours from throw in, there is still some doubt as to whether we will have the numbers for two teams. We’ve just not been able to cope with all the lads leaving and also the fact that we are carrying some injuries and holiday absentees.

Another practical problem is transport! Only myself and Keary have cars now so we’ve had to beg people for ones. I heard Al Rowan and Emmett have offered theirs so that will help. Hopefully all the pieces will fall into place in the end.

That won’t solve Eoin and Conan’s selection problem though as they have a group top heavy on backs. I was putting forward a strong case for a role up front tonight, reminding Eoin of our early days playing together when I guided him through games from wing forward when he was still learning his way!!

He sees himself as a maverick type manager, favouring the unpredictable and boasting of his ability to polish rough diamonds so such a decision would fit perfectly. Indications tonight weren’t leaning towards me getting my hands on the number ten jersey though as I was the only player who didn’t get a run in the forwards at training!! He must have been worried that I would give a display that would make the decision for him!!

There are seven teams in action at the weekend; The Hague and two teams each from Luxembourg, Amsterdam and Belgium. Both our teams are grouped with Lux B and Amsterdam B, with the rest on the other side of the draw. I expect Lux and Amsterdam to do some switching of their teams, thinking they could get an easier ride so we could end up with their A teams in our group, playing as the ‘B’s’!!

Neither of our teams will be as strong as we would like on Saturday but that gives us a challenge we need. Our B’s have always been up against it as they are normally playing A teams, even in The Shield. However, their grit is never in question and they have grinded out their share of upsets over the last few years.

The A’s on the other hand, have rarely caused a big upset or won a tournament when we were not the best team on the day. We need to develop that habit. We need to develop that gritty approach where we dig in, fight, spoil and scrap for wins we don’t deserve against teams that may be better than us on paper. Until we develop that bit of character, we can’t expect to win the Championship again. Saturday is set-up perfectly in that sense.

Chicks with sticks triumphant

2011-07-01T13:30:00.000+02:00

First mention goes to the Camogiers of Belgium this week as they retained the European Camogie Championship in Zurich last weekend, with one tournament still to go. It is surely a more satisfying win this year as the standard of Camogie in Europe has increased significantly.

Our ladies have been bolstered with the arrival of Tipp duo Elaine (player ot the tournament in Zurich) and Catherina as well as super Dub Irene. However, victory this year has largely been achieved without last year's captain Sylvia and also Ciara, who is one of the dandiest camogie players floating around!

The victory made it 3/3 and with the final tournament on home soil they will be looking for a clean sweep.

It was a case of same again for the lads; another day of being so close, yet so far. We were slow out of the blocks against Zurich by all accounts and could have no complaints about the result. The Hague took up where Zurich left off and raced into an early lead on our second game. However as the minutes wound down, their lead was being eaten up.

The Belgian rush came too late though and the one point loss cost us a place in the final. Defeating Zurich B was the only victory of another disappointing day. From what I heard, Darragh Cotter performed well after a ropey start, Crusher and Aonghus did well, Ciaran in his new defensive position showed promise whilst Shane said he was excellent in the middle of the field!!

Zurich threw the Championship back open with an apparently convincing final victory. It means it is all to play for in the final tournament in Belgium at the end of the month. If our lads train then it is well within our capability to throw a spanner in the works. Of course, there is little to suggest that we will do that but you'd never know. Potentially, myself, Crusher (fully fit), Colm, Pearce, Hough and Darragh Cott could come back into the fray and that would strengthen our hand. Whether we have one last push in us will only be revealed in the coming weeks.

Retracing old steps

2011-06-29T14:55:00.000+02:00

Up until last year I used go home much more regularly. Each time I would return, I would still plan my time around being able to go up to the field to hurling or football training. Now though, I go home less and a lot of the lads I’d have been closer to have moved away. They've naturally been replaced by the next generation. I'd have trained a lot of them as U-16s but wouldn't have known them as friends.

That fact and also the feeling that you are just getting in the way meant that I didn’t go up training since Christmas 2009. I was home at the weekend and heard they had a session Sunday morning. Gearoid, who trains the team, was in Malaga but assured me it would be all ball. That appealed but I still needed a fair bit of convincing to go up. I started to realise how the likes of Emmett and Co felt here, after they had been out injured or on family duty for a prolonged period. The group in which you were once an insider, turns over, and suddenly you become the outsider.

You can't beat going back to your club though. You might have driven in the gates of the field a thousand times but it is a rarity nowadays and that makes you savour even just an hour training all the more. Familiar faces were scattered around the place; Seany and Brian Murphy Town talking tickets no doubt and selector Ollie floating around greeting fellas. The only blip was that Gearoid O'Leary and Ger Callaghan were sitting in my corner of the dressing room. I quickly separated them.

It was a cracking day; sun beating down on top of a nice grassy pitch (a novelty compared to Parc50). Tony Griffin was laying out cones, none of which looked close enough to involve the ball. I began to regret the decision and quickly surveyed the group to see how badly my fitness would be exposed!

I'd have huge respect for Tony. He only joined us in his mid-thirties after a very successful career with Nemo but I'd have learned a load off him when playing alongside him in the full back line. He had unreal composure and distribution. He could talk you through a game too and any time he talked to the group in general, he was very precise in his instruction. One thing that has always stuck in my head was when he was talking to the backs down by the bottom goal one night. His comment was so simply obvious; 'race your man to the ball'. Why wouldn't you get to the ball first was the jist of it. It sounds obvious but for a back, that should be your frame of mind all the time. Don’t play your man from behind.

Anyway, it seems ridiculous that his presence alone would provide me such motivation to burst my balls at the session. Other lads didn't appear equally motivated though. Maybe that just reflects the fact that the generation gap is too great and Tony is just another retired footballer in their eyes. The young fellas were surprisingly sluggish in the early runs. There is no way that the likes of myself and Regan are fitter than them but that appeared the case. It's not fair to judge on one poorly enough attended session but you would hope the obsessive drive required for them to be successful is not far from the surface.

When you move away from home there are things you badly miss at first; your gaa club, your friends/girlfriends, family etc. In the case of some of those things, you can learn to live without them and when you are away, you stop missing them. However, when you return home and are around them again, you start to realise how much you do actually miss them. Kinsale G.A.A. would be like that for me. In one sense I've moved on and when I am here I don't feel like I'm missing out. But when I get back out on the field amongst the lads, I wouldn’t wish for anything more than to be part of it all again, whatever the frustrations that would accompany it.

Giddy Up - Men get going on fundraising

2011-06-27T15:20:00.003+02:00

The sliotars, balls and cones are in short supply these days and the club treasurer won't release any funds for the lads until they do some fundraising. Conan even had to buy cones himself a couple of weeks ago! Aside from that, the club will fork out more than €5000 in pitch rental this year as it goes about improving training facilities.

Collie B is organising a fundraiser for the men's football and we would all greatly appreciate your support.

As you will read below, even if you can't attend on the night you can contribute by buying a horse or sponsoring a race. So family, friends etc at home and elsewhere can easily support. All money raised will go towards buying equipment and pitch rental costs.

Please read below for further details.
_______________________________________

Night at the Races in DeValera's Irish Pub (Place Flagey) – Wednesday 13th July

Here's how it works:
1. Come early and study the form guide from 18.30 - this is your chance to get your research in… and get a head start on the other unsuspecting punters!! Have some food in Devs, down a drink and get your bet in early!
2. First race 7.30, last race 11.30
3. Bet before the race, then watch to see if you win
4. Collect your cash winnings

How does the Betting actually work?
We're using a tote system. We will keep 50% of takings and the other 50% will be paid out in winnings.

Every horse is also available to 'buy' – as an owner, if your horse wins the race, you will take the special prize donated by one of our 8 special race sponsors. You can become an owner for as little as €10 for a 1 in 8 chance to take a prize.

Race 8, the grand finale will feature a cash prize of €250, kindly donated by KTL and Niall Byrne. Ownership of the runners in the last race will be auctioned on the night. However, if you want to get in early, you can buy a horse for €50 in advance.

We need you to:
Spread the word – send this email and the poster to as many people as you can so we can get as much interest as possible in advance.

Book a VIB table – great if you are bringing work colleagues. Get free champagne, free food and your own personal betting service (no need to queue) for €60 for a 6 person table. Limited availability so book early!!

Get sponsorship. Do you know someone who might sponsor a race – either yourself or a friend, relative or company? Prizes can be cash or in kind, no prize too big or too small.

Buy a horse – or even better, get family/friends/colleagues to buy two – click on this link THIS LINK to pick your horse, email football.belgium@gmail.com to confirm and transfer the money to club account (details below).

Get a 1/8 chance to win €250 by snapping up a horse for the final race for €50 – sure to cost more on the night!! Email us to confirm purchase.
Most importantly - Show up and bet – bring colleagues, neighbours, friends, enemies or anyone else you can find on the way…

Any money collected in advance should be lodged to our club account, with your name and 'Race Night' in the subject line.

The bank account number is 363-0292739-33
For those making an international transfer
IBAN: BE79 3630 2927 3933
BIC: BBRUBEBB

All enquiries to football.belgium@gmail.com

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=133118500102515

Dad's Army On March

2011-06-23T22:52:00.000+02:00

There was a moment down in Budapest when, aggrieved by some decisions that didn't go our way, we vented our frustrations. It wasn't the way we want to conduct ourselves and we quickly retreated and regrouped to discuss that very point. I'm sure there is no shortage of people who felt we had become arrogant during our run of success. The truth is that was never the case. Some may have got complacent but we were never arrogant. It's a natural and easy accusation to make though.

Saturday is a great example of what we are about as a club and it should quieten the doubters. Zurich is one of the most difficult places for us to get to and one of the most expensive places to be. Over the years, many teams have opted out of the trip when the Championship has been decided but we always travelled. That attitude defines you as a club more than what individuals perceive. We understand the importance of supporting each club’s home tournament because it is a big day in each of our years to showcase yourself locally. Fergal and Bull demonstrate it perfectly as they will fly in specifically from business trips elsewhere to play on the day.

We need a huge slice of luck to catapult us above The Hague to win the Championship this year. We would have to win the two remaining tournaments and hope that they got a third and fourth. Zurich are better placed with two final defeats under their belt. If they were to win both tournaments and The Hague missed one of the two finals, Zurich could be champions. However, given the strength of The Hague this year, it is unlikely that they will be bettered overall.

With that scenario facing us and considering we only had 11 for Budapest when it was still in the mixer, it's a credit to the lads that they travel again this weekend. We currently have 12, including the injured Crusher and with one 'maybe' that would make it 13. Adrian made a comment to me during the week about the age profile of the group. We have three over forty and five floating around the mid-thirty mark. He wondered was this some reflection on the state of hurling i.e. the youthful stickmen are more scarce. In Brussels this is the case at the moment but The Hague counter that with their young charges.

After Budapest, the remaining two goals for the year would have been to 1) field a team in Zurich and 2) win our home tournament. With the weekend approaching you will naturally upgrade the first objective and the lads will be going down there to win. We may be missing a few regulars but you never know what other teams will show up with. The worst thing that can happen is for you to arrive in the wrong frame of mind, under perform and depart knowing that you left a massive opportunity behind you.
Despite my patting everyone on the back about travelling, I won't actually be there myself!! It's Dad's 60th so I’m back in Cork. My mind won't be far from the action on Saturday though.

The Lost Team

2011-06-22T20:42:00.002+02:00

It isn't just at home that there is a player drain at the moment. Even if we exclude the winter exodus, we've lost a whole football team in the last couple of months. All the lads on this team were regulars so replacing them won't be easy. Such is life though and we wish all the lads well.

Goalkeeper - Brendan Lynch, Louth
Bob, as he became known, landed in Brussels shortly before the Belgium tournament last year. We had an embarrassment of riches in terms of keepers at the time so he slotted into the C team. He turned heads on the day making a number of excellent saves. By the Championship he was holding fort for the A's and continued to impress between the sticks. Gained notoriety for being the bus driver in Munich last year. He had to wait until his final tournament in Amsterdam in May to get his hands on some silverware and it capped a good year for him in the club. He returned home with his family at the end of May.

Full Back - Andrew Shorten, Cork
Along with Ricky and Mike, he was one of three lads over from Shannon on a years work experience. He gets named at full back but his versatility meant he played all over the place. That and bad timing went against him while he was here and so he never got a crack off the A's. When the opportunities were opening up, he was stuck with awkward hours but the fact he never established himself as an 'A' player was more down to circumstance than ability. Not a man to be intimidated by age either!!! He returns to complete his studies in Shannon.

Full Back - David Collins, Limerick/Offaly
Full back was the only place this man should have ever been allowed play and he should have paid more attention to the no kicking rule. Left for the outback in Oz.

Half Back - David Burke, Meath
Burkey arrived in time for the Rennes tournament in 2009 but had to slot into a team in disarray. He was a great addition to the backs as he defended strongly and distributed accurately. A quiet man off the pitch but on the away days you could knock a fair bit of craic out of him. He has returned home with his girlfriend.

Half Back - Killian O'Sullivan, Kerry
One of Sean Kelly and Kevin Keary's protégé’s. I didn't think we'd see him again after his first session when he was collapsed in a heap. The next couple were a struggle too but he stuck at it manfully. Became an ever present on the football and social scene and bowed out with a good performance down in Frankfurt. He returns to his studies at home.

Midfield - Johnny O'Riordan, Dublin
One of the true characters of the club. Was in Brussels on and off over the last ten years. Started out playing with the girls in 2009 and quickly got promoted to training with the lads. Led the march through the Ardennes last year and was lucky to survive it after getting the army lost. Always fifteen minutes late, no matter what time training was at (or any other event). He'd arrive, tog out and then start complaining we hadn't warmed up properly. If you let him onto the field without proper instruction, he could be a disaster. Give him a job and he could be masterful. He had an infuriating habit of shooting from crazy angles and equally annoying, when they went over, he would shout 'well done Johnny'. He heads to Nuremburg to work for Puma with his Cork girlfriend in tow. At least he is in safe hands.

Midfield - Alec Elliott, Dublin
I got to know Alec well when I was training FC Irlande as he was first team captain at the time. We'd have communicated regularly as trainer/captain and also played together a bit in defence for the firsts. He'd have been one of the key guys early on in terms of getting the FC Irlande lads on board with the G.A.A. and promoting it positively. Whether it be at half-back, midfield or half-forward you were always guaranteed 100% from the man. He leaves now on an adventure in the Southern Hemisphere with his fellow club mate Rosine. They are on a surprisingly short list of lasting Belgium G.A.A. relationships.

Half Forward - Ruairi Duffy, Mayo
Mayo are second only to the Dubs for garnering unrealistically lofty expectations. When they get knocked out of the Championship each year you nearly fell bad for them but you know in your heart that is better to put them out of their misery. Still, that eternal hope and optimism was crucial in the early life of the B team, which Ruairi and Johnny P worked so hard to establish. He leaves with that as his legacy and a nice little highlight reel of point shooting. Duffer moves back to Poland with his wife Ewelina.

Half Forward - Ricky Collins, Clare
Tall and rangy and able to take his points from afar. Great attitude to training. . Keep him out of the heat though. And bring plenty of massage balm for his cramping hamstrings. Didn't court controversy on or off the pitch so difficult to elaborate more. He just did the business. A natural forward and a loss all round. He returns to complete his studies in Shannon.

Full Forward - Eoin Sheanon, Dublin
A few simple lines wouldn't do the story justice. More to follow.

Full Forward - Mike Lucey, Kerry
From where I was standing, Mike was just another typical Kerryman; a bit surly and fond of throwing shapes. Because he was on nights, we didn't see as much of him as we did Ricky and Andrew so it took time to get to know him. He played on the C team in his sole appearance of 2010 in Maastricht and was off the pace. It was frustrating because he had obvious talent. 2011 was a complete turnaround though. A change of working schedule meant he has rarely missed training and he went straight into the A team from the start. He would have been a contender for the player of the tournament down in Frankfurt. Can take a score, pick a pass and track back. Good man for a session too, but don't expect more than the first verse in a sing-song.

Not just another weekend

2011-06-17T08:24:00.001+02:00

Tournament away days in places like The Hague, Lux, Amsterdam and Maastricht don’t have so much appeal anymore. It’s an easy drive up and down in the one day so it doesn’t do much for the imagination.

Throw in a bus or a train and it gets fellas’ heads up to listen straight away. We’ve had the infamous fun bus to Munich and the epic train journeys to Rennes and Zurich. There’s something about those modes of transport that even a plane can’t match. Usually it involves cans.

But an away day is about much more than that. Spending long hours on a train, bus or in a car means you get plenty of time to get to know each other. You don’t have much choice. You might also end up rooming with a lad you wouldn’t know that well. These factors naturally bring guys together which of course helps slowly build the spirit of a team and club.

Sometimes you learn things you didn’t want to know or didn’t want to remember. Take Johnny O for instance. Normally he will depend on someone else to drive him to a tournament. He will always be late but he will always get there. On Saturday he was coming from Nuremburg off his own bat. Johnny was three hours late. There are actually two Frankfurts in Germany. The other one is by the Polish border. Now it hasn’t been confirmed but Johnny’s GPS may well have pointed him to the wrong one.

There’s obviously drink involved at some point and of course the subject of girls will come up from time to time. Discussing which feature he found most attractive in a lady, Johnny O informed us his favourite is the collarbone.

That’s a fairly moderate admission. When Eoin Sheanon started to discuss the enjoyment he got out of a recent pedicure, the lads fell silent. That had a shock factor far greater than the story of him turning up to his driving test without a car.

On the subject of pedicures and the like, poor Colm MacEoin revealed some pink toenails on Saturday. Never a good start with the lads.

Of course the journey home is always a little shaky after the night before. You can rely on Darragh Cotter and Crusher to calm the nerves though. In Budapest a few weeks ago, they told us of the most important things to do to save yourself from a plane crash. Sit at the back and don’t be on the inside of an old lady apparently.

The return from Frankfurt was no different from the great bus and train trips of the past. It was planned to perfection. 14h30 departure, not too early, not too late. A party in Timmy’s and a bank holiday Monday.

Oh how we tried so hard to contain ourselves. It was only at the half way point that we noticed the signs which said we were in the ‘quiet’ carriage. We respected them until we got to Gare Nord and only then did Ross break into song. One stop latter and we were in Midi.

As in most cities, you will have people playing music and collecting money on the metro. We joined forces on Sunday and helped the gentlemen with his efforts. Well, some of the lads anyway. I spotted Ricky engaging two lovely blonde ladies. It turns out they had enquired did we know Paddy Cassidy (no idea how they linked us). Even if we didn’t, we did now. Slovakian girls. Big fan.

On to Timmy’s we went, stopping briefly for photos outside the European Commission and a burger in The Oak. What happened thereafter was like any other bank holiday party. There was drinking and singing and devilment in plentiful supply. The only one who seemed to get left out was the trophy, which was found upright on in the garden on Monday morning, with rain rolling down it.

Time For Some Common Sense

2011-06-15T21:57:00.001+02:00

Saturday highlighted some of the most daft rules floating around European G.A.A. and we didn't escape their grasp.

Apparently there was a complaint about some over-zealous tackling at recent tournaments and the referees decided to crackdown early in the day on Saturday. Personally, I have rarely seen a dirty stroke being pulled in my five years playing here. There have been injuries, two particularly bad ones in Budapest which I commented on already. There is hardly a discipline problem though bar the few eruptions between ourselves and The Hague last year and a few other teams have had the red mist too I’m sure. But such heated exchanges are part of the game and are indicative of the competitive nature of European G.A.A., which is so important to keep us all interested.

Anyway, on Saturday Conor Mul received two yellow cards in the first half of the first game, which meant he was sent off. At home that would mean he would be suspended for the rest of the match. Not in Europe though where we have a ridiculous rule that means you are suspended for two games!!! The impact on Conor Mul was that unless the B's made the final, he would not play again that day. The B's didn't get that far so Conor Mul could not play again.

How right is that? A guy leaves Brussels at 05h30 on a bus and his day is over after ten minutes. Were they frees? For sure, but yellow cards were very harsh. Imagine if he had forked out +/- €300 for flights/hotel? Of course, the rules must be applied but they should be applied consistently (in terms of referees judgement) and with common sense.

Even more ridiculous was a rule I discovered just before the throw-in at the final. Pearce was informed that because he received a yellow card in the semi, if he were to receive one yellow card in the final, he would be sent off i.e. the yellow card carries!! How crazy is that?! Even the Amsterdam lads were saying it shouldn't be applied. Now, in fairness to Mick Cryan, the refereee, he had to follow the rule so there was no point in remonstrating with him. Pearce wasn't sent off and we managed to win thankfully.

Now let me get on my high horse. It was last year when the two yellows equals a two game suspension came to my attention after Conor received a 'ban'. When it was time to submit motions for the County Convention, I sent our committee a mail outlining a couple of suggested motions, one of which related to this rule. I never received a reply and the club submitted some very technical motions which even if changed would have no meaningful impact on our players. I'm sure Conor Mul will push a bit harder this year.

Another rule which came under the spotlight on Saturday was one concerning A and B teams. I'm open to correction but my understanding of the rule is that you must name your A and B panel at the start of the day. You can only bring a B player up for emergency cover i.e. you are down to ten players due to injuries. That is the jist of it anyway. We were fairly p1ssed off when this rule was pushed through in the last couple of years as we were the only team consistently fielding two teams and felt it was somewhat 'anti-participation' in nature and a direct hit on us.

On Saturday, Amsterdam brought up players from their B's for the final. They were good players too, one a weekend player I think. Colin Byrne was dual assigned as player and CCO on the day which meant he should make a decision on whether it was ok or not. Mick Cryan highlighted the issue before throw-in. We had already decided not to make an issue out of it, partly as a matter of principle but also because Colin's position was compromised. If he were not to allow Amsterdam bring the players up, it would look like a conflict of interest, even if it was not. I'm not sure were Amsterdam even aware that they were breaking a rule.

The third issue which arose on Saturday was score keeping. Lux lost a semi to Amsterdam when they were adamant that they had outscored their opponents. It's happened us twice before. Our B's lost a game to Amsterdam B's in Amsterdam last month when a goal was wrongly assigned. Two years ago, we believed we won a semi in Maastricht by a goal. The ref had it as a draw. We lost in extra-time.

I'm not sure of the solution to this. The refs are out on the field for the entire day, often in very hot conditions. To maintain concentration can't be easy. They usually have umpires who are far from focused and many scores are contested. As I said when I picked up the cup and thanked the refs on Saturday, whether you are in Croke Park or Frankfurt, players will contest decisions. On occasion, in both places, the ref may make a mistake. That's understandable but it is very difficult for a team to accept defeat in those circumstances.

Anyway, the G.A.A. is a democracy so we will have our time to speak, assuming we can get through internal club democracy first of course!!

Victory For Departing Friends

2011-06-14T22:32:00.001+02:00

33 of us, at the last count, travelled to Frankfurt by train, car and bus last weekend. Some arrived Friday night whilst others hit the road at 05h30 on Saturday morning. In that group we had Conan and Eoin, trainers/mentors/managers or whatever title you feel befits their role. Crusher and Paul Hagan were injured but came to play the less glamorous roles of money collectors and water carriers.

The groupings pitted both Belgium teams against each other and we were also joined in the group by Amsterdam. Den Hague, Lux, Frankfurt and Amsterdam B were in the other group.

Our B’s started at a canter against Amsterdam A and were in a good position at half-time. However they had lost their workhorse Conor Mul to two yellow cards. Harsh is an understatement. In the outrageous world of crazy European GAA rules, that means a two game suspension. More to follow on this later in the week.

Amsterdam were a strong side and they powered on in the second half, aided handsomely by their fortune of having a spare man. The lads had to pick themselves up fast as they faced into a local derby against the A’s. Again it was a close first half but again the B’s seemed to fade in the second. The lads had put in similar first half displays up in Amsterdam, especially against Lux, but faded in the second half. It’s hard to put your finger on why. Maybe it’s just a case of getting a couple of wins under the belt and kicking on with the confidence that brings. In any case, the team is in much better shape than it was this time last year and if that problem can be solved, the Shield can become a realistic ambition.

The A’s then faced Amsterdam to decide the group winners. For the first time they had travelled with two full teams and having watched how strong their B’s were, I knew we were in for a battle. We led 0-4 0-3 at half-time and weren’t to concede again. Mike Lucey goaled and another four points were spread across the forwards. It wasn’t all smooth sailing though. The backs looked shaky at times and needed Timmy’s class in goal with two point blank saves.

On we went to face our old sparring partners Den Hague in the semi. It was a tricky fixture. They weren’t looking too impressive on the day but they are also the masters at grinding out victories when they are on their knees. I can’t remember ever facing them in a semi before. Every game I can remember was a final (or a group game). In a final, you can completely empty yourself, physically and ‘emotionally’. In a semi though, you have to keep something in the tank, hoping you get to the final.

It was another ding dong battle. They relied primarily on frees early on whilst we blew chance after chance down the other end. It was either level or we led by a point at half time. A tense finish was in store. We couldn’t shake them but our defence, led by Ross and a far from fully fit Colm, was holding firm. We pointed with two or three minutes left and managed to hold out for a 0-7 0-6 win. Tight.

James O Dowd is a relatively quiet man and more often than not gives off an impression that he doesn’t care. He was quite animated after the game though and if there was any complacency creeping in before the final, he put it to rest.

Amsterdam A won a very controversial semi against Lux. Lux were adamant they had won the game with a couple of points to spare but the referee’s notebook didn’t agree. If there was an error, it’s the cruelest way to depart.

Our opponents had called up some of their B players for the final which strengthened them considerably as they were quality players, omitted originally for lack of training apparently. We wouldn’t shake them off so easily this time and again; we went in level at the interval. Eoin made two big switches at half time. The first was to bring Timmy to wing-forward from goal. With his first possession he soloed through their defence only to be denied by a great save. Still, it sent them a message that he needed watching and it gave us a boost as we knew we had fresh legs to pick up some of the slack.

The second move came when Paddy returned to the fray. We have a load of backs who were going well and he found himself on the outside looking in for a share of the day. Still, when his chance came he proved why Eoin and Conan had him in the squad. He won the first ball that came into his corner when we were just a point up. The ball was transferred up the pitch and ended with a white flag being raised. We never looked back and added a third and fourth point to our lead to seal the win.

It gave us a second Benelux victory. Now, the lads (Eoin and Conan) have been clear from the off that we wouldn’t get worked up about Benelux this year and instead use it to test out as many guys as possible. However, we also realise the importance a win has on the group. This was sparticularily sweet as some great lads will pack their packs in the coming weeks. Duffer, Alec, Johnny, Andrew, Mike, Ricky and Killian will all move on. They’ve all played big roles in the development of the team and it’s spirit and we’ll miss them. Saturday may well have been their final act and if it was then it was a fitting goodbye.

Note; A more ‘social type commentary’ of the weekends activities will follow later in the week.

Lessons from Liege

2011-06-08T20:40:00.002+02:00

Normally I wouldn’t cross the road to watch a soccer or rugby match. However, Ireland away days make for a good bit of craic so since moving to Belgium I’ve gone to see the ruggers in Paris and Rome while Stuttgart and Paris were visited to follow the soccer team and last night Liege was added to the list.

With the next tournament in Frankfurt just four days away you might consider cancelling training so we could all head south to watch the soccer match as a little bit careless. Or maybe a visit to see Traps charges would provide some unexpected lessons?

The man himself says that if you want to see a show then go to the theatre. The enjoyment derived from watching the current team’s style of play is reflected in the derisory attendances at the Aviva. However, when a defence containing O’Dea, McShane, the wonderfully named St. Ledger and Ward stand firm against a barrage of Italian attacks, orchestrated by the Milan magician Pirlo, you must stand back and wonder what it’s all about.

Trap get’s a ferocious amount of abuse because of the defensive nature of the team’s play but in sport, results are all that matters. Italy created barely any clear cut chances. The defence moved in unison. Andrews was pointing and talking throughout. For anyone who appreciates good defending, there was plenty to take in.

That said, there was a moment in the second half when Ireland won possession just inside our half and the player burst forward towards the open spaces before turning sharply and playing the ball all the way back to the defence. Even though it goes against some of their natural instincts, they’ve bought into Traps systems and are beginning to reap the reward.

That was the collective but in Stephen Hunt you had the individual lesson. Hunt was a journeyman footballer earlier in his career but now he is an established Premiership footballer. The man is an irritating bundle of energy and shows all the qualities I’d like to try bring to a G.A.A. pitch. His running and harrowing was relentless.

So if the sizeable Belgium G.A.A. contingent was paying attention then it may have been as valuable as any training session. Timely lessons as we head to Frankfurt down two of our defensive lynchpins. Keeper Brendan has returned to Ireland. Crusher can walk again after the incident in Budapest but is a while away from playing. In addition to that, Olof will have to wait another month to build on his player of the tournament performance in Amsterdam.

It gives Eoin a few headaches but also solves a couple of problems. Despite a stream of lads moving on, we are still maintaining big numbers. There’ll be over 30 fellas heading by car, bus and train at the weekend.

The likes of Ross and Paddy Power, who did well on the first day out, come back into selection contention, as does Andrew Shorten.

Competition is certain to be tough. Amsterdam travel with two teams for the first time while The Hague will be eager to join ourselves and Luxembourg by getting their first win of the year. That combined with the fact it’s our first time going to Frankfurt should make it a great weekend. Hopefully it will be a joint celebration; victory in Frankfurt and Conan and Aine’s recent engagement.

And fingers crossed the ladies will make it a hat-trick by winning in Barca. They too are down a few players but should have enough strength in depth to be knocking around towards the end of the day. Good luck to them.

That's just mental

2011-06-02T11:52:00.003+02:00

When I first started work at Toyota, the smallest things would cause me stress. I'd be unable to switch off when I left the office and I'd regularily be visited by Matsumoto san or Chiba san or one of their counterparts in my dreams. You'd worry about the consequences of getting something wrong, not having it prepared in time etc etc. Of course, over time, you realise the consequences are never as severe as you imagine and life indeed goes on.

With that time comes experience. You learn that there is always another day and another way if you find yourself blocked. I've realised this and become better able to detach myself from stress. Of course, you can't live exclusively apart and indeed a certain amount of it is necessary to keep the 'tension'. Being able to recognise it, take a step back and analyse it more objectively helps to relieve it. You can't always control it but you can get it to a place where it is managable.

Of course it is important to note that my job does not create an undue amount of stress on a regular basis but like any job, it has a certain amount. I can manage it much better now than when I first started.

In a sporting context, confidence is a little bit similiar. When it's down, you know it's down but you have to figure out how to manage it and restore it. The impact a lack of it can have on your game is that you will stop communicating, calling for balls, attacking the ball, start misjudging the ball, picking the wrong options etc etc.

I don't remember suffering from this too much but at the moment, I find myself in a mini-crisis. The perception may be that I did fine in the football in Amsterdam but there were a few signs that all was not well. I've mentioned in both hurling reviews that I felt my own performance was way off.

Often, when someone doesn't play will they will first look elsewhere for the problem. Maybe they will isolate incidents where they made errors and find someone else to blame. Rarely will they look at themselves first. I was thinking about the hurling in the last few weeks and what has changed this year v's last year. I changed from a 36" hurley to a 35". Furthermore, I went away from the ash hurley to the cul tech hurleys. I also changed my helmut to one of the new mycro ones. Their bars are more condensed than the older version and thus impact your view more. However, I walked around the kitchen with my old one on last night and in reality there is not a whole lot of difference. Plus, if it doesn't effect others, why would it effect me.

It's difficult to cast any judgement on the real impact of these factors. It's true that my striking and judgement of balls is down a bit but actually when I replay different incidents over the last two tournaments, the issue was more with timing than anything. For example, on Saturday, I was in position and reach to make a number of blockdowns. There is no way I'd have missed them last year but I did on Saturday. As a result, i was taken for scores from play in each of the three games I played outfield.

I may think the problem is confidence but that example about the blockdowns is a case of timing and the relationship between the two is not that strong. Timing is more linked to preparation and there in lies the problem. I simply have not trained enough over the past few months to expect to achieve any higher level than I have. In fact, this is the case with too many of the hurlers. They may not recognise it as a confidence issue (and they may be right) but they don't recognise it as a preparation issue either. None of us are gifted enough to bluff it and we have learned the hard way.

In any task you take on in life, you must prepare properly. In hurling or football, you must have the fitness work and the skill work done. Each scenario you face in a match must be fresh in your mind from training. You must have been there and seen it on the training field. Then your body is ready. Your mind is ready too and the combination brings your confidence. It's no coincidence people will tell you they were at their best when they were at their fittest. It's a simple formula.

To say it's a crisis in confidence is too vague and difficult to find a magic potion to solve. Poor (personal) preparation. Now that can be solved.

Youth Triumphs

2011-05-29T21:11:00.003+02:00

A youthful Hague outfit reigned supreme down in Budapest this weekend. Bolstered by a recent influx of young fellas, they had more hurling and mobility than ourselves, Zurich and Budapest.

We had to travel with just 11 players due to Yann and Daire Cott’s late withdrawals. It could have been worse only for Darragh Cotter and Ciaran Kelly booked flights late last week to make up a team. Having just 11 players was going to be challenging enough but to lose our captain, Crusher, only minutes into our opening game was a cruel blow.

He was on the wrong end of an outrageous pull that left both his legs badly marked but worse still, it was the knee where he had a cruciate op that got the brunt of it. There was no-one on any team in any doubt that it should have been a red card. Amazingly it was only a yellow. Crusher didn’t get his nickname for being a shrinking violet and the longer he was on the ground roaring, the more the life seemed to drain from us.

The game continued and we had to call on a Zimbabwean from the Budapest team to stand in full forward. The game was anyone’s for much of the second have but a combination of a lapse in concentration and a fantastic goal gave Zurich the platform for a deserved win.

We recovered to beat Budapest in the next game and points difference meant that a win against Hague would put us ahead of Zurich and we would qualify for the final. However that was a steep hill to climb as The Hague had already taken Zurich apart and were looking strong.

I didn’t need any more motivation but hearing an opposition player questioning whether Hague had slaughtered us yet helped me along. Crusher drives us on with his play and now the rest of us needed to pick up the baton. We also needed to remember how long we had travelled around taking beatings and how hard it was to get to the point where we were winning Championships. We needed to muster a performance to try and keep the dream of three-in-a-row alive. Those messages hit the right buttons and we made a game of it from the off, playing with the kind of intent that was lacking all year.

We had become 11 Belgian players again with the addition of Irene Kirwan from the ladies. She played full forward and looked to create space and hoover up loose ball. She got herself into some great positions but the pass never arrived.

The bit of luck you need to win wasn’t with us. Hague scored a point that was clearly wide and in fairness, their player even called it so. The point was given. In the second half Shane Ryan went for goal from a free and he was certain it was saved behind the line even if others weren’t sure. If those decisions were in reverse, the 1-7 to 0-8 score line may have been altered in our favour. Such decisions are part of the game though and you must believe they will even themselves out.

The game had another unfortunate incident when one of The Hague’s wingbacks damaged his shoulder and had to be taken from the pitch. The lad had just arrived this week to work for one of their lads but will now return to Ireland. They were livid, but Darragh Cotter who was involved in it hasn’t a cynical bone in his body so there was certainly no intent. We wish him a speedy recovery.

The result left us to play in the 3rd/4th place playoff against Budapest. After a shaky start, we pulled away in the second half thanks mainly to a hat full of Hough goals and an impressive cameo from Elaine in the second half.

Hague went on to win the final easily against Zurich, who like ourselves were down to the bare bones by the end of the day. It means they effectively have one hand on the trophy.

Best for us on the day were Willie in goal, Darragh Cotter and Keary at the back along with Shane in midfield. Fergal Mythen, at 43, also put in a good shift at full-back.

I had another nightmare. I could count on one hand the amount of balls I got to hand with the first touch and my striking was inconsistent. I was out in front to high balls but by connections weren’t solid and more frustratingly, my markers kept playing the hurley and getting away with it every time. It’s hard to put a finger on why I’ve dipped so much but it needs solving fast!

The tournament was run off by 16h so for once we were able to get out and about early in the evening. That meant we headed to see the Munster game before moving onto the dinner. Budapest is a lively spot and back in 2008 we found a great bar but could never locate it since. We managed to on Saturday night and most of the teams ended up there. It’s always good to catch up with lads you’d have been playing against for the last few years. I had a good chat with Billy from Na Piarsaigh (Cork) and Zurich. He still hasn’t told me whether his lovely Swiss wife has a sister or not and on this occasion was more interested in telling me about his new baby daughter! I’ll get it out of him eventually.

There were still lads sneaking back in until 6am but we were all up to head to the baths at 10. I’d say the locals are still scared by the sight of a load of pale hung-over Irish lads storming their sanctuary in gaa shorts early on a Sunday morning.

I’d feel more sorry for those who fancied a quiet stroll around the Zoo though. Darragh Cotter was struggling more than most to get out of bed. He took directions to the baths and made his way down. He queued and paid and strolled around for five minutes before realising that he didn’t fancy swimming with tigers. He was in the Zoo.

If we got nothing else out of the weekend, we’ve got a lifetime of mocking about that.

Of course, we must also note the performance of our Ladies who won their game. Only themselves and Zurich travelled so they played two thirty minute games and triumphed. They are now in the same position as The Hague in the mens and can secure the Championship in Zurich at the end of June. Congrats to Irene Kirwan on her player of the tournament award.

EHC Round 2 - Hurlers Head East - Budapest

2011-05-26T14:48:00.000+02:00

The 2011 fixtures threw up a slightly unfortunate run of fixtures for May/June. Back to back trips to Holland. Week off. Budapest. Week off. Frankfurt. Week off. Zurich. It's time consuming and expensive.

This weekend’s trip bemuses me slightly. The host club have never entered a team in a hurling competition and I disagree with awarding clubs tournaments in such situations, especially in hurling where there are so few teams and three of the regular attendees are dual clubs in the busy region of Benelux. I'm all for encouraging new teams but they should show their intent by travelling first and then hosting. However, I realise it's a bit of the chicken and the egg.

In any case, we will travel and in fairness Budapest is usually one of the best destinations from a logistics, cost etc point of view (when you have to fly). It's hard to know what level the host club will be. The driving force down there is a local called Adam Balogh. He learned all he knows in Kenmare of all places. Whether the team is littered with locals or if he can call on the plethora of Irish students studying there remains to be seen. If it is the latter then they should be very strong.

Den Hague are also travelling which shows their ambitions. In recent years, they have not journeyed to Zurich so I was surprised to see they are travelling this week. After victory in their home tournament, they clearly smell blood. Zurich will be there too and looking to avenge the final defeat to The Hague at the beginning of May.

Quite where we are I'm not sure. Somewhat unbelievably, our team is only being finalised this week as some guys booked but are not coming, others said they were coming but never booked and more may need to pull out late in the week. It will leave us tight on numbers but we have a solid team travelling.

We had a good initial reaction after the last tournament but numbers have been poor since. Martin has tinkered well with his drills but it's very frustrating when numbers are bad as it affects the quality of the drills and how much you can do.

Despite this, we at least know that the complacency will be gone. However, whether that has been replaced with a suitable desire to win will only be revealed on Saturday.

Amsterdam Curse Buried

2011-05-23T22:11:00.000+02:00

The lack of blog entry preceding last week’s tournament in Amsterdam was probably a good hint at my mood leading up to it. Aside from the team disappointment in The Hague hurling tournament, I was also pissed off that my back had shown no signs of recovery.

Early in the week I was fairly certain I’d pull out. I had a bit of acupuncture but again a bad reaction to it at training on Thursday. You get totally sick of it but the problem is, you also know a couple of nurofen will get you through the day and there in lay the inevitable solution for Amsterdam.

There was a feeling floating around that the year has got off to a bad start. However, in the football in Lux, we had split the panels, reducing our chances and in the Hurling there was literally only a puck of the ball between ourselves The Hague and Zurich.

Still, we needed a good showing in the Dam. I’ve this ongoing fear that we are losing our drive and moving towards being more of a social club, happy to turn up, rather than a competitive one, driven to win.

On Saturday, the teams were more in the direction of A and B but still with different guys given opportunities. Eoin’s team, which I was on beat Amsterdam B and lost to The Hague but still qualified for the semi by virtue of coming second. The big worry was the performance against The Hague though; totally lacking in bite and belief. We lost 1-5 to 0-4 and it’s the kind of margin that has been between the teams since they broke our winning streak in September.

Johnny’s charges had a tougher group, facing Lux and Amsterdam A. The first half performances were good in both games, especially the Lux game when they were level at half-time. However, on both occasions, we fell away in the second half. There were some big performances to catch Eoin’s attention with Alec, Mul and one are two others showing well. Duffer’s three points in the 5th/6th game will have been especially pleasing to the Mayo man.

In the semi’s, we faced off against Lux who were coming off their home tournament victory. There had been no indication during the day that we would deliver the performance we did. One positional switch which paid off massively was switching James into the corner and bringing Timmy out. James delivered a hat-trick in a game that produced eight goals, five of which went to us and they were enough to separate the two teams.

Our defence was looking ropey for a lot of the day and despite an improved showing, the goals we conceded were poor. We had also lost Kevin at this stage, although Collie B was growing into his more unfamiliar role of wing-back.

I was delighted to see The Hague qualify for the final, not because I have anything against Amsterdam but because The Hague have set the benchmark in European football over the last two years and you always want to beat the best.

They had a couple of new arrivals so were a stronger team than we played earlier in the day. There wasn’t too much shouting and roaring or huffing and puffing before the game. We knew that they had been swatting us away in the previous tournaments and that we needed to show more will to win the game.

It was a typical Hague-Belgium affair; a war of attrition. With a day’s football and a long journey under your belt, the final can often be a case of who can stay standing the longest. Each blow carries more weight as your legs begin to seize up.

Olof and Darragh had set the tone in the first half with some assertive midfield play. Our defence was much improved with Bob pulling the strings from goal. We were struggling to convert up front though and the 0-1 to 0-1 half-time score was a reflection of this.

The decisive score would come early in the second half when a long sideline ball found its way to Timmy. He did what we always ask him to do and backed his pace to split their defence and rattle the net. It was a goal our opponents wouldn’t claw back and enough to give us a badly needed victory.

The satisfaction of winning a tournament is up there with the feeling of winning any Championship game at home, especially in Benelux where all the clubs are strong. We saw that again on Saturday with Amsterdam. They’ve found it tough to break through in the last few years but look to be very organised Saturday. The set-up for the tournament was unreal, with two magnificent pitches. They had two full panels too and I didn’t see too many tyre-kickers on their B’s either. They’ve had an influx of new lads and obviously have a good set-up to be able to attract them and keep them.

Back to the final and beating The Hague is always a good feeling for the reasons I mentioned earlier. Also, in my head at least, they are our main rivals. I’m not sure if the rest of our team agree or how The Hague feel about us but that’s how I feel. Their best quality is their ability to dig in and grind out a victory. It’s a trait I believe I possess but not one which has been seen enough out of me since last summer. Hopefully Saturday went some way to addressing that.

It was good to see the final score of the game go to Ciaran Hudson. It was a great point after a break up the right wing. Hudson fell away unbelievably during his homeless summer in Plux last year. On Saturday he was very good, especially late in the day. However, he never fails to bemuse me. After one of the games, he asked me was I going to thank him for a pass he gave me! I just looking at him and reminded him that passing was one of the main elements of Gaelic Football.

Mike Lucey delivered big time on Saturday too. Last summer, he arrived over with Andrew and Ricky but the shift he was working was not conducive to playing football. He looked average on the C team in Maastricht despite having hinted at possessing good skills at training. This year he has trained very well and has integrated well into the group. He showed excellent on Saturday and kicked some great scores. Mike is the perfect example for everyone looking to break into the A panel.

Olof won player of the tournament and you could not begrudge him the honour. Darragh and Crusher would not have been far behind him either. Guys were naturally very happy on Saturday evening but Olof and the team’s reaction in the coming weeks is important. We’ve put a string of bad performance together so one doesn’t in itself guarantee anything. The performance on Saturday was better but if that’s how you think you should be judged, you must not just do it once, you must do it over and over again.

A win lifts all and training should benefit from guys’ increased desire to get their hands on a medal of their own. That’s a good place to be heading into the summer.

Belgium down, Hurling up

2011-05-09T12:46:00.001+02:00

European Hurling came alive again on Saturday as Belgium was knocked from its perch and The Hague claimed the first tournament of the season at their home grounds.

Whether some decide to interpret it as arrogance or otherwise, the fact (which was backed up by results) was that a big gap had developed between us and the others. Winning alone does not motivate people and we've had a big struggle keeping guys interested due to an uncompetitive standard and the travel requirements and costs we face as a dual club. Numbers have been poor at training and as a result Saturday's performance was no surprise to some of us at least. We could see it hurtling down the tracks towards us even as far back as last summer.

We struggled in our first game against Lux and traded points evenly until mid-way through the second half when Colm and Shane put some distance between the sides. It was a scrappy game, as is often the case when two teams step out of their cars after hours on the road. I find it ridiculous that Den Hague and Zurich, both of whom were there on Friday night, were not down to play first. We had gathered at 06h50 at Schuman whilst Lux would have been up a lot earlier. This happens time and again at tournaments and would be a simple adjustment to make in the schedule and much appreciated by travelling players.

We faced The Hague next. Back in December, at the Hurling workshop during the County Convention, Sean Simpson had been saying they would give more focus to hurling this year. It proved to be the case as they looked a well balanced outfit. They cleared ball with greater ease and picked off their scores more efficiently also. On the other hand, we wasted a glut of goal chances and I contributed to the wide tally with a host of wayward frees. We lost out by two points but based on our performance, it could have / should have been more.

This left us in a tricky situation as we now had to beat Zurich and then hope points difference would go in our favour as ourselves, Zurich and The Hague would likely finish the group games on 6pts a piece. Zurich had a couple of great goal chances but a combination of Hielers reactions in goal and some last ditch defending, kept the green flag in its place. We trailed by a point at half-time but Ryano and Hough began to step up in the second half and we quickly took the lead. Zurich were in fine fettle though and regained the lead as the game entered its last moments. Enter Michael Hough. Anonymous for most of the day, he stepped up big time and had a lot of groundwork to do before he buried the winning goal to the back of the net.

The points difference didn't go our way in the end and that left us to playoff against Luxembourg for third place. We won it convincingly. Notable performance in this game came from Ciaran Kelly who won a host of first time ball.

In the final, The Hague reversed their defeat from earlier in the day against Zurich to claim victory after extra-time.

Naturally, we returned home frustrated and disappointed. In fairness, there wasn't much blame floating around as most guys felt they personally were not up to scratch on the day. For me, I could make a fairly long list of costly mistakes I made. My judgement was way out and that was also seen in my free taking which was cat. I can't remember playing so badly in a tournament and so much of it was down to personal errors rather than being taken to the cleaners by my opposing marker.

During The Hague game, I nearly had myself convinced to pack it in. I could barely move and that killed the confidence. It's a funny thing. You've been a situation a thousand times and know you've come out on top before but when the confidence is down, you no longer have control over the outcome.

There was one positive realisation though. Hurling is competitive again. Bar Lux who were missing a few, there was only a puck of a ball in every other game. We all want to win but we want to earn our wins. This year is shaping up to be a right ding dong battle and whoever is crowned champion at the end will certainly have earned it.

We have three weeks now to Budapest and that will be a tough trip given the distance. We needed big performances in The Hague and Belgium because we can't rely on numbers for Budapest and Zurich. Guys were saying all the right things on Saturday evening but we will have to wait and see whether that will be translated into effort in the coming weeks.

In the ladies competition, our Ladies finished much stronger than ourselves and after squeezing out of their group, they defeated Paris (who won all their group games) in the final. The standard of their competition was also notably higher with a lot more experienced camogie players on show than in the past.

"when it's there, it's there forever."

2011-05-06T19:00:00.001+02:00

Tony Browne will turn 38 in July. I'll turn 30 tomorrow. You can't but admire the man. This year will be his 20th season of Championship hurling. His durability in such a demanding game is incredible. When you think how he has continued to achieve, it makes 30 not seem so bad.

In an Irish Times feature a few weeks ago, Martin Storey said this of Browne;

“We beat the head off one another. We boxed and tore into each other because he didn’t want me to get the better of him and I didn’t want him to get the better of me. And that is either there or it’s not there and when it’s there, it’s there forever.”

Two warriors going at it, not because of a hate for each other but because of the competitive streak that has sustained them both so long. I haven't been able to get the quote out of my head for three weeks.

Tomorrow we go to The Hague to start our defence of the European Hurling Championship and our quest for three in a row. Teams always talk this down as not being important and they are right. What is important is the Championship that is in front of you, not the ones that are behind you.

My biggest fear for Belgium G.A.A. is that we will become a social club, content with just taking part and losing sight of the ultimate goal of winning. I’ve a sense it may be creeping into guys mindset. Tomorrow will be a big test of that mentality. Complacency has set in over the last year and teams are getting closer and closer to ending our thirty two month unbeaten run.

In the final of the last tournament in Zurich last year, the game was in the melting pot until we got a late insurance point. The time will come when we are beaten but as I keep saying, it can’t be because we beat ourselves. It has to be because we tried our hardest but ultimately, there was a better team than us out there on the day.

Success sustains a competitive club. It’s the only thing that will. It’s going to be a good test of us all; whether we have the Tony Browne factor or not.

Why it’s different

2011-05-03T22:20:00.000+02:00

We have an open plan office at work. So open, the President is practically the only one with an actual office of his own. This means we are never too far from a colleague.

I’ve a Flemish guy called Nick sitting across from me. He’s a football fan but also a fan of sport in general. In recent months I’m bringing him up to speed on G.A.A. while he educates me on cycling (a Belgian favourite).

Last Monday week, the conversation naturally turned to Cork’s victory over Dublin in the football league final. I was still a bit animated about the whole experience and the extent of my gesticulating clearly indicated strong feelings about the Dubs.

Yesterday we got onto the hurling league final and I enthusiastically talked of Dublin’s victory over Kilkenny. After a few minutes he stopped me to confirm that it was Dublin who won and that this was a good thing. He was confused about how my feelings for the same county could swing in one week.

It’s impossible to explain to non-G.A.A. people (even some G.A.A. people in fact). I didn’t understand it for a long time either when Dad used keep telling me that the G.A.A. needs Dublin. But it does. The county is host to almost 25% of Ireland’s population. Their heads will naturally be turned in the direction of the city’s most successful sporting sons.

Last weekend Leinster overcame the French super power Toulouse to qualify for the European Cup rugby final but it was the hurlers who grabbed the headlines with the demolition job on Kilkenny. It was their first national title since something like 1939 and is the result of focused efforts over the last ten years.

Hurling is a game that faces an eternal struggle to survive. Mothers think it is too dangerous whilst potential players can be put off by how difficult it is to master its skills. The only way to get a foothold is to make it sexy. Success does that. Success will see lads pucking sliotars against gable ends and in parks and on streets in Dublin. That it happened in Dublin means so much more because Hurling is a sport which has been owned by Cork, Tipp and Kilkenny for the last 12 years. It needs a revolution like the 90’s and it needed Dublin to step up.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer though and the same side’s capitulation at the hands of Antrim last year will mean they won’t get carried away. However, based on Sunday’s performance, myself and Nick might be talking about them a few more Monday mornings.

Of course it’s important to mention Belgium G.A.A.’s link to the occasion. Eoin’s brother John is on the Dublin panel is one of the young crop of talented hurlers they can call on. A proud day for the Sheanon’s no doubt.

JOE - Maastricht - capital of European GAA

2011-05-02T13:34:00.004+02:00

This weeks JOE article is a feature about Maastricht GAA.

The club is probably the smallest in Europe but boasts the only full sized G.A.A. pitch on the continent.

Tipp man Shay Doherty explained how the building of the pitch came about and how they hope to use it to build the profile of their own club and Euro G.A.A. in general.

http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/maastricht-the-capital-of-european-gaa-0011750-1

Time to get on with it

2011-05-02T13:34:00.001+02:00

I never got around to writing my planned entry the week before Easter. It was going to be upbeat, based on a ten day period where I managed to take part in all of the hurling and football sessions with just minor reaction. Ah yes, I was back.

Then I went to Ireland for the weekend and continued to feel good until I got the driver out and hit a few golf balls in the driving range. I was in John Daly mode for the bucket of fifty balls. However, nearly before I even had the club back in the bag, I realised that it was a half hour which could have been spent more wisely. That point was emphasised after about ten minutes of training last Thursday when I had to drop out. The sense of frustration is only imaginable by those who suffer repeatedly from the same injury.

What makes this worse is that we have a busy month ahead starting with hurling this Saturday in The Hague, football in Amsterdam the week after and then a two week break before we head to Budapest for round 2 of the hurling. It is not an option to miss the hurling at the weekend so one must just get on with it.

We've lost some good lads from last year, most notably Jim McGrath and Eoin Sheanon. Word on the street is that the opposition has been bolstered over the winter so we can expect a serious assault on the Championship from a number of clubs.

Our dominance has stretched back to September 2008 which must be one of the longest, if not the longest tournament winning streak in any code in Europe. However, we danced dangerously with complacency towards the end of last year and Zurich especially started to get us in their range. We'll be caught at some stage either because we are not tuned in or we come up against a better team. You could be forced to accept the latter but not the former.

Still, our team is formidable. Crusher, Shane, Hough and Daire Cott provide a solid core whilst much will be expected of our two newcomers Darragh Cotter and Colm MacEoin.

We've been seeing more of Daire Cott this year and his presence at training is a big boost. He is by far the best hurler I have seen since I came here and the way he approaches the ball in training is a lesson for us all. He's a powerful operator and training with quality players raises all of our level.

Success in The Hague and our home tournament in Belgium will be key this year. Budapest and Zurich will be tough trips to motivate the group for. I certainly can feel the strain from the time and cost of travelling to tournaments and I think a lot of guys will be thinking hard about whether to travel or not to those two. A good start at the weekend would sway the doubters though.

JOE - Going the extra mile

2011-04-20T08:04:00.003+02:00

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

Lego Man Walks

2011-04-19T22:22:00.003+02:00

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.

JOE - Interview with Monica Duran, Barcelona Gaels

2011-04-13T14:49:00.001+02:00

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

Lux Leaves Plenty To Ponder

2011-04-11T22:27:00.000+02:00

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.

Every Single Ball

2011-04-08T12:17:00.001+02:00

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.

JOE - Kelly getting stuck into European GAA

2011-04-06T11:40:00.002+02:00

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

Luxembourg. Round 1.

2011-04-05T18:08:00.001+02:00

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.

JOE - St. Gallen Bears Breaking Through

2011-03-30T10:01:00.003+02:00

http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/st-gallen-bears-breaking-through-0010908-1

This weeks feature is about one of the continent's newest G.A.A. clubs, St. Gallen Bears. I learned about it from club member Brian Clerkin when I met him at the European G.A.A. convention in Stockholm last December.

It turned out he was a good friend of Lorcan, one of the Irish lads here. Brian came to Brussels in February for a visit and I chatted with himself and fellow 'Bear' Mick Daly the following week on skype.

Despite re-reading the text numerous times before sending to the lads at JOE, it is clear my grammar requires a bit more work! Anyway, as I said last week, if you are from another club and are reading this then get in touch with a story (especially if you have a hurling one).

Galician Revolution

2011-03-29T09:22:00.002+02:00

The locals go by the motto that says A Coruna is a place where 'nobody is a stranger'. Having experienced first hand the warmth of the welcome Denis and I received this weekend, I can confirm they are good to their word. I was met at the airport by the club President (G.A.A. clubs should seriously consider changing the traditional Chairman title to President) Wenceslao Garcia Zapata and his team-mate Sebas.

On the short spin into town, I quickly got a feeling for their love of Gaelic Football as Wenceslao told me how he went to Croke Park last summer to see a Leinster Championship game and returned determined to start Galicia's first football club. We talked about Nemo Rangers, where two of his friends play on the Junior 3 team. With the bags dropped in the hotel, we headed out the coast road to Hercules tower, a lighthouse which welcomes visiting boats into the harbour. Having grown up by the sea, but now living in a concrete jungle, I very much appreciated the sea breeze and fresh air. We were joined along the way by Rob, a native of Miami, who would manage the roles of host, translator and footballer for the weekend.

Next stop was Matthew's Irish Bar where I met Finbarr, a Drogheda man who opened the pub 15 years ago having spent time teaching English in the city. Alongside him was Seanie from Wexford. Seanie met and married a Galician girl called Rose, when he was living in London. He first visited in 1968 and now spends more time there than his wife, who has grown attached to Wexford ways. He was a right character, softly spoken but very knowledgeable on all things G.A.A.

Of course, there was also Peter Vard, a Dub who has found a liking for Spain's North-West coast. He openly admits he would have been more into Soccer, Rugby and Boxing before this revolution kicked off last October. Now he spends his spare time researching drills on the internet and harassing his buddies at home for more. He leads his fair share of the training with Seanie fulfilling that all important role in the background, advising and supporting. As is the way in this part of the world, we didn't sit down to eat until nearly midnight but it was worth the wait. The hunger and beer lowered by culinary inhibitions to such an extent that I pretty much had a go at everything. And it was worth it.

Nothing like a walk on the beach to shake off a hangover so myself and Denis set out Saturday morning to do just so. You don't have to go far as just like in Barcelona, the city has one of its own. Fortunately, Denis and I are both out of the Eamonn Ryan school of coaching so planning the session was not too difficult.

The lad’s home pitch (pictured at the top) is scenically located, right on the coast. On the last day of every month, Wenceslao rises early to queue up to book the following months training. They tog twice midweek, training at 11pm!! He apologised for only having 18 players as they normally work off 30. I told him not to worry; most clubs in Europe (and at home!) would be delighted with that number.

We had two hours for the session and we rattled through a fair bit. The language barrier wasn't all it was made out to be and with the lads' English and Rob's translation we got on like a house on fire. I even delved into it a bit myself and mastered a few words of my own. 'Bueno' (good) was the one most utilised, reflecting the good concentration of application of the lads. It wasn't all perfect of course, so I had to roll out the 'no bueno' (with disapproving wagging of the finger) from time to time. People in this part of the world are friendly and they like to chat so between drills we had to encourage more 'rapido' movement. And of course the time to talk, 'ablas' (spelling may be wrong), is during the drills.

I wouldn't say I was surprised by the guys because I've coached teams in this part of the world before and am aware of how well they take to the game. A lot of them look very natural on the ball which is impressive considering they have been playing for such a short period of time. I was most impressed with their application. When we showed them something they really concentrated on getting the technique down and were very keen to learn.

The only disappointment was that we only had two hours as there was a lot more myself and Denis would have liked to have got through. Still, the rain had started to come down and the cold had gotten into us so we hopped in the back of Peter's jeep and headed for the shower. Having learned the lessons of the night before, we headed for 'lunch' at five o'clock soon after.

Then it was down to Matthew's again where the team assembled and we played a twenty minute dvd on Gaelic Games. It was too short though as the lads craved more. Still, it gave us more time to chat over a beer and befriend the bar's not unattractive staff. I commented to Finbarr that I work in HR and would be happy to sit on any recruitment panel in the future. The lads were bang on in fairness and everyone made an effort to chat and talk about the session. The feedback was good and I hope what we showed them will have some lasting effect.

I was fairly bait going home on Sunday and the trip back via Madrid took eight hours, door to door. It was worth it though. When you go to places like this and see what is going on, you marvel at what the G.A.A. can bring to a place. Even after only a few months, they have cultivated a strong club and sense of spirit. They've improved their skills and told me that the performance on a recent trip to Madrid was a massive improvement on their first outing in Seville. I'd expect further improvement in the coming months and I hope at some stage I will get to see it first hand.

JOE Live

2011-03-23T14:52:00.002+01:00

Entries have been scarce of late for a variety of reasons. One was due to time spent putting some articles together for Irish website www.joe.ie. I've less material to write about this year as I'm not involved with the County Board or training the lads so I needed some new challenges in terms of writing stuff.

The website provides me with just that and I'll be doing a series of features on Euro G.A.A. in the coming weeks. Already complete are ones on St. Gallen G.A.A., interviews with Sean Kelly and Eamonn Ryan on Euro G.A.A., as well as a piece with Monica Duran, Ladies Football Officer on the County Board.

If you are from another European G.A.A. club, are reading this and feel you have a good story to tell then get in touch with me at davebarrett81@gmail.com.

For now, here is the feature on former Lion player Jeremy Davidson's recent visit to Belgium G.A.A.

http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-features/belgium-gaa-take-lessons-from-a-lion-0010684-1

A Coruna / La Coruna

2011-03-22T10:28:00.002+01:00

I received a call at the beginning of the month from Denis Reidy, Coaching Officer on the County Board. It was a bit like one of those Mission Impossible ones. He said the mission would involve upwards of thirty Spaniards with a token Irish man. Their English would be limited or non-existent but they needed some Gaelic Football training.

It sounded doable. Where is it I asked? Galacia, Denis replied. I asked for more specifics and Denis said somewhere in the north of Spain. He thought the place was called A Coruna. How ignorant we are. I got onto google and it all became clear; La Coruna to us foreigners. Home of the Riazor stadium, scene of a famous David Beckham goal in the Champions League back in the day. The town is situated on the north-west coast of Spain which means the sea and I rarely turn down a visit to the sea.

I’ve taken Friday off as the journey isn’t so straight forward, requiring a change in Madrid. Still, I leave Brussels at 12h and all going well, I will land in La Coruna at 17h and be met by aforementioned token Irish man, Peter Vard. I know little of Peter or the La Coruna football team, just what is on their website. That was in Spanish however, so I rely on the photo gallery to piece the story together.

Gaelic football is a growing phenomenon in the region and the Galcians (?) have strong Gaelic heritage and football is the perfect expression of this. There is talk of a league forming up there with Vigo and other neighbouring cities. Madness!

The team played their first tournament in Seville recently and whilst results against Irish backboned teams like Madrid and Barcelona didn’t set the world alight, they have numbers and enthusiasm and thus great potential to improve. The Spanish know their sport and so adapt quickly. Denis is in Spain on business this week and will also travel up on Friday so hopefully we can help the team progress on their journey.

I’m jotting down the key football phrases now and will send to Anay, a Spanish girl who plays with our Ladies team for translation. Even a few words would help and make us more accepted and understood! I’m contemplating the necessity to include Paidi O’Se’s famous phrase about the game which went something like, “Football’s a simple game lads. Get out to the ball first and f**k into them”. The Cork accent might not to it justice though.

Green Tea v Vedett

2011-03-16T09:18:00.001+01:00

One by one, I started knocking bad dietary habits on the head in the last few months. Some have been more successful than others. I haven't touched a fizzy drink and could count on one hand the number of glasses of anything else sugary I have had. The once a week pizza regime is still firmly in place and sometimes I don't even register that in a week.

However, as I wake from the winter hibernation, the challenges increase. I was supposed to stop visiting the sweet machine at work and in fairness, with a few exceptions, I haven't done too bad. However, to coincided with this, the coffee shop at work starting stocking 'Kate's Cakes'. Their slogan 'delicious hand made cakes' is truly true, especially in the case of the chocolate chip brownie. Worse still, they give you a free mug once you accumulate four purchases. It's a kind of loyalty programme. I'm very loyal so now have ample supply. It reminds me of the potato head men that I religiously collected out of McDonalds Happy Meals when I lived in the States.

Anyway, Vedett is providing me many problems. I suppose it's not the Vedett itself, but drinking in general. The hangover forces you to drop your defences. It makes you want to let the good habits dip as your body seeks comfort, usually in the form of a sugar rush. It's tough and can even last a couple of days. That puts in jeopardy the rule about not buying biscuits in the evening on week nights. Again, this has been exasperated by my discovery of a new corner shop around the corner that stocks New Yorkers. Most of you won't be familiar with them but mention them in front of Johnny Phelan and watch his face light up. At €1.20, they are the best value chocolate chip cookie in town.

Accepting I am indeed flawed and incapable of a total overhaul, I needed a counter balance. It has come in the form of Green Tea. I'd been discussing it's benefits as a kind of detox drink for sometime with Bolster. I even bought a box in Delhaize but left it sitting in the cupboard for months. Then I read something about how if you drink a cup in the morning that it kick-starts your metabolism and can boost it by up to 15%. So now I drink it, every morning, without interruption. I hate tea and had only drank two clubs prior to the intervention of the green variety. No milk, no sugar - bland. However, it is to me what egg yokes were to Rocky.

I even actively encourage my colleague Nick to drink it. He's a coffee man but maybe I'll make him my project. Another colleague, Christelle is a French lady who I discovered is quite an expert on the subject. We had a detailed conversation about the different varieties of green tea last week and I was forced to ample a particularly aromatic version. She even game me a packet; Genmaicha. I'm not sure what it's all about as the text on the packet is in Japanese and French. Furthermore, it's not in tea bags. Instead it's just a packet of tea leaves. So I need one of those metal contraptions that isolate the leaves in the water. Tricky.

Stevie G also swears by it. He returned from Japan recently and is now a regular drinker. He says they drink it before every meal. In fact, it's credited with keeping Japanese people looking so young and lean and keeping their skin well. Surely it's a no brainer in that case!

On we go. I'm determined to knock the biscuits on their head and fortunately Kate's Cakes are currently sold out. The next ten days will be a minefield; Paddys Day Thursday, Autoworld Saturday and Spain the following weekend. The battle continues.

Paddys 'Week' Under Way

2011-03-14T17:12:00.001+01:00

Paddys Day was never a big deal to me when I was at home. It meant a day off school or college or whatever and usually the first hurling match of the year would take place. I don't ever remember particularly looking forward to the 'session' or any other associated events. It takes on a totally different dynamic abroad as the Irish puff out their chests and go to great lengths to celebrate.

I say day but in Brussels it is actually a week long event now. For the last three years we have been running a sports day with FC Irlande and it grows in success with each passing year. It takes place on the Sunday preceding St. Patricks Day and is held in Parc50. Yesterday was the best I've been to yet. The action started at 12h with an 'in-house' Gaelic Football match between the men's panel. This was followed by a kids Gaelic match. The work being done in this section of the club is phenomenal with the likes of Sean Hade and Fergal Mythen heavily involved.

Next up was a mixed hurling match and a few tense moments as the growing crowd sampling the Guinness and burgers behind the goal came under fire from sliotars. The Ladies Footballers then paraded their talents before the sporting activities concluded with a mixed soccer match. The combination of sports, food and beer attract a bigger crowd each year. It took five barmen to keeping the thirsty revellers at bay for most of the day.

Once the field activities had concluded the party moved down the road to 1898 where there was Irish music and more beer and burgers. Sinead M, Kitch, Ciaran and special guest Ross kept everyone entertained with their musical talents.

A phenomenal amount of work goes into the organisation of the whole thing. Clare B, Jane, Conor, Sylvia, Denis, Kev and Alec are the names who are most prominent in my mind but there are loads more involved.

Another nice aspect of the day which seems more prominent this year was the attendance of family members and former players who came to Brussels for the event. Clare's parents and sister were in town and got actively involved in selling tombola tickets and generally helping out. Kev Keary's dad was also on hand as were others. I'm sure they were all proud to welcome them to Brussels for such a well run event.

As per tradition, once the taps ran dry in 1898, it was time to hit the Old Oak. They've learned their lessons the hard way in the last couple of years and staffed the place suitably for the onslaught. More music, more beer and more devilment in there before the crowd began to disperse. There are rumours, which remain unconfirmed, that a small group travelled into town to have a nightcap in Celtica afterwards. Further to that, the rumour mill spread a story this morning that The Bomber, also back just for the weekend, was dethroned as dance off champion. More to follow...

There will be some work done between now and Thursday but the debate already rages about where everyone will set up camp on Paddys Day itself. Six Nations seems to be a leading contender. Of course, we have Ireland and England to look forward to on Saturday and that will signal the end of a hectic week of activity.

Wheels Beginning To Turn

2011-03-11T14:22:00.000+01:00

Appropriate content is difficult to conjure up these days. Not being the trainer and missing most of training leaves fairly slim pickings to rant about. The club has been active though and there is plenty to report about.

The change of football trainer has had no adverse effect on numbers and if anything we have a bigger group than last year. Considering regulars like myself, Collins, James O'Shea., Griff, Hough etc have missed virtually all the trainings, it's good to the see the group supplemented with newcomers. Conan and Eoin have been sharing the training burden and the lack of defections to date would seem a stamp of approval of sort. There's a few knew lads who have a bit of football under their belt also and that bit of quality will be required if we are to improve on last year's performance.

Already a selection has travelled to Dublin to play Cuala and Kilmacud and another group were in Coventry for the now annual tournament between ourselves, Roger Casements and Clare Island. The latter was in serious jeopardy of not happening but it's great it did because the longer it keeps going the more chance Clare Island 2013 has of going ahead. This Sunday, as part of the Paddys Day festivities which we co-organise with FC Irlande, their will be an inhouse game at 12h in the Parc. Over 30 players have signed up so that's further indication of the solid base from which we will launch our attack in 2011!

Of more concern is the hurling situation. All is well at the top with Martin remaining in place and the smooth transition between outgoing hurling officer Adrian and Shane. However, we've lost a good few with the likes of Pearce and Jim moving on. In addition to this, the gap between ourselves and the rest was wide in the last two years and that has led to some complacency amongst the group. That could be the biggest factor in blocking our ambitions to match Zurich's heroic three in a row. At their home tournament last year, we saw that they are again a coming force and we also know Den Haag are going to put much more focus on Hurling in the early part of this season.

I don't think lads have tuned into this yet. We're undefeated since July 2008 (when we lost to Lux in extra-time of our home tournament) but unless we give more committment this year, we can be sure that will come to a halt. We had our scrapes last year and we need to make sure we don't get caught napping.

The first puck around of the year took place last Saturday and it was good to see the like of Daire Cott there and seemingly willing to commit for another year. In a confusing occurence, Darragh Cotter, also from Cork, has returned and we expect to see more of him hurling this year. He's a big lad and should be a good addition. Keary is also back. His contribution was virtually null on the hurling front last year due to injury but he is back training injury free and will be in the reckoning. Conor Aylward is another man who is out training again and if both stay fit, our backs will be strengthened.

So whilst I saw the hurling situation is a concern, actually, if the players heads are right and everyone who is in Brussels is onboard, then we can be confident of challenging again in 2011. The hurlers will also be in action on Sunday at 14h in the Parc.

The last of the recent activities was the visit of former Irish, Ulster and British & Irish Lion rugby player Jeremy Davidson to Brussels last weekend. He was in town to open Conor's new pub, 'Six Nations'. Before the ceremony though, he took a mix of the hurlers and footballers for a short session. Whilst using a rugby ball, the principles of each drill are easily transferable to either of our codes and we can certainly take one or two things from the session. In the evening, we had a Q&A with him in The Dominican hotel. More to follow on that next week.

So, it's been a busy few weeks as the season starts to gear up. April 7 is the date the first ball will be kicked in anger down in Luxembourg and I'm sure everyone will be looking forward to getting going.

Another Milestone Passes

2011-03-02T13:05:00.000+01:00

March 1, 2008. 10 of us down in Parc50 for our first training. A small few remain; Keary, myself, Crusher, Conan. Another one was Stevie G but he took off for Japan sometime around September 2008 in his job with Toyota. He landed back in Europe at the weekend and returned to training last night. It's a totally different dressing room but he's mad for road so will settle back in quickly and be a good addition.

Another returning face is Corkman Darragh Cotter who was also here in 2008. He is here on a six month contract but if things work out he may stay longer. There is the added bonus with Darragh that he is a hurler.

Last night was my second session of the year and I'm struggling to recognise a lot of faces. This is obviously a good thing as it means we are gathering new players but the size of the group continues to alter the dynamic a little. The clubs first social of the year was last weekend and by all accounts it was poorly attended. As a group grows it becomes more difficult to mobilise it en masse and you tend to have smaller groups developing. This is natural but could potentially erode the togetherness that comes with a smaller group and that is worth something on the pitch. We must make sure, as a club, that we can maintain a clannish mentality and bring that to tournaments.

I was in premadonna mode last night and trained on my own. It's not my favoured way but it's what is best for me now. The training I attended a couple of weeks ago left the back in bits. I finally caved in and visited a doc last Thursday. Expecting the usual negativity, I got my retaliation in first, repeating to him what I expected him to say but then contradicting it with other stuff I've read. He changed his tune then and was a bit more positive. Bottom line is he doesn't think I have anything chronic wrong but with such an injury, I'm just going to have to live with the fact that it will flare up from time to time. Again, it all comes down to how much work I will do to manage it.

Eoin tried to entice me into the drills saying it would be a light session with plenty of ball but actually, it's the ball that creates the problem. Bending to pick up, soloing, even kicking tweaks it so its best avoided for now. Instead, I just did a series of sprints and a bit of core. I felt a lot better than two weeks ago and this morning, whilst I can feel the impact of the session, I'm a lot better than the last time. There is eleven sessions left before our first outing in Luxembourg so still plenty of time. A couple of more weeks of running and then there will still be time to start twisting and turning.

Mental Recovery

2011-02-23T14:00:00.002+01:00

Recurring injury can be fairly depressing. You take your rest, do your exercises but when you get back into your chosen sport fully, you break down. In some ways, if you have to be injured, it's better to have one that is more clear cut i.e. cruciate or whatever. Of course, you'd rather not have any injury but the procedure to repair a cruciate and the programme of recovery are so well defined that you know exactly what you are getting into and most people make a full recovery with no recurrences.

I injured my back in early 2006 and I'd say I've been conscious of it 75% of the time I've trained or played since. Maybe 25% of the time it impacted my performance and often any further impact was cancelled out by nurofen. The inability to shake the injury would get on top of me from time to time. When I went back training last Thursday, the warning signs were there from the off. Both hamstrings felt they would go at the slightest sprint or twist and towards the end, the lower back started to stiffen.

For the following days, my whole back was sore enough to head for the nurofen box again and my flexibility was seriously reduced. You'd be thinking to yourself that it's hardly worth your while to be even trying to play and you’d be feeling sorry for yourself. Self-pity gets you nowhere though. Instead, it's better to think about the positives. For instance, the injury has been this bad before and I have recovered to the point where I could play again. So that's what I drill into my head. There was a way before so there can be a way again.

It boils down to positive attitude and discipline. I was reading about sports psychology and its link to injury recovery during the week. They say you should educate yourself fully about an injury and that's something I've found very good. The internet is an unlimited resource so finding the desired content is easy. For instance, I could read about my injury but also about people's experiences recovering from it. They'll have gone through the same process, got the same feedback from doctors etc but will have found a way. And it always comes back to attitude and discipline. I think most people underestimate the power of those two traits. The most successful people in any walk of live have them in abundance. It's a winner’s mentality and we must remember that it's a controllable; we can decide our own attitude and application.

Paddy Tiedt is an acupuncture guy that we use in Kinsale. He's immensely positive and a great guy to see when you have an injury for that reason. Of course, the question you'd always ask him is what can I do and how much? He'd stand facing the wall with his palms facing it. He'd tell you to treat the injury like a fire and he'd move his hands towards the wall (or imaginary fire in this case) but when he got too close he'd pull them back saying it was too hot. Sounds like a stupid story but I keep it in my mind now. The message is yes, by all means train, but when you are feeling the injury step back from the fire.

Today, the back has eased out again but I'm not naive enough to think that I'm ready to participate fully in training. So now it's a case of changing the approach. The gym work is grand but it's not helping my fitness for hurling and football so I need to run. But I can't run the way you do at training where you must twist and turn and ship challenges. I'll devise a little programme for myself and train away at the end of the pitch tomorrow night. It’s not ideal but if I can eliminate the things that aggravate it then at least I can make up some of the lost ground.

And I couldn't miss the opportunity to show off my latest fashion item to complement the yellow boots.

Fostering Spirit

2011-02-18T12:33:00.002+01:00

One thing you'd always try to tell a fella is that when you feel absolutely wrecked in a match, the guy alongside you is probably feeling the same. It then becomes a question of who has the greater resolve to go deeper into their reservoir.

Now, training was by no means barbaric last night but there were a few sprints at the beginning and the end which got the chest pounding. I certainly felt it both in my chest and legs. A session in the gym the night before involving squats and lunges was still lingering in my muscles and I was struggling to separate whether it was a low level of fitness or those exercises which were causing the tiredness. Mentally, I was prepared for a bit of ball so that may have been another contributing factor! Eoin was back in Ireland and Conan was in charge and from chatting to him over the years, I should have known there would have been more physical stuff.

I was talking to Condon over Christmas about the difficulties of moving from trainer to player, especially when you have so many of your own ideas on training. He trains the Intermediates at home but plays with the Juniors and said often there may be things you would do differently (not necessarily better or worse) but ultimately you would enjoy it. I kept that in mind and enjoyed the session.

One comment from last night is how we continue to be such a quiet group. Naturally players won't be dishing out instructions at training but still they should be heard and in a positive way i.e. always encouraging guys during the running drills. I say it all the time, while you are recovering your team-mate is suffering and you should be there for him. As a small example, I was in the first group of the shuttles last night which meant I finished first. As everyone finished, we went straight for water. That meant the last group completed the exercise in isolation, with no support or encouragement. In the final running exercise, I was again in the first group and started to walk away when I was finished. Then it clicked with me and I returned to make sure someone in Johnny P's group was there to encourage him across the line.

It's a subtle thing but one of the important elements in fostering a bond between team-mates and it gives you a more collective drive when you are on the pitch.

Time to get back on the bike…

2011-02-17T13:11:00.001+01:00

…or off it as the case may be. Some sporadic spinning classes and less than enthusiastic little sessions on the bike have been the extent of my cardio work for the last five months.

It’s time to return to training. The back is a good bit better, if not totally recovered. It doesn’t look like it will get back to perfect but I could play with it in its current state without issue. It’s just a case of how it reacts to the twisting and turning and all that comes with playing hurling and football.

The lads have been back training a month but I haven’t missed it at all, not even just being out training. I’ve actually enjoyed the free time, going to the gym and generally not having any commitment. There is one big thing I notice though – life goes on without you!!

For the last three years I was one of the main focal points of the whole thing which means you are deeply involved and everyone has something to say to you about it. Now I’m on the outside looking in and you realise your revised role in the bigger picture. You are truly just another cog in the wheel. It leaves a certain gap but it’s more a case of being conscious of it than missing it.

By all accounts training has been going well. Eoin’s style is different in that he isn’t doing any heavy fitness work now. Instead it’s all ball related stuff. Hopefully that will mean my lack of fitness will be exposed less in the coming weeks.

The lads head to Dublin this weekend to join up with some of our former players for a tournament against Kilmacud, Peregrines and Cuala. The former two have visited us in the past so it is good to return the gesture.

I’m not travelling, partly because of injury but as much because I simply want to travel less and spend less money on G.A.A. trips this year.

Temperatures will get down to zero tonight so it’s going to be cold out there. I may have said I didn't miss it but I know the minute I get the ball in my hands that the enjoyment will become apparent immediately. Six weeks to the first tournament and you have to start somewhere!

Learning From O'Gara

2011-02-11T11:40:00.000+01:00

Every opportunity you have to learn, you should grasp. When it comes to training, that means attending courses, conferences, club/county sessions etc. There are also other opportunities though. With little interest in the rugby last weekend, I spent most of the game watching the subs warm-up, observing the different stretches etc. You will always pick one or two things up and can then easily incorporate them into your sessions to bring some variety.

However, what was most interesting was what I saw after the game. We were all loitering around just outside the stadium and while the lads were waiting for the jacks, I went back in for a look at the pitch with Timmy. The Irish subs, including those who had come on, were playing a game of touch rugby across the field. Funnily enough, three of the Italians players had also joined in.

O'Gara stood out though. Now, being from Cork and a non-rugby orientated background, I would not be overly enamoured with Pres and Christians folk. They carried a ridiculous clannish confidence around College with them and liked to do a bit of huffing and puffing in the pubs and clubs. O'Gara being ex-Pres could naturally be tarnished with that brush and probably over the years has done one or two things to make it stick.

However, you can't but admire the guys' resilience. From reading his book, you certainly don't get the impression that he was the type of guy earmarked as a future Lion from day one. He worked extremely hard at his game though. Despite this, he has faced ridicule time and time again, especially for supposedly being the weak tackler in the back line. Still, he has stepped up time and again and done the business. At 34, his resilience is undiminished and he showed it again in Rome last week.

Usually, we get very little first hand insight into these guys’ approach to the game. O'Gara stood out in the touch game on Saturday though. He was bringing an intensity to it far above the rest, constantly looking for the ball and making the runs. I know it's not much but it is indicative of his approach to training and the game himself. After kicking the winning score, probably being pissed off with not starting, this was his attitude. When the opposition had the ball he was just as intense and I'd say the rest thought he was a complete pain in the arse. It's the kind of approach all of us should bring to training. If I learned nothing about Ireland's supposedly improved patterns of play last weekend, I can at least try and take a leaf out of O'Gara's book when I’m on the training pitch.

36hrs in Rome

2011-02-08T21:07:00.002+01:00

Note; If you were not in Rome on this trip, you may want to stop reading now as you will not be able to relate to, or find very little of what follows to be funny. I make no apologies, it is my blog.

Purpose – Italy v Ireland, Six Nations Rugby match & a few pints. Tourist activities a bonus.

Touring Party – Alec, Timmy, Ross, Ollie, Ross, myself and newly appointed Belgium GAA tour leader Paul Hagan. Johnny Phelan was a late withdrawal after being denied boarding, illegally, to a Ryanair flight.

Accommodation – Hostel close to Termini (?) station. Ticked all the boxes. Only disappointment was that the Brazilian on reception only arrived on Sunday morning. She seemed very helpful.

Top 5 Highlights
1) Paul Hagan’s ‘Guide to Rome’ – Lonely Planet isn’t a scratch on it.
2) Corkman saves the day
3) Ollie buying 7 American girls a drink...and all for what?
4) Ross Church, Tourism Ireland
5) Scrum v’s Amsterdam GAA in Campo de Fiore
6) Pulling it out of the bag with the priests

Top 5 Disappointments
1) Ollie’s form
2) €5 cans of Peroni
3) The fact there is only one toilet in any restaurant/bar in Rome – not easy when drinking
4) So many half finished buildings and random pieces of wall scattered around the place
5) General desire of Italians to rob you
6) Undoing all the good work with the priests

Roman Quotes

Ross - I wonder will there be alot of Irish on the flight from Brussels?
Various - Yes, becaus you'd fly via Brussels to get to Rome?!

Whilst waiting for Ollie in the airport in Rome.
Ross - 90% of those people look like they are Irish.
Dave - That's probably because it's the Dublin flight.

Ollie - What's Italian for Pizza?
Paul - Pizza.

Ollie - I sold my soul to the devil for these good looks.
Priest - You should try and get your money back.

American girl to Ollie - You are like a pigeon.
Ollie - ...................

Eanna - How do you eat an olive?
Tim - You just it it, like.

Moments prior to Ronan O'Gara kicking the winning score
Paul - Earn your f*****g living 'ROG' (in aggressive Nordie accent)
'ROG' kicks score
Paul - That's what you are paid to do

American girl – I’m from D.C.
Ollie – That’s in the south isn’t it?
American girl – Wow, how did you know?
Ollie – Everyone knows that – the Mason Dixon line.

Ross – Who is that actor in the Pete Postlethwaite documentary?
Assortment – Eh, Pete Postlethwaite?

Drinking in a pub watching Scotland game. Paul disappears to check the street name and returns 20mins later.
Dave - You were gone long enough
Paul – Aye, I snuck out and went to Mass

Moving From Generic To Innovative

2011-02-03T08:06:00.001+01:00

In the Pharmaceutical Industry, companies like Pfizer, Eli Lilly etc spend billions of dollars developing new products. When they finally get the product to the market, they are protected by patents (which means others can't reproduce the same product for a defined period of time). This allows them to charge a premium price to recoup the R&D costs and also to turn a profit to reward their innovation. Once the patent expires, companies can replicate their product, without incurring any of the development costs and sell on the market for a fraction of the price. These products become known as generic drugs.

The coaching world is not that different in many ways, excluding the monetary element. You will find very innovative coaches, developing new methods. Soon, these methods will be observed by the masses and replicated on fields all over the place. What you have then are innovative coaches and generic coaches. At the beginning of your career it is ok to be a generic coach but you should remember, if you follow the generic model, the best you can hope to achieve are the same results as everyone else. This works in the pharmaceutical industry because the goal is to make people better. You can't really make someone better than better so each drug's endpoint is the same.

However, when coaching, you must have a different end point to the competitor or else every game, in theory at least, would end in a draw. For a certain period of time and at a certain level, generic will work because maybe you have better players or have just mastered the generic model better than others. To progress beyond that and ensure you have an edge on opponents, you must go a step further than the generic drug companies and become innovative yourself.

Here we arrive at a potential blocking point for us Irish. It is something I have observed through my work. When I was in Graduate Recruitment I interviewed candidates from all over Europe and beyond. We also attended University fairs across Europe. This experience highlighted a major contrast between the education systems in Ireland and those in countries like Holland, Germany or the US.

The Irish student, allowing for generalisation, is one who likes to cram. In the days up to an exam they will overload on facts and figures and then on the day, they will transfer these from their brain through their pen and onto the paper. The bell will signal the end of the exam and with it, the student will head for the bar and never give the content a second thought again. When they present themselves at interviews or job fairs, they haven't thought out the career which they want to pursue. It is as if they are coming to you looking for guidance.

The US student, as an example, will have been educated in an environment where they are encouraged to think, allowed scope and expected to have their own opinions and develop their own philosophies. They have also a clear image of where they want to go after study. This is the key difference - they are taught and encouraged to think. With this skill you can transform yourself from a generic coach to an innovative coach.

I've been reading a lot of material about training lately and the one thing that you never hear top coaches or coaching tutors give to developing coaches, especially in the area of strength and conditioning, is criticism. They always encourage the coach and will offer advice on how to develop their methods. This advice will revolve around principles. We can call these the ‘’what’’. Defining the “how” cannot be done in a one size fits all manner and shouldn't be approached in that way, otherwise you remain generic. It should also be said that these experienced coaches are very much interested in two way communication so that they can take every opportunity to learn themselves.

So a coach should understand they have a freedom to think and use the principles as the road map. Systems and styles of play should be built in consideration of the talent you have available. Drills should be focused on developing the skills required to execute within the chosen system. Drills practice skills or patterns. How they are structured is totally up to the coach. How you place your cones or organise your drills is up to you and you should have the courage to experiment and not be afraid to make a balls of it.

Often, practically all the time in fact, the best learning comes through your failures. This learning will only come about through thought and reflection and this is the key to becoming an innovator.

January Review

2011-02-01T14:35:00.000+01:00

With January traditionally being the most miserable of months I made a plan to keep busy and keep the post Christmas homesickness and general depression at bay. As reviewed a couple of weeks ago, this was proceeding with varying degrees of success.

1 Training

I followed a five times a week routine along these general lines;

Monday; Spinning, core, flexibility
Tuesday; Day off
Wednesday; 'Dynamic' weights circuit, core, flexibility
Thursday; Day off
Friday; 'Dynamic' weights circuit, core class, flexibility
Saturday; 2*15mins on the bike, 2*15mins on the cross trainer, core express, flexibility
Sunday; Weights - strength focus, core, flexibility

It made for a busy month and you'd really look forward to a Tuesday / Thursday off. Of course, you must be careful not to overdo it so you can let the body recover and maximise the benefit of your work. Also, in the sessions themselves, you should be upping the weight or intensity of the cardio a notch as you go and I probably didn't do that enough.

To make a routine like this work, you need to do it with someone else. Generally, I'd go with Collins but Collie B, Crusher and Hudson all joined on occasion. You might get away with one or two sessions a week on your own but maintaining the motivation over a period of time would be a challenge. Also, routine is everything, even the nights you don't want to go, you must push yourself because once you skip the first one, you can be sure your discipline will break again. I missed the Monday session last week and I was p1ssed off for a few days about it. That’s the kind of effect it has when you buy into it.

There was no pitch session in above plan and I only have a few tentative ones scheduled for February. I don't think Hudson can understand how I can do the gym work but not the field training. I see his point but the minute I start twisting or turning and kicking and pucking ball, the pain in the back gets worse. So I follow Paddy Tiedt’s advice go up to the pain barrier and when you get to it, step back.

2 Eating

The main thing to tackle this month was the pizza. I set the target of one a week with Sunday being the breakout day!! Actually, this proved to be much easier than I thought. Previously my dependence on it was down to laziness, a dispute with vegetables and the bland nature of my food preparation. I started to do a proper food shop once or twice a week and made sure I always had enough food in the house. Peppers, pepper, herbs, oregano, carrots, soya sauce and a selection of other ingredients started to become regulars in the shopping basket.

The result was a much more varied and tasty menu and a knock-on effect to my eating habits. I actually look forward to cooking now and the temptation for pizza is virtually gone. I had been looking forward to having one in Dublin last weekend but when I got it, I didn't even finish it. Still, that's not to say I've gone off it totally. Those two Sundays in January I skipped were very much in preparation for this weekend’s trip to Rome!! You can bank credits right?

Sweets remain an issue and will be the next thing on the list to tackle.

3 Drinking

Out went the fizzy drinks and they stayed out. Only last weekend did I come close to blinking. Also out was beer. No problem there (but a seriously reduced amount of craic as a result). I stayed solely on water for virtually the entire month. Last Sunday I had fresh orange juice and a hot chocolate at breakfast and that was the only time I deviated.

4 The Results

Physically and mentally I feel in good shape. My weight is stable but as I said previously keeping it at that level or increasing slightly was ok. The body fat % is coming down slower than I had expected. I must check it today but I'd say I've gone from around 20% to 18/19%. Not such good progress but I think I know the countermeasure for that. The back is marginally better. I'd hoped to be in a bit better shape but I think a slightly more focused approach to this will help.

5 February Targets

> Training - I need to incorporate more lower back exercises into my routine and start to up the intensity of the sessions.
> Eating - Maintain current improvements, reduce carb intake after 18h, no more chocolate/biscuits on weekdays in the evening.
> Drinking - Green tea will be added to the water and alcohol will come back into the fray. This isn't such an issue as I don't drink that frequently anyway. It’s the fizzy drinks that need to be kept in check.
> Body Fat % reduction - Direct link to the sweet intake!!