Girls and honoured lads

 

Where do I start? A fantastic weekend from start to finish.

 

Friday:

We set off on Friday morning with 7 players and Ana’s imaginary Jane (The real Jane flew in from Dublin later on). Michael made sure we got into Madrid 10 minutes early and that we all new about it!!! I can still here that noise going off in my head  We made it to the hostel (thanks to Steph’s neighbour for the directions), checked in (thanks to Ana for negotiating with the “too cool for school” staff) and proceeded to enjoy the sights, shopping, weather and of course tapas of Madrid. Ana, the director/manager/captain of food, did a great job and everyone went to bed on Friday night with a full and satisfied tummy and ready for the challenge ahead. 

 

Pity the gobshite next door, together with his chorus of gigglers had to wake us up at 3 am and reveal himself in his “y-fronts” when we went out to sort him out but that wasn’t going to stop us- Champions in the making!    

 

Saturday:

Anyway, on to the tournament. We arrived at the pitches and after one or two hitches, like full bladders, a lack of toilets, a few minutes to go to the first match and a near mutiny, we got going and faced Madrid in the first round.

 

The line out: Aine “Schmichael” Murphy in goal; Ana “schneeky febreeze” Rios in left back, Steph “The Eagle” Dunn in right back; “Magic” Mide Ni Shuilleabhain and Caragh “Wonder Woman” O’Connor in mid-field; Maria “The Bomber” Brosnan, Barbara “Over the Bar” Wynne and Jane “Back of the Net” Brennan in the forwards. And believe me everyone had earned their new titles by the end of the day!

 

Round 1:

Opposition: Madrid

Score: Belgium 2-7 v Madrid 1-5

Weather: Middling to warm- sun shining and a bit of dew on the grass

Report: A solid performance by everyone and a great team effort to start off the campaign to victory. Mide played a stormer and ensured we saw them off with 2 lovely goals. They don’t call her “Magic” for nothing.

 

Round 2:

Opposition: Paris

Score: Belgium 6-3 v Paris 2-6 

“The Bomber” and “Back of the Net” put 6 goals past them in the second half

Weather: Hotter than the last match

Report: We had to umpire the Madrid v Paris match and to be honest things started to look like they wouldn’t be as straight forward as we thought. The plan was to beat Madrid and that Paris would do us the same service, so we could cruise into the semi-final. But alas it was not to be. Madrid saw off a tough Paris side well and we knew that Paris would come out at us all guns blazing and that they did. It took us a bit to find our feet and we went in at half-time a point or two down. It didn’t end there though and we came out with even more and bigger guns. I don’t think they scored in the second-half thanks to the amazing goal keeping of “Schmichael” and the defending of “The Eagle” who had certainly gotten the measure of her player and “Schneeky Febreeze” who was invincible in left back from start to finish. Magic and Wonder Woman were on fire and what can I say, The Bomber (5 goals) and Back of the Net dazzling. Roll on the semi-final……….

 

Semi-final:

Opposition: Munich

Score: Belgium 3-8 v Munich 0-4

Weather: Much hotter than the last match

Report: Again a tough start and the weather, while wonderful for the beach, was starting to take its toll. We went in a point down at half time but we dug deep and came out in the second half to mesmerise them. What a team effort. Superb play from everyone and all over the pitch. Despite making about 10 switches they couldn’t stop us. Caragh’s passing was excellent and Jane set Mide up for a beautiful goal. The kicking boots were well and truly on.

 

The final:

Opposition: Madrid

Score: Belgium 2-7 v Madrid 3-1

Weather: Bleedin Hot

Report: We went into this game champions already. What an achievement to have started training 5 weeks (ish) before this tournament and to have made it to a final. Who would have thought that two footballers (joined by the Bomber Brosnan a week before the tournament), a camogie player, a few soccer players and a few hockey players would have made it to the final of a round of the European League. We were going home with medals and our heads held high already. Then we started as we meant to go on. An amazing performance by everyone. We were up against a full Madrid panel, the weather and some questionable decisions by the ref but sure no worries. Aine “Schmichael” Murphy, what can I say the kick-outs were fantastic, straight into one of our player’s hands everytime. The defence, amazing, the ref summed it up… you were impenetrable. Mid-field and forwards, fair play to you, you kept on going and going and going. Fantastic! Caragh was particularly brilliant, scoring from two 45s and two goals on top of that to make sure we brought home the cup. David Beckham eat your heart out!

Conclusion: Very emotional, very happy and very tired but throughout the day our fitness stood to us. So you’ll be happy to hear that there will be plenty of sprinting and tough training sessions before Luxembourg  

 

Saturday Night:

Dinner: Food was nice and the wine was free. Can’t go wrong!

Prize giving: We swept the board. Congratulations to Caragh, who well and truly deserved player of the tournament for a truly outstanding performance and to Jane and Steph on winning the champagne that they kindly contributed to filling the cup.

After-party: We’ll have to make up for it this week! I’ll be in touch about it.

 

Sunday:

Packed-up, checked out and went home. Michael got us home 18 mins. early and we finished the weekend off in Devs. What can I say brilliant.

Special thanks to our wonderful supporters Tom and Dora, the first-aid man without whom we wouldn’t have been able to last until the end, the supportive texts and calls from everyone in Brussels and Amsterdam and to the team. I’m so so proud.  

Your sore and bruised but very very proud captain

Barbara

 

THE END