Weather. Confused, rained from someplace near the boarder down and then split the stones for most of the day.
In attendance. A few Haag hurlers with some hurls to be broken, some lads from Brussels, Luxembourg, Zurich and Paris.
Situation. Weakened due to circumstance but hungry.
The first tournament of the 2007 European Hurling Tournament was set for Brussels on the 12th of May. The Hague had started training for this back in early spring determined to end Zurich’s domination of the competition. Early signs suggested that things were going very well, however keeping this up especially in numbers at training has been difficult. A preseason “friendly” against Brussels may have resulted in a few trips to the local A & E, however it also suggested that this team had real hurling potential. A limited number arriving in Brussels did cause some worry but as with football everybody is prepared to stand up and be counted.
First up against the European Champions Zurich, we started slowly but with strong games in defence from Derek and John we finished the first half strongly. The second started as we finished, some loose shooting could have proved costly but we ran out good winners.
Second up was a Paris team making its first appearance in a few years. It seems that they intended for this to be a litmus test and then come out again next year, hopefully they keep it up. As a result we didn’t know anything about how this game might go but we took no chances. Some strong work from throughout the team meant we ran out winners to set us up well going into our next game with Luxembourg.
Having had a number of tight battles in football already this year we had an idea how the red and blues were going to approach this game. We had seen from their earlier games that we had some better hurlers but they had a full bench and would be well up for this. On the plus side for us if we won we were directly into the final thereby avoiding a potentially costly group game against Brussels. With John keeping up the system of warm-ups going that we followed all day we prepared.
Luxembourg however started the game much hungrier than Den Haag and had us constantly on the back foot. Five minutes left in the second half and there were suggestions from the sideline that we were finished. A call to award a wide was disputed by Den Haag players but the plea went on deaf ears. The response didn’t with the Hague outscoring Luxembourg by 3 goals and an odd point or so in remainder. Resistance is futile is it!!
Reality struck after that game and John let us know that we never should have been in a situation where we needed to come back. Forget the romanticism we fell asleep and it nearly cost us the game. The final against a strong Brussels team could not see that same happening, quite simply if it did then we would lose the final ourselves.
The final was preceded by the customary warm up and this carried into the game. Midfield was on top from early on and quick switching by Derek Butler in the full back line took out the main threat out early on. In the forwards the work rate by Denis and Thomas Reidy and Des Breen was making good inroads. Half time and there was nothing in it, and this continued until an unusual and unexpected goal was gifted by the Brussels keeper. That put some distance between the teams on the score sheet. With testament to the game and the pressure applied by Brussels however the Hague were surprised come out winners by five points.
This supplied the first silverware for den Haag in 2007 and the first hurling tournament win in 3 years. Credit for this must go to Derek Butler (manager) and John Ford (captain) for their dedication to training and organising over the previous 4 months to get us to this stage, Mauve for her role on the sideline for the day. Credit is also due to Brussels for putting on a great tournament both on the field and with the integral social side of things which were duly enjoyed.
