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Venue, a field in Luxembourg between 2 hills

 

Weather, Cloudless, bright, warm to hot.

 

In attendance, The Hague, Amsterdam, Maastricht, Luxembourg A, Luxembourg B, St Columcilles, Liberty Lads, some random and a television camera,

 

Situation, no water; few friends; a dodgy draw; all in all things were looking up.

 

Luxembourg was the location for the third round of the Benelux Gaelic Football Tournament. This tournament played host to the usual suspects of the Low Countries plus teams from Dublin and Hertfordshire. The Dublin contingent were a known factor having being involved last year however the England based crew were not. The tournament for The Hague was the last chance to mount a challenge for the Benelux championship and a great chance to cement qualification for the European football championship. With this in mind, we went down with a strong squad. Having being very close in Amsterdam we were in a good frame of mind.

 

The size of the tournament meant that 2 groups would have to be formed. This was presumably done by random draw and presented the Hague with the following opponents, Amsterdam, Luxembourg B, the Liberty Lads, the other group contained Luxembourg A, Maastricht and St Colmcilles. Faced with the prospect of an extra game (i.e. an extra half hour of football than the other group, against strong opposition on a very hot day) some renegotiations of terms resulted in The Hague’s group facing 3 games of ten minutes a half with the other group facing 2 games of 15 minutes a half.  

 

We started the tournament against local rivals Amsterdam. After a slow start to the season for them we were expecting a strong challenge. This happened from the throw in with an early attack. Settling down after this The Hague tightened things from the back allowing some good attacks to be played into Peader O Toole and Denis Reidy in the full forward line. However without doubt we did not pull clear and win as convincingly as we should have, whether this was down to fitness or not is up for debate.

 

Second up came the Liberty lads. This was a chance to get through to the semi-finals quickly. While we availed of this there was some over emphases on a one line of attack with people seeming to being unsure of shooting from 30 metres. However as shown by Denis Reidy when there players are able to create space it can be very effective to punish teams by taking points from distance. 

 

Lastly came the hosts seconds. It is an achievement to be able to field one team in this championship but being able to field two with subs is something to be applauded. We were looking to keep our unbeaten run going however even if it was not really necessary to get through to the semi-finals.   Winning well prepared us for the semi-finals. Luxembourg A and B had also qualified as had St Columcilles. With Luxembourg A playing B in the first semi we stayed out of the sun while this game was played out.

 

St Columcilles were as expected strong throughout the field. The game was played ate a frantic pace which tested our fitness and we soon know we were in for a game, they knew the same. Going into the break St Columcilles were one point to the good. However The Hague hit top gear with the restart to take the lead. This was helped by good movement through the middle by John Sheridan and strong play by John O Malley keeping the forwards supplied. Columcilles came back with with some intense attacks at the end however while searching for a goal to kill off the game the Hague backs were able to keep them out to reach the final.

 

As expected Luxembourg A had won the other semi and the scene was set for the 3^rd final in the Benelux tournament to feature this combination. We had 3 losses, including one at home to focus us. The first half started fast and it soon became apparent that the semi had taken a lot out of us. Three goals down at half time things didn’t get better. To be honest fitness won the day but there was no comparison between the two semi-finals and we had effectively played our final against St Columcilles. 

 

An unexpected thunder storm nearly called an early halt to the proceedings. When the ref did blow up on time we were 21 points down and getting wet. Not the ending to the day we would have liked, however everybody left everything on the field throughout the day. It is games like that against St Columcilles which will prepare us for the European Championship, qualification for which was secured leaving Luxembourg.