Just Not Our Day

Hi, Sorry for not managing to get the blog us last night. Out team meeting went on a bit longer than expected.

Poland 10-8 Ireland

Sadly yesterday just wasn’t our day. We played Poland at 1pm, they had been well beaten by France in the morning and I was hoping if we came at them hard and scored a few points early on tiredness would begin to set in for them unfortunately that didn’t quite happen. In truth it was a fairly scrappy affair as our offence struggled to click meaning we had to resort to a bit of huck and D. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Frisbee lingo, “huck and D” is the Frisbee equivalent of Jack Charlton football.

It was a long tiring game on the girls which went on for over two and a half hours due to the number of turnovers. We did score some nice points Eimear O’Reilly assisted to Kate O’Regan for our first, before the Colaiste Choilm duo were working in tandem again for our second. There were also points for Aisling McCarthy and two for Caitlin in the first half as the assists were spread around between cutters and handlers, Mairead O’Meara, Mags Carey and Anne Leahy all finding the right pass to keep us in touch.

6-5 down at half, Poland went on to score the next two points, giving us a bit of catching up to do. The girls fought back terrifically, scoring three on the trot to tie the game. Leanne O’Neill assisted all three finding Elysha McCarthy, Caitlin Looney and Jess Mac Sweeney respectively. At 8-8, game to 10 momentum had swung our way and it looked as though the come back was on.  Unfortunately it wasn’t to be as some strong Polish defence meant we struggled to work the disc out of our own half and when they turned us on our end zone line they had the composure to put away the winner.

It was hugely disappointing for the girls. There were a few tears shed afterwards but I don’t think we could begrudge Poland the victory. They probably played better than us and deserved their win, it’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t repeat Wednesday’s result and get our second win of the tournament. Losing games like that are painful, much more painful that getting hammered by the likes of Germany. But I’m sure the girls will learn from it and come back much stronger next time round.

MVP v Poland: Gemma Locke

A-Game v Poland: Jessica MacSweeney

France 14-3 Ireland

We didn’t have very much time between our games due to how long the Polish game went over time. Yesterday was without doubt the hottest day of the tournament  and a number of our players struggled as a result. Both Mairead O’Meara and Caroline Sexton fell victim to the heat, leaving us rather shy of handlers. We were unlucky at times against the French as we failed to convert some good opportunities early on. Consequently their 9-1 lead at half time was more than a little flattering for them I feel.

They had a loose poachy zone that clogged up our lanes and made under cuts very difficult. When they went to man we played vertical and had more joy. We tried to combat the zone by using our deep game, unfortunately it didn’t always come off for us. A few unlucky drops and misjudged hucks meant we didn’t score the points we deserved. We continued to turn them over with the likes of Leah Driscoll, Jenny Murphy and Danielle O'Shea on the wings, deterring the big throws from the French handlers.

That said, the French were good value for their win. They swung the disc between their handlers well, had solid receivers and found gaps in our cup, which hurt us. Jess, Elysha and Caitlin scored our three points with Kate assisting the first and Leanne the second and third.

It was our offence again that let us down, as was the case in most of our games. Working on the nature of our cutting and throwing under pressure aren’t really things that come to you during your first competitive tournament – which is what this is for most of these girls.

MVP v France: Anne Leahy

A Game v France: Kate O’Regan

Last Friday I lay in bed a slightly worried man. I was concerned that perhaps we were exposing the girls to a highly competitive level of ultimate too soon. That they weren’t ready for this kind of tournament. Now that the week is over I’m so glad we did. I think the experience of this week, the opportunity to play against some of the unbelievable teams that we played and the performances against the teams which were closer to our level will stand to the girls for the rest of their time playing this sport. Like I said in a previous post, this week has secured 18 new women into Irish ultimate, that in itself is worth celebrating. Also, only four of the 18 aren’t eligible to play at this level next year, a lot of them are eligible for two more years and our youngest member has three more years!

Last night we had our final team meeting of the week, a slightly emotional one it has to be said, with kind words exchanged all round. There were also gifts for Caoimhe, Sara and myself, which was really nice of the girls! I have an EYUC 2011 disc, signed with kind words from every player. It wont ever be thrown, I’ll treasure it as a memory from a terrific week.

Despite finishing 9^th in the end, which of course we would have loved to avoid, I think the whole week has been a huge positive. Of course it would have been nicer to beat Poland yesterday rather than on Wednesday but in the grand scheme of things I’m not so sure it matters. I hope the girls were inspired by what they saw this week and go home with the desire to come back stronger next year.

The future is bright for Irish Women’s ultimate. Girls on the senior team, you better watch your backs. These girls are coming for you.

MVP of the Week...in a unanimous vote.....Caitlin Looney.

A-Game of the Week: Mairead O’Meara & Leanne O’Neill.