Tomorrow It Really Matters!

Hi All,

Germany 17- 0 Ireland

Today was a bit of a quiet one for us. We played the Germans at 9am. We spoke to the girls last night about the game, we knew it was going to be tough but we were determined to try and get as much as we could from it. Make no mistake, Germany are here to win this competition and to be honest I fancy them to do it. In truth the semi-finalists have looked obvious from Day 1. Germany, Italy, GB and Sweden are all just a cut above the rest of the division.

We tried our zone defence again, in an attempt to test their handlers but unfortunately the much calmer conditions  and clearly stronger handlers than those we had come up against yesterday meant it wasn't as effective. They had slightly more trouble shutting down our man defence but had the patience to retain the disc and keep us running before picking off their scores. It was really hard work for the girls as they didn't see very much possession but that was always likely to be the case, sometimes you simply have to hold your hands up and say you were beaten by a stronger team.

But we didn't come to this tournament to beat the likes of Germany, to say otherwise would be foolhardy. In many ways the tournament we came to play begins tomorrow. We play a round robin against France and Poland to decide who comes 7th, 8th & 9th. Unfortunately we have started to suffer a couple of injuries. Aisling and Elysha McCarthy were both struggling yesterday and today. Aisling hasn't played in either of our last two games due to an ankle problem while Elysha is having trouble with her asthma and has only managed a point in both of those games. Jess MacSweeney also had to sit out today's game, meaning we were without three very important cutters. I'm hoping we'll have them all back tomorrow. They certainly all want to play.

I'm really excited about tomorrow but very aware of how difficult it's going to be. The Poles are going to come at us like a tonne of bricks, desperate for revenge after losing in such horrible fashion yesterday. We'll have to be ready for them and fight even harder. I'm not sure if yesterday's performance will be enough to beat them tomorrow so hopefully we can return to the form we showed against the Czech's.

I went to spy on France today for awhile. They were playing GB who beat them comfortably enough but they do look to have some strong handlers. Again, we'll try to test them with our zone and hopefully force enough turnovers to get what would be a massive win! Their coach is a very distinctive dreadlocked girl who anyone who has played in continental tournaments will know. She was playing for Italy at U23s last summer, an Italian team who twice beat the Irish mixed team on which I was playing, by one point and two points respectively. Needless to say, on a personal level I'd very much like to beat her. But more importantly, for the girls it would be such an achievement if they could beat a country of France's stature. They'll have to play better than ever before to do it. I would put the French on a similar scale to the Czech Republic, so it's going to be very difficult. But we're well rested and hopefully come 5pm tomorrow the girls will have another win under their belt and be chomping at the bit to end the tournament on a win.

A whole new day. In many ways a whole new tournament. Nothing up to this point matters any more. Getting hammered by Sweden and Germany is obsolete, playing out of our skin against the Czech's is obsolete, beating Poland is obsolete. If we lose our two games tomorrow we finish last, simple as that. We can always reflect on the positives which we've achieved so far but having tasted victory once we're all desperate for more. I really hope the girls play their best ultimate and achieve something special. There are more big performances in this team, I just know it. Hopefully they come tomorrow.

MVP v Germany: Leanne O'Neill
A-Game v Germany: Anne Leahy

In other news, The Open team had a great game today, coming back from 8-3 down against Russia to bring the score to 9-10 in the second half. Unfortunately they couldn't keep the momentum going and ended up losing 15-11.

The 4 Irish coaches also got to play in the staff & coaches tournament. My team which was full of some very handy Italians got to the final (beating Hogie's team in the semi), unfortunately we lost in sudden death 7-6. It was a great laugh though.

So, big day tomorrow. The girls get a nice lie in but I'm up at 8.30 to spy on France v Poland at 9. Then we play Poland at 1pm and France at 5pm. Can't wait!

Hobs