Arriving in two separate cars, being chauffeured by mentor Pat Stakelum and trainer Noel Mc Kenna, the Munich Colmcilles ladies football team hit the straw early on Friday night. They awakened bright eyed and bushy tailed on Saturday morning and were among the earliest of the arrivals at the Henri Funck Stadium for the 2008 Luxembourg round of the European Football Championship.The round comprised of five teams – Brussels, who won the Madrid round of the championship, Luxembourg, Paris, Holland and Munich. On the menu for the day, to whet the football appetites if you were, was a series of round robin games amongst the five participating teams. Here follows a brief synopsis of the Munich games.

Game 1 versus Brussels:

Starting with Natski in goals, the Munich ladies put up a promising performance against a very strong and good footballing Brussels side. Munich eventually went under on the final scoreline of 2:2 to 0:3. Scorers for a gallant Munich side were Sanna Fagerstrom with two fine points and Niamh Mc Kenna with one point.

Game 2 versus Paris:

Munich started this game knowing that a defeat would put a huge dent on the aspirations on the day. With this in mind, players such as Lauren Mc Laughlin and Jeannie Brown performed heroics in limiting a strong Paris side to five points. Munich featured a strong forward line comprising Niamh Mc Kenna and Kerry Bridge, and managed to put 2 goals and 2 points on the score board. This invaluable win kept Munich in the tournament. All scores were contributed by the previously mentioned forwards. The defence, which was again strongly marshalled by Natski was tight and uncompromising. All in all a good performance!

Game 3 versus Holland:

This game ended in a very disappointing loss for the Munich camp. The final score of 2.2 to 0:4 was a fair reflection of the game. The Munich ladies showed the after effects of the tough encounter with Paris. Joanna put in a massive performance in a very overworked defence, the midfield worked tirelessly, however Holland proved to be too strong. It was now up to the players and management to lift them selves for the final group game against the host team Luxembourg. The scorers were Niamh, Jeannie (two fine points) and Lauren.

Game 4 versus Luxembourg:

Natski was finally relieved of her goal keeping duties, and she went on to put on an excellent display against Luxembourg, kicking a fine second-half point in the process. Munich were down by a goal at half time, having been lifted by 2 excellent points from midfielder Lauren Mc Laughlin. Luxembourg’s strength in dept, their clever use of substitutes, added to their ability to score goals, all combined to leave a final score line of 3:6 to 0:5 in Luxembourg’s favour.

Third / Fourth Place Plaoff versus Holland:

With Paris picking up just the one point, Munich and Holland were left to face each other in the third and fourth place playoff. Could Munich repeat the heroics of Madrid, and claim a morale boosting second third-place finish of the year?

Niamh started in goals, Laura Toops started her first game of the day playing in the forward line. As the game went on, Laura got more and more involved and can be were pleased with her efforts, the management is expecting more of the same in the Munich tournament! Kerry and Sanna formed what turned out to be an impregnable last line of defence – super full back play resulted in Holland being limited to four points, well done girls! The midfield comprising of Lauren and Jeannie worked like demons, and clever use of quick changes with Joanna meant that Munich had the edge in the midfield battles. Natski and Laura were a constant menace up front. All in all a super and morale lifting performance by the entire team, that resulted in Munich winning on the final scoreline of 2:6 to 0:4. Munich scorers were Jeannie with one goals, Lauren with one goal and two point, and Natski and Joanna with a point each.

Summary

The final would turn-out to be a very one-sided affair, with Brussels defeating the hosts. Well done Brussels, the best team won on the day. Thanks to Luxembourg for hosting an excellently run tournament, the dinner was delicious and bountiful, especially for those of us in the management, who had multiple started and deserts…mmmm….hic!

Thanks to Pat Stakelum for all his advice and help on the day, the victory against Paris is as much Pats as it is the rest of the girls!

All hands are expected on deck from now until the Munich tournament, where we will hopefully be able to go one better and get to the final.

Pictures of the tournament can be seen here.

Report by Noel McKenna

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Euro GAA, Football News, Ladies Football, Main, Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.