The Munich GAA ladies travelled to Luxembourg to compete in Round 3 of the Ladies European Football Championship and successfully managed to reach their first final in several years. Featuring a strong squad of 13 players, composed of a few players participating in their first ever tournament, the ladies played some fantastic football throughout the day, however failed at the last hurdle by losing to Belgium in the final.

The first game saw Munich easily defeat the hosts with Gemma Carbonell scoring a couple of goals early on which basically ended the game as a contest. Munich faced a much tougher opponent in Belgium in the following game and were unfortunately beaten by 3 points. The game could have gone either way as Munich dominated the closing stages of the game however inaccuracy in front of goal let them down in the end.

Here a photo of some the girls warming-up:

Munich’s final game in the group was a “must win” game against Rennes to ensure qualification to the semi-finals stage and the girls produced an outstanding display scoring a total of 3:09 to run out easy winners. Munich’s Japanese starlet, Nasfki, dominated the middle of the park ensuring that Munich had enough possession to win the game. Lauren McLaughlin & Frances Masterson made the most of Nasfski’s hard work and scored some lovely long range points, while both Sanna Fagerstrom and Jeannie Browne were strong in defense.

The semi-final saw Munich up against Paris. The game was played with great intensity and Munich ended up winners by a 7 points margin thanks mainly to Susi Schwalb who was outstanding and managed a four goal salvo to end any hopes Paris had of reaching the final. Angie Buechler also gave a great display by marking Paris’s star player out of the game despite the fact that she was carrying an hand injury.

The final against Belgium proved to be a disappointing affair, as Munich were well beaten in the end by a score line of 4-6 to 2-3. Both Munich midfielders, Angie and Susie were carrying injuries going into the final and this meant that it was always going to be an uphill struggle to beat a strong and physical Belgian side. Despite this, the team competed well and at half time were only 4 points adrift. If they had managed to be more composed in front of goal, Munich could have been well in front however one must also give credit to the Belgian defense. The second half started poorly for Munich as Belgium managed to score two quick goals in succession and despite a courageous Munich effort to come back, Belgium had too much in the end to hold out for a comfortable victory.

So, all in all, Munich ladies and their coach for the day, Niall McCorley, can be very proud of their efforts in reaching the final of a very competitive tournament. The combination of experienced players (Sanna, Lauren, Jeannie, Natski, Frances, Susi, Joanna, Angie and Karolina), together with the newer players (Gemma, Clarissa and Anja) worked well and with a little bit more effort hopefully we can go one better in the upcoming tournament in Paris. It should also be noted that Munich only had one Irish born player in their squad and this a tremendous achievement considering that most of the opposite teams consist mainly of ladies who grew up and learnt to play the game back in Ireland from an early age.

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