26th April 2008. It was a scorching hot Madrid day. After a night on the tapas, the Munich Colmcilles ladies navigated the Madrid underground to the Madrid University pitches, where they would participate in the Madrid tournament of the Ladies Football European Championship. Six teams were participating in the tournament; Munich were drawn against Barcelona and Valencia in the group rounds, with Madrid, Brussels and Paris in the other group. Munich had eight players travelling, one coach, Noel McKenna, and two supporters.

The Munich girls played their first game against Barcelona in the group stage, the two teams being old rivals by all accounts. The Munich support did their best to drown out the Spanish team’s support, which was significant, due in part to the mens’ regional tournament taking place on the same day. The Munich team fielded was as follows: Niamh McKenna, Sanna Fagerstrom, Joanna Kowaczewska, Frances Masterson, Lauren McLaughlin, Laura Toops, Kerry Bridge and Sylvia Sanz. Barcelona played a fit passing game, while the Munich girls seemed to have a slow start out of the blocks. Some great Munich scores materialised however, with Munich playing a good game in midfield, from which Frances scored a point. The Munich super tactic of having a running goalie, Niamh McKenna, proved to be very effective, with the Barcelona girls unable to mark her whenever she started a run up the pitch. This tactic resulted in Niamh scoring two points from play. Even though another two points were scored by forward Kerry, it wasn’t enough to win the game and Barcelona edged ahead to win by a point. Final scoreline: Barcelona 1-3 Munich 0-5

The Munich girls didn’t let the defeat affect them, and their Bavarian war-cry was sung even louder in their psychological preparation for their second game of the day. Plus, they didn’t allow themselves to be dazzled by the neon orange jerseys of the Valencia team, and they went on to beat Valencia convincingly, resulting in a final score line of Munich 2-7 Valencia 0-2. Scorers: K Bridge 1-3, F Masterson 1-0, N McKenna 0-3, L McLaughlin 0-1.

As Valencia were also beaten by Barcelona, Munich were now through to the semi-final of the tournament, which they played against Brussels. A great first half performance from all Colmcille players gave Munich a half-time lead of 0-2 to 0-1. One of those points came from a massive 45 taken off the ground by Sanna. But in the second half, Brussels outplayed Colmcilles and the Belgian team finished the game easy winners.

The play-offs for third place saw Munich up against Barcelona and the Bavarians were determined that they wouldn’t be beaten by this team a second time on the same day. Munich scored 5 points in a closely fought match to win by a point. The Colmcille girls were tired, and despite the high temperatures, muscle injuries, and even bloody scraped knees, they continued to play strongly and gave a fine performance to finish a respectable third place in a six team tournament.

Brussels went on to beat Madrid in the final to win the tournament.

The next tournament in the European Championship will be held in Luxembourg on the 31st May. Preparations are already underway and the Munich team training sessions are focussing on improving accuracy to ensure better score lines and a higher place in this tournament!

Report by : Catherine Begley  May 2008

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