Women - Day 5

The final day of games for us! We drew Finland for our bottom half semi-final and we knew both teams would be raring for it. We expected them to come out stronger than the first day but we had confidence in ourselves too. The first half was once again taken by them by a one point lead. We were trailing with them for the rest of the game right up until sudden death when we played probably our most intense point of the tournament. Neither team was going down without a fight; the D play was sensational. We thought we scored with a hammer from Pugh to Tracey who prematurely spiked it thinking the game was won but no - a pick was called! It looked like we were going to take the game twice more but nerves made for slippery hands and it wasn't until I zinged a flick down the line that Claire snatched from under the Finns' noses that we were able to finally accept the victory as ours. What a fantastic match. Everyone was completely up for it and stepped up their games, despite tiredness. Unfortunately we lost Olly early in the game to a hamstring injury and I think losing our MVP of the first game was a big reason behind the tighter scoreline. However, that is not to take anything away from Finland who were a much better team the second time around and a lot harder to turn. Their disc skills were much more impressive and therefore we really had to put it all in on defence.

MVP: Fiona Mernagh
Score: 15-14

So for the 5th/6th playoff we were drawn up against Colombia. We heard from the Germans that they were tired but so were we, especially having had a much closer first game that day than them. Both teams wanted to change the game to a later time in the evening but were told this wasn't possible so it was a 3 o'clock game again for us.

We came out against the Colombians but unfortunately weren't beating them for pace or skill. We punched in a few scores. I think the first one was my huck and D that, since Alan had asked us to do it, Emma and Megan were both expecting and legged it to the endzone for, Megan actually managing to catch it (helped by Emma's pushing).

At half time we were down 9-3 so we weren't feeling overly enthused or energetic about the game. Thank God for music! With Louise's i-pod speakers we let our hair down and rocked the marquee, dancing to such notorious classics as 'No Limits' and other pump up tunes like the Pretenders. We also had our own rendition of Living on a Prayer, led beautifully by our conductor Mr Doyle. With this kind of blood pumping action it was time to attack with a zone! Celine, Helen, Megan, Caoimhe - absolute heroes in the cup! They terrified the Colombians with their aggressive counting and energiser bunny movements. They really put the fire into this game and allowed us to have a much more impressive scoreline of 5 - 8 in the second half. One of those scores was a beautiful one-two between Emma and Celine outside the endzone. We were able to finish feeling very proud of ourselves and I know I was smiling at the end of it.

MVP: Celine Campbell (thanks in part to Courtney's 'constructive criticism')
Score: 8 - 17

Mixed Team - Day 2

As it turned out I didn't get to write much while actually at Florence. Limited time, internet availability and energy generally made it pretty difficult. I'll post up recaps of the rest of our games this week for anyone interested.

First things first, our joint MVPs for day 1 were Ross and Mairead. Ross put in a huge effort against Poland and GB with smooth break throws, excellent cutting and huge hucks; meanwhile, Mairead pretty much held the team together by managing to play longer than anyone else on the team when she was needed most, while still getting free at will and driving our offence forward.

Ireland v Italy

Wednesday was slightly odd in that we had only one late game, at 5 pm on a satellite pitch. We were up against Italy and we were determined to make amends for the disappointing result in the GB game. And that's exactly what we did. We went out full force from the beginning, stepping up our defence in a massive way from the previous day to capitalise on a slightly sluggish Italian offence and consistently win turnovers. At the same time our offence was starting to flow nicely. Handler resets were smoother, we began to use our deep game a lot more efficiently and endzone clogging was drastically reduced.

We traded to 3-3, and then got down to the real fight of the game. The next point lasted for about 15 minutes, with neither side able to convert their chances. A timeout was called after Ireland turned the Italians yet again; afterwards, Italy came back out with a zone which the Irish waltzed through with ease. We hammered the point in and I think it was at that moment we knew that we had faced the best the Italians had to offer and that, if we just pushed hard, we could win our first match.

The dogfight continued on with both sides extremely close. Italy had a very strong female contingent and, noticing our low number of women, decided to play 4 women on the line whenever they could. Our ladies rose to challenge, however, putting in exceptional performances against very talented players. Emma made her return from the previous day and played a huge game. Tempers on-pitch became a bit frayed between the sides, unfortunately. There were a large number of calls in the latter half of the game, with contested rule interpretations, a lack of clear communication between the teams and lots of involvement by the very vocal Italian sideline.

Neither side was able to establish a clear lead and time was called, leaving a game to 11. After more trading and very hard fought points, we found ourselves in sudden death with hearts firmly in mouths. Errors saw both teams turnover several times but in the end it was the Italians who managed to put away the score leaving the game standing at Italy 11, Ireland 10. After fighting so hard for so long, we were absoluely gutted by the loss.

Optimism soon replaced disappointment, however. The performance on day 2 was miles above the previous day. We knew if we carried that forward, we could do great things. And maybe, just maybe, we might have a chance to get revenge on the Italians later in the tournament.

MVP for the Day: Mairead. Undertook a huge job in matching up against Italy's most experienced female player, a Yakka handler who we knew simply as "Dreadlocks". Mairead shut her down, got a bunch of Ds on her and in turn ran rings around her on offence.

Women - Day 4

Up next was Great Britain. We really wanted to bring our performance from the evening before to this game but unfortunately this didn't happen until the second half. We were trailing 9-1 by half time (though our first score was pretty epic and involved another amazing hammer moment) and everyone needed to take a breather and refocus, not least of all myself. Half time ended and we showed the British what we were really made of. We played zone again and forced them to turnover, though we couldn't always convert the turns to scores. We proved once again that we could rally ourselves and come out stronger as a team, never letting up for a second and we clocked in some more scores. Favourite moment of the game for me was seeing Emma's hand reach over about 4 peoples' heads in the endzone to sweep up a floaty disc, ever the graceful and calm receiver. It was also fun to know that one of the GB players was shrieking at them to 'get a fucking D' because they couldn't turn us over. :)

MVP: Claire Pugh
Score: 5- 17

Second game of the day was against Canada, another team we knew to expect to be very strong. They threw a zone on us but we were very calm and controlled with the disc and our hammers were proving very useful in this tournament! They even got a mention in the call afterwards, saying they were very impressed with our abililty to throw them even into a strong wind. (Deirdre knows all about that!) More impressive throwing was exhibited by Louise as she threw a high release outisde in flick huck, making it too easy for me to catch in the endzone. Courtney afterwards gave a speech- the best they said they'd heard all tournament, made all the better by her Irish accent...

Not the most spirited team we played unfortunately (just ask Amy who got a disc to the face) but their skill and technique outclassed us in the end.

MVP: Deirdre Corbett
Score: 6 - 17

Women - Day 3

Our third day saw a triumphant return of Louise and our SECOND win of the tournament! We played the Germans in the morning and with Emma's magnetic arm for anything Courtney sent soaring, they didn't stand a chance. We played the game on a lovely, properly green field and I think it gave our legs the extra boost we needed to outrun the Germans, even though they were very tall and athletic. This is particularly true of Olly who got so many run through Ds. Amy Moffat smashed through any force on her with casual breaks, Celine Campbell was pumped and savage on defence and took down a huge stall 9 huck under pressure at one point, Caoimhe and Jennifer were perfect long receivers against a zone, never panicking when they caught the disc outside the endzone and Sinead even hucked it at one point! Deirdre had a sensational crosswind hammer and Claire skilfully won us the game catching a lovely long throw from Amy, which she read perfectly (unlike me).

Germany was a lovely team to play against, despite their mad coach with a wooden spoon prowling the sidelines, and deserved our highest awarded spirit score.

MVP: Emma Tracey
Score: 17 - 12

Next up was the Japanese and what a game! We really put it to them and shocked even ourselves with the outcome. We decided to try some brand new things, not even practiced at home in Ireland, such as a zone and ISO. Our zone put loads of pressure on the throws and caused the Japanese to turn over several times, giving us the opportunity to respond with quick offence. Our ISO had them at a loss for what to do, with Courtney's excellently weighted throws making it easy for the ISO to run on to. At first we couldn't get the disc from the ISO to the endzone but with a quick adjustment by our clever coach Alan, we were able to offload easily to the likes of Claire and Helen, who timed their cuts perfectly and outpaced their markers easily. Always a fun team to watch, the Japanese were very intense and brought out the best in us.

MVP: Courtney Hosp and Claire Pugh
Score: 7 - 17 (woo!)

Women - Day 2

Our second day saw us come up against the Colombians in fiercely hot weather. We were playing in the middle of the day but had lost Louise to sunstroke (from the first day). This was a massive blow to the handler line. I was feeling the heat myself for the first time and struggled to maintain concentration. We were battling hard but it was clear a lot of the team was not coping well with the heat. Emma and Amy are amongst those few who were carrying us through each point and clocking scores in our favour, though the tricoloured morphs can also take some credit for one of the goals! At half time Alan proposed we forfeit the game as were dropping like flies and it wasn't a game we needed to win. The Irish blood in us fired up at this notion and a majority vote said nay! We went out in the second half, screwed the noodles on and battled out the rest of the game. Seeing how we started off the next day, I think it was the best thing we could have done for our spirits and morale.

MVP of the game: Amy Moffat
Score: 3-17

Day 1- Women's Team

Finland vs Ireland

With a squad of 16 girls, we set out to play an athletic and experienced looking squad of 16 Finnish girls. We started off slowly, failing to shut down their open side passes and deep puts. We woke up when the score was 6-2, with Finland ahead. They put a zone on, which we managed to rip through (probably thanks to all our practice against the LMS girls' zone!)We brought it level to 8 all, with everyone getting huge d's and playing calm offense. (Notable things here: A huge D from Caoimhe, where the disc was miles above her head and she took it down right in front of her man in front of the endzone. Olly Murphy and Deirdre Corbett running through everything and taking the disc back loads of time. Helen Hobson using all the space in the endzone and scoring loads of times! Fiona Mernagh taking everything out of the air. Megan Reilly catching an amazingly difficult disc, not meant for her, by attempting a layout on the rock hard ground.) We were playing like a team and Finland were scared. They managed to bash in the last point and took the half.

After hiding in a small patch of shade for 10 minutes, we headed back out on the pitch, hoping to pull up level with them. We started on D but managed to turn them and bashed in a score. We took the next point as well, putting us in the lead for the first time in the game. We traded until 11 when we scored three in a row. Time was called and it was a game to 16. We all knew it was so important to get the next point to ensure we'd take the game. It was probably the longest point we played because both teams really wanted it. But Ireland proved the stronger and scored. We got on the line pumped up to play defense and get the disc back. This game was ours for the taking and we wanted it. After a few turns from both teams on silly mistakes (everyone was very hot and very tired), we managed to get a big huck off to Emma Tracey. She was incredibly calm and dumped the disc and ran in to catch the score, though a travel was called on her throw. She again managed to get the disc off and we turned over again. We didn't want to have to play up the length of the field so we played really intense d and turned them on the first pass. We had a lovely cut from Helen Hobson to the break side for the score.

Everyone really played like a team. Everyone managed to get involved in both defense and offense and I'm pretty sure everyone either scored or assisted at one point in the game. I know Fiona, Alan, and I were so proud of everyone on the team for their performance.

MVP of the game: Olly Murphy
Score: 16-11

Australia vs Ireland

We knew this would be a difficult game as they had bageled Germany in the first game. They proved too strong for us and took the game. We were short a few people to heat stroke and injuries, and were really destroyed from playing in the 40 degree heat. We took our chances but nothing worked. We couldn't overcome their experience, their numbers, their agressive defense and amazing throws, or their ability to play in the extreme heat.

MVP of the game: Fiona Mernagh
Score: 0-17

Today we have one game against Columbia at 3pm.

Mixed - Day One

Yesterday proved to be a bit of a baptism of fire for the Mixed team, with two hard-fought games, two tough losses and, very unfortunately, two bad heat-related injuries.

Game 1: Ireland v Poland

Waking early, we made our way out to the Hippodrome where matches are taking place, a short distance from our rather nice hostel. We cracked into our warm-up and were very pumped up when we stepped onto the line for our first match against Poland. Deciding to forego the Open and Women's divisions and instead combine their strength into a Mixed team, we knew the Polish couldn't be taken lightly. Nevertheless, we were confident that we could give them a very good game and potentially start the tournament with a win. Nerves were clearly evident, however, and combined with the rising heat we spent the first few points making small mistakes which Poland were quick to capitalise on and punish us for. Before we knew it, we were 4-0 down.

We took a moment to get our brains turned on and went back out at it. Tighter handler marking by the Irish began to shut down the reset which was all too easy for Poland in the initial points, and combined with some hard, honest upfield marking we were soon earning a huge number of turnovers. The initial cobwebs that plagued our offence were rapidly shaken off, and conservative, intelligent play saw us ramp up several points in succession. The score stood at 8-5 when half time was called. Poland were clearly rattled; Ireland were determined to turn the game around and seize a win.

Unfortunately, the second half saw a drop in Irish intensity. We had huge difficulties shutting down the Polish deep game while our own offence began to slow down. We fought hard for the remainder of the match, but Poland ran out the winners with the final score at 16-8.

Game 2: Ireland v Great Britain

After the Poland game, we watched the Irish Women beat Finland in an incredible match. Soon after, we were warming up for our 2pm game against GB. The heat began to peak in the high thirties, and during the warm-up it was evident that the Irish were struggling.

GB started the game in flying form, quickly taking their first offence point. Their well-drilled, physical and athletic D line pushed us hard for the next few points, staying glued to our cutters and shutting down our handlers. Their intensity was massively above that of the Polish and we were initially unable to cope. We were slow to convert to defence on the turn, leading to a number of quick hucks for GB scores.

Much like the previous game, things started to improve in the latter end of the first half. We began to cope much better with the physical GB defence, and once we started concentrating we were turning GB over as much as they were us. Unfortunately, they had much greater success in putting away their chances. We were continously trapped on the sideline, while the GB defenders were fantastic in the air and shut down our long game.

The temperature had continued to rise during the game, and it wasn't long before it caused serious problems. On the sideline Nicola collapsed from sunstroke. While she was recovering, Emma also fell victim to the heat and had to be taken to hospital. Both are now recovered, very thankfully.

Despite some very close chances, we were unable to score anything against GB. We were simply outplayed, and the game closed out with GB winning 17-0.


The result was obviously disheartening and extremely disappointing, but I have no doubt that it will be the sort of thing that will spur Ireland Mixed to put in much stronger performances over the next few days. Our next match is today at 5 pm against Italy. Fingers crossed.

Elsewhere, the Women beat Finland and lost to a very strong Australia side. The Open team lost to Columbia but had a fantastic win over Italy.


-Perry

Italy

The first group of us arrived in Italy to a sweltering 40 degree heat. It will be hard to play in weather like this (and that coming from a Yank!)

We've managed to drink loads and loads of water and that's about it!

Courtney

The Schedule

The schedule is out!


TUESDAY

09.00 Mixed vs Poland

11.00 Women vs Finland

11.00 Open vs Colombia

14.00 Mixed vs GB

14.00 Open vs Italy

17.00 Women vs Australia



WEDNESDAY

11.00 Open vs Sweden

14.00 Women vs Colombia

17.00 Open vs Canada

17.00 Mixed vs Finland



THURSDAY

09.00 Mixed vs Belgium

09.00 Open vs Austria

11.00 Women vs Germany

14.00 Mixed vs Austria

17.00 Women vs Japan



FRIDAY

09.00 Open vs Australia

11.00 Mixed vs Slovakia

11.00 Women vs GB

17.00 Mixed vs Germany

17.00 Women vs Canada


Placement games will take place on Saturday.

Getting Close...

In just a few more days, the three Irish under-23 teams will converge on Florence for a week of top-class ultimate.

The Opening Ceremony takes place on Monday 19th and features a meeting with the vice mayor of Florence, a parade through the city and a showgame at the Ridolfi Stadium. Games kick off the following day, but the schedule is yet to appear and details are relatively scarce at the moment. The Open team is in an 18-team division, split into two groups. After a round robin in each, the top two from each group go through to the semis, while the other teams play teams with the same placing in the other group- 3rd in Group 1 plays 3rd in Group 2, and so on. The Mixed and Women's divisions both feature 8 teams each, the format being a round robin followed by two games to determine placement.

The list of teams entered is available here.

Not long now anyway. Can't wait!

-David P.

The Teams

Irish Under-23s at Florence 2010:

OPEN

Daragh Bourke
Keith Coleman
Jared Cordner
Andrew Davidson
James Finn
Ian French (C)
Daragh Gleeson
Conor Hogan
Chris Hunter
William Martin
Dave McAlester
Sam Mehigan
Keith Mernagh
Conor Phelan
Shane Reilly
Kevin Timoney
Raymond Williams
Adam Wyse

MIXED

Ross Andreucetti
Richard Buggy
Fintan Darcy
Richard Eyres (VC)

Dave Ferguson
Ian Fox
Louis Free
Richard Hobson (C)

Martin Kelly
Emma McGahey
Mary McKee
Hayley Moore
Nicola Moore
Siobhan Murphy
David Perry
Mairéad Rice

(Coaching by Sinead O'Shiel Flemming and Ciara Fitzpatrick)

WOMENS

Sinead Byrne
Celine Campbell
Jennifer Cooper
Deirdre Corbett
Amy Curran
Helen Hobson
Courtney Hosp (C)
Louise McKeon

Fiona Mernagh (C)
Amy Moffat

Olwen Murphy
Áine Ní Bhreasail
Claire Pugh
Caoimhe Quigley
Megan Reilly
Emma Tracey

(Coaching by Alan Doyle)