Munich Teams take part in Warsaw Tournament
The Munich Colmcilles men's and women's teams took part in the 2nd round of the South East European Gaelic Football championship last weekend. The tournament was hosted by Warsaw GAA and even though it wasn't the sunniest of days the rain managed to stay away until the very end and as a result there was some very good football on display. The home club showed that the GAA is still strong in Poland by fielding strong squads in both the mens and womens competitions and claiming the tournament victory in both areas.
Men's Team
After a reshuffle of the groups the Munich men's team found themselves with a big challenge ahead facing hosts Warsaw, new rivals Berlin and a Lazio team that always gives it's all. The top two teams would make the sami-finals and even though the lads only traveled with 9 players they set out to obtain one of those berths. The other side of the draw saw Vienna, Padova and Bratislava do battle for the remaining 2 semi final spots. The Munich lads were left to rue some missed chances in the first game as Lazio took the win but bounced back well against Berlin taking an early lead. A well worked goal by Berlin 2 minutes from time snatched the victory away from Munich but still left them with a chance of qualifying if they could overturn the home team in the next game and put up a good score in doing so. Warsaw proved too strong though and had started to build momentum that would take them all the way to the final and see them win it. In their next game the Munich men made good use of space to see off Padova and set up a 5 and 6th play playoff against the other Italian team, Lazio, who they had played already in their first game of the day. This time space proved to be the enemy as Munich exhausted themselves trying to work the ball up the field but Lazio caught them with some good counter attacking play which proved to be decisive.
Ladies's Team
The Munich ladies team were in the solitary women's group; a group of 5 which included Berlin, Vienna, Lazio and Warsaw. After a comprehensive tournament victory in Rovigo in Round 1, where they won all their games, the team went into this tournament with some confidence even though they were missing an number of players. Good wins early in the group stages set expectation that they were again on track for a spot in the final at least. In their second last game of the group stages the ladies came up against a well fancied Warsaw team though and experienced just their first loss in the South East championship this year. A win against Lazio in the final group game of the day put them into the final though where they again faced Warsaw to see if they could turnover the previous result. After a tough and competitive game Warsaw came out as victors to take the tournament win but the Munich women can be very proud of good performances right across the team against the home team with a squad nearly twice that of their own. They remain in contention for the Regional trophy though and will head to Berlin on 11th June with that firmly in mind.
Next stop - Berlin for the final round of the South East European and what could prove to be another great weekend!
