Den Haag 2003 - one last Goodbye.

The concluding round of the Euro League 2003, taking place in The Hague - Holland, was eagerly anticipated by all St Kilian's players. Despite dwindling numbers through:

·Immigration ( Mick Hackett, Heilbronn Mike, )

· Foreign study semisters ( Clemens Grünwald, Juergen Hepp ) &

· Work / study commitments ( Lyndon Lyons, Niall Twomey, Ulf Fontagne, Stuttgart Tadgh, Aubrey Dolan, Sean Nylan, Ronan Loughnane, Kalle Siefert, Olaf Koenig ) much intensive training had taken place in the weeks preceding the tournament and expectations were high. Memories out winning the tournament outright in 2002 were still vivid and served to keep the motivation levels high.

At 16:00 hours Friday JP, Trevor from Southside Chicago and Owen set out from Würzburg in the Trevor 5 series BMW machine. With no traffic hiccup at all we made Düsseldorf in 3 hours. After picking up Tom Curry ( Liscannor native now residing in Soligen ) we headed North by Northwest again. Craic was very good in the car and the two and half hours to the hotel flew by - in between driving and consuming kilos of Doritios chips Trevor outlined his Rush Limbaugh leaning attitude toward GOP politics, while refuting all Micheal Moore 'Stupid white men' facts from Owen as fanciful quotes from a known satirist!! At least it didn't come to blows.

We saw a little of the Hague itself that night, but it does generate a good first impression with it's plentiful parks and many beautiful old buildings. After getting a quick bite to eat we visited the official pub of the competition 'O Caseys'. Here we met some of the Hague's hardened players and a contortionist from Cork whose actions couldn't have been attributed to hard liquor! The other half of our team was Nordrhein Westfalen. However their targeted arrival time of 23:00 was delayed by five hours as their train was diverted due to another engine catching fire on the track.

We grouped at breakfast, Paul Delahunty, Paul Carr, Ken Clavin and Declan Dunne looking none the worst after their night's ordeal. Despite a minor incident where Trevor mis-laid his car keys, we got to rugby grounds on time. Here we met the remainder of the team who'd driven up early in the morning - Tom Daly, Alister McCarthey, Siobhan Ward and Aisling Cooney. Things were looking great with the whole new set of jersies, togs and socks being donned with pride. Once we'd found three pairs of boots for the Laois, Dublin and Tipp contingent and explained the rules to Alister we burst on the pitch prepared to take no prisoners!!

By unanimous decision JP was elected Captain (" as I say I understand the point you are making" ) to mark his departure from the St Kilians fold. The co-founder of the club and the visionary with ambitious dreams he will be an irreplaceable loss to the Würzburg based team, but the connections will remain strong and we'll meet again many times in the future le cunamh Dhe!

Our Bavarian neighbours Munich were our first opponents. A tight contest that Munich were never really in danger of letting slip. Coupled with a slow integration of newer team members and a knee injury to Owen the St Kilians outfit never shifted into top gear. Trevor was showing sign of having matured greatly as a player since Munich while Dela's train escapades had left no visible fatigue. The old Nemesis Luxembourg surfaced for round two and despite hardened performances by JP, Tom and Tom we went down fighting. A tough battle against the Hague saw us falter in the final minutes despite Declan, Paul and Trevor doing Trojan work at the back. Our last game was against Rennes -an easy French push over we thought. Unfortunately not so!! My total praise and admiration to this complete team of French men - we were beaten fairly by a collection of stronger and skilful opponents, despite scores from Ken and Alister. They're no longer the 'whipping boys' of Munster Europe!! Kudos to Herve & Gaëtan for the team that ye turned out. On the scoreboard it was a rather unsuccessful day for a group of players that are familiar with regularly in the final shake up of competitions, but, each member can be proud of their performance. Trevor and JP are so far ahead of where they began in Spring and will undoubtedly star in future competitions. Afterwards we watched a superior Paris GAA team win the tournament final and the capture the overall Euroleague 2003 title.. Then, as if we hadn't endured enough for one day, we saw our beloved Green Army being foiled by the Swiss! As long as Kerr and the bhoys qualify for Germany 2006 we'll not complain.

Once we left the grounds it was all gravy for the St Kilians outfit. It turned out to be one of the best fun/craic and most eventful post competition evenings this player has seen in the last two years! Our first victory of the day was taking over the Luxembourg's bus all the way back to the hotel - sorry ye land lubbers we've gotten the better flags, better singers, better lookers and one liners!! The meal at the reception was excellent ( highly recommend the Bijhorst Hotel, Zijdeweg 54, 2245 BZ Wassenaar No. +31-70-5119344 ). Breaking bread with us was the Irish Ambassador to Holland, Croke Park's Foreign GAA officer Gene Duffy & the two Irish referees for the day - by common agreement they were the best officials at any of the 2003 competitions. The organisation of all activities was first class and the official program for the day will be a model for all tournaments in 2004. Hats off to Mary Gavin, Orson and Den Haag. After the speeches and awards we intermingled with all the other groups in a very convivial manner. Banter and slagging was cutting but, all in good humour. Most of us gave as good as we got although there was the occasional turkey floating about out there - as Trevor well knows(!) Liscannor Tom never sang - which was a great pity, Dela never stopped -which was also a great pity! Paul recounted his glorious UCG Turf Club and hard living Polish days while Aisling was all but Bible thumping toward the end of the night! We managed to keep JP out of all scantily clad wimmen-bars - for a change - Matthew must have been leading him astray in 2002!

But by 4:00 in the morning tired bodies could handle no more and it was slowly back to the rooms, trying to avoid any obstacles that lay in the passage. Next morning at the breakfast table Paul Carr, after sleeping like a dog log, got a lot of childhood emotional baggage off his broad shoulders. He explained how he was still trying to come to terms with the rejection after the legendary Tipp hurling star, and neighbouring parish man, Bobby Ryan refused to sign his underage hurley unless his father consented to open a foundation hole immediately with a JCB! Dela was intrigued by Trevor's 'skiing' ability and Siobhan disappeared early.

Afterwards the four of us piled slowly into the car and made for home. We left a very stiff Tom in the capable hands of his wife Elka and daughter Arleen at Soligen and kept going south to Frankenland. Trevor, the unbelievable energy man, drove all the way despite a whole 60 minutes in the previous 36 hours!

On the field the activities will now begin winding down. But the next big ( cheerful ) occasion is the January 2004 Würzburg Film Festival. As a follow up to last year's success with Shane MacGowan and Sarah Share we've decided to bring out the film 'Photos to send' and ist director Dierdre Lynch. The film is a recently produced, very much acclaimed documentary ( Best film prizes in Galway and San Francisco festivals ) about a famed US photographer who took 2400 photos in West Clare during 1954. Dierdre revisits all the places and people in the original photos and captures their and the countryside's character magnificently. We hope to see you all at the screening - www.stkilians.de for details.

Words / Phrases from weekend:

· "Bobby Ryan is a bollix and I'll tell you why!"

· JCB

· "Where's Trevor gotten to?"

Post Script:

This weekend saw the end of an era, with JP leaving St Kilians to pursue opportunities and adventures further afield. He was present at the St Kilians conception, is unique in his outlook and attitude toward mobilizing an organization and will be cherished wherever he decides to make his future home. Best of luck to both himself and Caro.

Team Members in Picture:

Back row, from right Paul Delahunty - Cashel, Tom Daly- Mullingar, Ken Clavin - Dublin, Laois, Paul Carr - Dun na Inch Tipperary, Alister McCarthy - Düsseldorf, Declan Dunne - Laois. Front row from right - Tom Curry - Liscannor, Trevor Bradna - Chicago, JP McSherry - Borrisoleigh, Owen McGuire - Ennistymon.