Paris 2004 - Account of weekend from our Düsseldorf correspondent
Hi All,
Well our first tournament for 2004 is past. All that remain are stiff legs, sore heads, injured shoulders and general bitterness at being denied a place in the pantheon of great European teams. Added to that is an impending liable case against Air France for being downright incompetent and for preventing 5 athletes in their prime, from reaching the tournament in peak physical fitness. The main honour went this year to the dogged Parisians, who relying on brimstone and no little fire sent the Hague packing with their tales between their legs.
The Flight
The weekend couldn't have got off to a worse start than on Friday evening.
We were informed by Monsieur Air France that our flight to Paris has been overbooked and that there was no room on the flight! At this stage our trip looked like it would up a disaster of Saipanian proportions. However, some delicate negotiating resulted in a taxi ride to Paris courtesy of thoseincompetent bastards Air France. The taxi ride took about 5 hours and was made more or less unbearable by the driver OLAF who smoked like he had a severe bout of cold turkey. Beer eluded us at every service station and we had to be content with overpriced bottles of Evian. When we reached Charle De Gaulle Paris, Olaf unceremoniously kicked us out of the taxi and we were forecd to take another ride to the Hotel. Bruised, stiff, shaken andwith morale pretty low, we arrived at our Hotel some time around 2.30am on Sarturday morning. Meanwhile, The Würzburg lads Owen, JP, Niall, Trevor and Dan had arrived safe and sound and had managed to unhatch an ambitious plan to take Paris by storm!!!!
The Games
After an early rise and the standard high fibre breakfast, the hour long Metro trip to the ground allowed us to take stock and talk tactics. Our plan evolved around the Rooster (Julian) who with his long experience playing Aussie Rules would be able to disrupt defences and use his undoubted fielding skills. In simple terms, the reincarnation of The Bomber Liston would be unleashed but without the beard and the cute ass Kerry attitude. The team of Owen, Trevor, Dan, Niall, JP, Shane O Meara, Shane Teehan, Julian, Lorcana and myself was strenghtened by Martin and Stephen from Zurich.
Game 1 v Munich (A Bum Deal)
a tough start against one of the strongest. Following tradition we started very slowly and suffered as a result.. By half time Munich had put a fair
bit of distance between ourselves. Some dogged defending by our gallant goalie, Corkonian Niall, we was unable to stop the onslaught of points and
goals. On the positive side, The Rooster managed to score a point and I got up to score a goal. With some satisfaction, we watched ex Dussledorfer
Dragons and nearly Exiles player Pat O'Leary pick the ball out of the Munich net!
Final Score Munich 3-5 Dusseldorf/Würzburg 1-1
Game 2 v Bremen (Lucky Escape)
this game proved to be tougher than expected. With Bremen making their their debut in the European League they were hammered by Paris in their first game. We caught them on the rebound and they tore into us with a demented passion. Luckily, we picked up a few points from frees and put ourselves in front. The match threatened to boil over when I decided to "take out" their main man with a heavy challenge. Order was restored and Bremen pushed forward aided by two mercenaries from Luxembourg and Paris, causing our defense endless problems. In the end a great performance by Stephen from Zurich and Trevor allowed us to breath a huge sigh of relief.
Final Score Bremen 0-5 Düsseldorf/Würzburg 0-6
Game 3 v Amsterdamm (Amsterdamaged in Paris)
Buoyed by their strong performances against Munich and Paris, Amsterdamm were strong favourites. Helped by great fielding from the Rooster and good organisation at the back between Martin, Owen, Stephen and Trevor, we were looking very strong. Points from Owen, Lorcan and myself put us in a commanding position until the last kick of the game when Amsterdamm salvaged an undeserved draw. This one really got away.
Final Score Amsterdamm 0-4 Düsseldorf/Würzburg 0-4
Game 4 v Paris (Je n' regret rien!)
Paris at this stage were on a role. We were now struggling with injuries. At this stage I had given up due to a arm/shoulder injury. Paris dominated
midfield and after scoring an early goal never looked back. Owen managed to score a fantastic goal which put some element of respectability on the score board. In the end this game was just a bridge too far for the gallant losers.
Final Score Paris 3-5 approx Düsseldorf/Würzburg 1-2
Game 5 v Barcelona (Back to the drawing board)
from the start of the day this one was considered very winable. Furthermore, seeing that their full forward had a pony tail, we weren't exactly quaking in our boots. From the throw in it appeared to be going true to script with a beautiful goal from NIall. The two Shanes were stamping their authority on the game and Owen was rampaging up and down the right wing to great effect. Barcelona looked rattled. Everthing looked rosy for the boys in red and green. Whatever was siad at half time must have been inspirational, as our oppenents came out possessed and ran us ragged in the second half. The strain of the long taxi ride from Dusseldorf started to show and we were finding it hard to move up a gear. In the end a devestating second half from Barcelona left the team flat footed, dejected and downright pissed off. All Air Frances fault!
Final Score Barcelona 1-5 Düsseldorf/Würzburg 1-3
A time for Reflection
a shower, a beer and a bit of team banter raised spirits. In no time we were all back on form and enjoying the final between Paris and The Hague. The football was over but there was still a Saturday night to take by storm!
Saturday Night
as with all trips a code of silence veils all nocturnal activities. I refer you all to the Heinrich Heine Allee Accord signed in O Reillys pub at our
last AGM. Lets just say that we did our team proud. Not be out witted by any of the other teams we played a stormer in O Sullivans bar and left all opposition chasing our tails. From the start, we built a solid foundation around the bar area which facilitated quick service from the bar staff and also gave us an excellent vantage point to pounce on wandering female prey.
Some ingenuity by the Rooster and Shane got us off the mark and at this stage heads were starting to turn. Aided by good decoy running from Shane
Teehan and Lorcan, the whole team were given numerous scoring chances, which we had the composure to convert. The gameplan was simple: take your points and the goals will come. Trevor and JP were getting involved in some dirty stuff on the dance floor. Bravely backed up by our debutant Dan they took control of this key area and we never looked back. The opposition were demoralised and a mass exodus ensued to the Moulin Rouge.
Düsseldorf/Würzburg were now turning the screw and were ready to press home the advantage. Unfortunately, due to the humid conditions and chronic fatigue, the bandwagon came off the tracks. Events were called to a halt and the Hotel was beckoning. A final flourish failed to matreialise at the taxi stand due to a strong partisan element and some poor communication. The lads pragmatically accepted their fate and returned to the Hotel. However Lorcan showed his true mettle and lasted until the local Parisians were going down to buys their French sticks for breakfast!
Sunday
Sunday was all about rest, recovery and recuperation. After bidding farewell to the Würzburg lads we made our way to the Champs Eylese and
planted ourselves in a cafe. The afternoon went very quickly as The Rooster told some great yarns about his adventures in the Far East. By 9.00pm the
plane was taking off and we're all relieved to have a seat!!! Looking out over the illuminated Paris skyline a collective tinge of regret was felt:
"If only Air France had got their shit together on Friday"!!
Thats all for now. We'll be in touch about training after Easter, The next target is Luxembourg on 29th May. Thanks to Shane, Shane O'M, Lorcan,
Julian, Owen, JP, Niall, Trevor, Dan, Martin and Stephen for the commitment, good spirits and never say die attitude on the pitch!
Slan
Paul Donegan
Nord Rhein Westfalen Exiles
