GROUP STAGE

1. JMU vs Abertay                 (4-3, 0-0)                                    2. JMU vs Edinburgh             (3-2, 0-2)

3. JMU vs St. Mary’s             (0-0, 4-10)                                  4. JMU vs Liverpool Hope       (0-0, 2-4)

               5. JMU vs Teeside                 (3-6, 0-0)

SEMI FINAL

JMU vs Liverpool Hope           (Lost)

The biggest weekend of the season for us Gaelic girls dawned with us waking in our classy ‘3 star’ hotel to snow and hailstones! Ah well, after breakfast (or maybe not?!), we arrived at the ground to await the draw. It was decided that because there was only seven teams, everybody would play all the teams on the Saturday and the top four teams would go through to the semi final draw.

Our first match against Abertay, whom we’d never met before, turned out to be a comfortable JMU victory, with our defensive lines not troubled at all. The second match was a little tougher, with Edinburgh showing themselves to be worthy of their eventual semi final place, but we still managed to win convincingly even with all those studs being used! Then, with the weather turning even colder and windier, we played St. Mary’s Strawberry Hill and put up a tough fight, but lost. After another short break, just long enough to get a little warmer, we came up against the old adversary Hope! We fought hard, with the match being started in what can only be described as a hailstorm! A special mention to Fiona Magee, who managed to fracture her thumb in the first half and played on for the rest of the weekend regardless. It turned out we ran out of time, and just couldn’t get the points back, and lost. This made Hope the happiest team of the tournament I think, for finally, after three years of trying, winning against us.

At this stage the light was being lost and a meeting to discuss the remaining fixtures was held. Two teams had dropped out, meaning JMU still had to play another game to proceed through to the semis on the Sunday, but also meant that some teams only had to play three matches on the Saturday (some people must never have heard of fair play!!). We played Teeside in jumpers and trackie bottoms (cos it was that cold by now!) and went through inevitably to the semis, where we were drawn against Hope!

That night we went on an interesting drive for food through Manchester which involved a lot of police, flags and loud music! We then all fell exhausted and aching into bed, except for the die hards, namely Patricia McCallum (our funniest team member!), our Breda Travers and Niall Meenan, who sat and talked tactics and about getting taxis from Belfast or something like that?

The morning dawned with a lie-in, rain, and a lot of aches and pains. Current injury count; one fractured thumb, one torn ankle ligaments, and several colds! We got to the ground and went through the warm-up, knowing that this was our final, because whoever won went on to meet St. Mary’s Strawberry Hill in the final. The match was extremely hard fought, with plenty of incidents and the captains were called on to keep the match flowing well and put an end to the minor scuffles developing. The second half was really tough and everyone gave 110 %, but it just wasn’t enough on the day, and we lost, with Hope going through to the final. We were heartbroken.

The weekend was one of mixed emotions, everybody played their hearts out despite quite a few of us being under the weather and injured. Special mentions to Caroline Digby (our captain) who just ran and ran, and always seemed to be in the thick of the action; Angela Monaghan who showed we’ve found a deadly mid-fielder, forward, and defensive player depending on where she’s needed; Edel Mason who was amazing and carried the ball through to the posts every time she got hold of the thing, but paid the price by ending up on crutches by Sunday night; and Genevieve Campbell who held the defence tight and stayed cool under pressure all weekend.

A big thank you to all the girls for coming along and making the weekend one to remember, and I think you’ll all agree you never ever want to be that cold again! Special thanks to Fiona Magee for organising the accommodation (couldn’t have picked a better hotel meself!!); Noreen Dolan, who came out while driving us everywhere (including up the wall!); Miss. Travers for all the coaching and support (and yes, that is what we call it!); and especially Felicia for doing the very difficult job of organising the team and fixtures this year, you’ve been brilliant, keep it up. Finally to Niall Meenan, thanks for making us what we are and putting up with us for the past three years, thank you for helping us to be the success we are, we really all do appreciate it (yeah right!!!).

Next challenges are the final league matches, the North of England Championships, and next weekend the Railway Cup where we join forces with Hope (miracles do happen the odd time) to take on the other regions in Britain, and who, on the performances shown by JMU and Hope this weekend, should be quite worried!

Oh, and girls........with a quick shag, have a fag, send the boys away, Ladies Gaelic’s what we play!!!!!!

(Leanne Tucker)