Amsterdam Championship team provided the most dramatic finish that a Benelux tournament has seen in years by winning the Belgium Championship tournament with the last kick of the ball!
The Championship team started off brightly and picked up solid victories over Belgium and Luxembourg. However good fortune wasn’t all on their side as a number of injuries were picked up including a broken nose by veteran defender Ian O’Malley.
Amsterdam faced off against home side Belgium for the second time, in the final, and started off brightly with some excellent scores by Fergal Walsh and Stephen Cleary to lead the match in the early stages. Belgium drew level by half time courtesy of a goal and three points, and started the first half brightly by putting three points on the score board before Amsterdam regrouped. For most of the second half, both teams traded every second score, but with less than five minutes remaining, Amsterdam were four points down.
Led by player of the tournament Martin McClean, and some excellent scores by Tadhg O’Shea,and Rob Ducie, Amsterdam got themselves level with one minute remaining on the stopwatch. An attacking move by the ‘Dam earned the team a ‘45 and with the scores level, and the referee, Tom McGrath, signalling that the ’45 was to be the last kick of the game, up stepped Stephen Cleary. Cleary shook off the pressure, to coolly and calmly pop the ball over the bar to win the Championship tournament for Amsterdam. Coolly and calmly are not words to be used to describe the Amsterdam supporters who raced onto the pitch to mob the Derryman seconds after the final whistle!
A comeback that won’t be forgotten for a long time, the tournament win leaves Amsterdam on top of the Championship table with Luxembourg, both on 58 points, with the final tournament looming on July 28th in Maastricht.
The Championship team started off brightly and picked up solid victories over Belgium and Luxembourg. However good fortune wasn’t all on their side as a number of injuries were picked up including a broken nose by veteran defender Ian O’Malley.
Amsterdam faced off against home side Belgium for the second time, in the final, and started off brightly with some excellent scores by Fergal Walsh and Stephen Cleary to lead the match in the early stages. Belgium drew level by half time courtesy of a goal and three points, and started the first half brightly by putting three points on the score board before Amsterdam regrouped. For most of the second half, both teams traded every second score, but with less than five minutes remaining, Amsterdam were four points down.
Led by player of the tournament Martin McClean, and some excellent scores by Tadhg O’Shea,and Rob Ducie, Amsterdam got themselves level with one minute remaining on the stopwatch. An attacking move by the ‘Dam earned the team a ‘45 and with the scores level, and the referee, Tom McGrath, signalling that the ’45 was to be the last kick of the game, up stepped Stephen Cleary. Cleary shook off the pressure, to coolly and calmly pop the ball over the bar to win the Championship tournament for Amsterdam. Coolly and calmly are not words to be used to describe the Amsterdam supporters who raced onto the pitch to mob the Derryman seconds after the final whistle!
A comeback that won’t be forgotten for a long time, the tournament win leaves Amsterdam on top of the Championship table with Luxembourg, both on 58 points, with the final tournament looming on July 28th in Maastricht.