The Luxembourg Men's Gaelic Football team rounded off its season with a strong showing in Vienna on Saturday, 17 October 2015.
Despite missing some key players, Luxembourg were intent on backing up a strong training block with a decent showing. Luxembourg overcame both their group fixtures to progress to the semi-final of the Senior B competition.
The Luxembourg team blitzed their opening opponents, Munich Colmcilles, surprising their opposition with some hard running which resulted in two first-half goals. The first by Toulouse native Adrien Calmont demonstrated his knack of being in the right place at the right time, and the second was an emphatic effort by debutant Cian Hynes. Luxembourg closed out the game easily in the second half winning by a score of 2-8 to 0-3.
The second game against Prague Gaels was a tighter affair, with Hynes and Calmont again bagging a crucial goal each which resulted in Luxembourg winning on a scoreline of 2-4 to 1-4. This left Luxembourg pitted against Jersey Gaels in the semi-final.
This was a hard-fought contest in the Stad Rudolf Tonn with some high quality scoring. The first half was tied at six points each with some expert goal keeping from Brian Wall and skillful high fielding from midfielders Eamonn Dunne and Cathal McGrath keeping Luxembourg in the game. Despite Luxembourg leading early in the second half, Jersey pulled four points ahead through some clinical scoring with the same amount of minutes remaining. At this stage all looked lost for Luxembourg but they showed great heart and desire they responded with three of their own points to leave the bare minimum between the teams. Deep into injury time, and with Luxembourg throwing the proverbial kitchen sink at Jersey, the islanders broke away to register a goal to settle the game with the last kick of the match. The final score in an absorbing contest was 1-13 to 0-12. Luxembourg had strong showings throughout the team but particular mention goes to captain Cathal McGrath who was inspiring in his endeavours.
Overall the panel was pleased with their efforts in the Vienna sunshine which played host to 460 players from all over Europe. There is plenty of optimism for the 2016 season which will commence in March of next year.
New players are always welcome. Enquiries can be made to secretary.luxembourg.europe@gaa.ie
Photo Back row (L-R): Morgan Ferriter, Ciaran O'Flahartha, Cathal McGrath, Eamonn Dunne, Brian Lenihan, Adrien Calmont, Tadhg Dunne; Front row (L-R): Brendan O'Callaghan, Cian Hynes, Brian Wall, Tiarnan (Guest player from Berlin)
