The Irish squad went to Hong Kong with no idea of what they had signed up for.  It was going to be 6 tough matches in 30 degree heat that would make or break this fledgling team from “the four proud provinces of Ireland”.

Day one of the competition and Ireland’s 1^st game was against the current Masters World Champions, Australia.  Ireland started well but they were soon spending all their time defending.  The biggest blow of the tournament came 18 minutes into the game when, keeper, Iain Kelly dislocated his shoulder during a save at a penalty corner.  Centre-back Aiken stepped up to take his place and donned the keepers kit for the remainder of the match as the team had been only able to travel with one keeper.  Aiken and Ireland held out until 12 minutes from the end of the game before Australia scored 3 goals from a series of penalty corners.  As Aiken said “it is great testament to the 10 players in front of me that I had so few saves to make”.  It was indeed a mammoth effort by the whole team to play so well against a squad picked from 22,000 players in Australia.

Day two and it was a tired team that stepped out on to the pitch to face Scotland in their first game of the tournament.  Ireland soon went a goal down after a penalty corner was deflected past substitute keeper Aiken by an Irish stick.  Ireland fought back and were soon on level terms again from a penalty flick by McIlroy after he was brought down in the ‘D’ by the keeper.  Scotland had worked their tactics well after Portsmouth and were playing a very good half court game against the Irish that allowed them to break on a number of occasions as the green shirts pushed up the pitch.  It was during one of these breaks just before half time that allowed Scotland a 2 on 1 with the keeper and Scotland were able to go ahead at the break.  Although Ireland pushed hard for the equaliser in the second half the net could not be found and with 10 minutes to go another break left Aiken exposed in goals and Scotland were able to kill the game off with a third goal.  Ireland were disappointed and know that they should have done better.

Day three and Ireland took to the pitch against the tournaments eventual winners New Zealand.  A new face joined the Irish team in the form or Englishman Alan 'Tommo' Thomson who had flown out as a an umpire but even at the tender age of 52 was still an accomplished goalie allowing Aiken back into more familiar territory   It was a bit like the Alamo from the first whistle as the Irish players tracked the black shirted Kiwi’s all over the pitch as they moved the ball with consummate ease between their players.  Ireland had their tactics spot on as they smothered and frustrated the Kiwis at every turn but the continued pressure told when the Kiwis scored first almost on the final whistle of the half.  New Zealand scored twice more in the second half to go out three nil winners of the game.  Ireland were again disappointed with the result as they had their chances and should have had something on the scoreboard during the 70 minutes.

Day four and still no rest for the Irish as they faced England.  It was a bit like the game in Portsmouth with England pressing the Irish and then the boys in green counter attacking.  However it was England that scored first and the teams took to the shade at half time with England 1-o up.  Seventeen minutes from the end of the second half and a perfectly weighted pass found Fifer free at the back post and he made no mistake slamming the ball into the roof of the net.  The turning point of the game for Ireland was when they had a goal disallowed that would have made the game 2-1 in their favour with just minutes 12 minutes left on the clock, the umpire judged the ball to have been played above shoulder height.  England again upped their game and their pace and scored 3 goals to win 4-1.  Ireland were disappointed but were happy with a much better performance not truly reflected in the result compared to the meeting earlier in the year at Portsmouth.

Day five and a chance for Ireland to get some points on the board against the local boys, Hong Kong.  The games is probably best described a slogging affair with neither team really gaining the upper hand.  Hong Kong scored first and then Ireland equalised from one of their practiced corner routines that left Weir a simple tap in at the post.  This left the teams level at the half time interval.  Ireland started the second half brightly but it was Hong Kong that got the lead in a breakaway by their ex-New Zealand international whose penatrating run from outside the 23m line and super finish left keeper Thomson with no chance.  Ireland fought back and soon had the Hong Kong team on the rack with a series of corners that saw Weir pull another perfect one out of the hat and brought Ireland back on level terms. Ireland to their credit were not going to settle for the draw and with minutes left on the clock they got the winner.  A strong break from midfield by Harvey and Murray and series of perfect passes between them left Harvey in the 'D' and even though he was at an 'impossible' angle his shot was goal bound from the moment it left his stick and rifled into the roof of the net.  Harvey's goal gave Ireland their first winning goal of the competition to take the game 3-2 and get some points on the board.

Day 6 and at last the team get a rest day

Day 7 and the final game of the tournament saw a tired Ireland team face a tired Singapore team.  The game was not pretty with more mistakes than skills from both teams.  Ireland took the lead midway thru the first half as that man Weir popped up again with another super, if slightly controversial, goal.  After that neither team looked much like scoring or conceding any more goals and indeed the final score was a 1-0 win to Ireland and a 5^th place in their first Masters World Cup.

Day 8 was spent watching the final matches and swapping kit.  Now had there been a trophy for kit swaps.................

Special Thanks

The team want to thank the following people for making the tournament such a success:

Andy Nye, head coach.  For all his planning, enthusiasm, encouragement, and for getting us all there and back again safely

Jamie Millar our manager and assistant coach.  Thanks for sorting out all the kit, the various sizes, for ensuring all the monies were collected and for organising us during the games.

Suzanne Watson, physio extraordinaire.  Suzanne kept a high proportion of players on their feet throughtout the tournament and on the odd occasion off their feet!!!  Without her many of us would never have played 3 let alone 6 games.

BM Electrical Wholesale our kit sponsors.  Without the generous donation of this company we could never have looked so well or been so well equipped when taking to the field in Portsmouth and Hong Kong.