A Tour 3 - Cardiff
The last Tour of this year took place in sunny Cardiff on the 12th & 13th of August and saw 16 Paddy players travel, albeit with 2 of them as staticians/supporters. The group was at first glance a very attractive one from our point of view with 2 newly promoted teams - ABH A and the Cambridge uni team Strange Blue - and our old rivals Blue Arse Flies in with us.
Despite missing one of the our captains and a few other key players the team went into the weekend upbeat and quietly confident. However in only the 4 th point of out first game we lost another highly influential player. Cian was running in a stright line when he hit a divot in the bumpy, hard pitch forcing his ankle to go over on itself and immediately knew he was finished for the weekend. Another cruel injury for a fit player. The team played on though and without firing on all cylinders went on to win the game to 3 against a team struggling in their first ever A Tour appearance. Next up were Strange Blue who had but 8 players. They gave it everything but the Paddy team was finding it's feet and built on the first victory to win 15-3 again with a combination of good disc retention and hard D setting up the win. The focus was improving, the confidence in the team evident and it was in the perfect mindset that we faced BAF.
BAF and Paddy Murphy seem to meet at least once or twice a season be it at the Brit Open or at Tour and every match follows a similarily tight pattern of trading points, disputing close calls and playing hard Ultimate. This match was no different as we both went at each other with all we had. Both teams mixed it up using zone and man defence and forced turnovers and scored goals as the scoreboard ticked over with neither able to establish a decent lead. From 1-1 to 7-6 there was nothing separating the teams until Paddy took half. We rallied, we calmed ourselves and then we cam out firing. We won thw second halk 7-2 with a ruthless display. Turnovers got scored and the D line dominated to secure a big win and ensure the easier of the 2 crossover matches in the morning. It was a great game with good spirit missing nothing except for a Britboy vs Merrick rematch :)
Saturday night at Tour was as relaxed as always with a couple of quiet cans, a game of poker (won by Darkie) and a lot of food sending us all to bed tired and ready to get up at 7am. The morning game was against Discuits who we all felt we owed a better match after our collapse at Tour 1. We warmed up hard and focused on simple skills before our biggest match yet. We came out on fire and quickly went 5-0 up. Discuits didn't know what hit them as we combined tight man D with chilled out offence to take the game by the scruff. It continued through to half which we took at 8-3. It was the D that impressed with no man getting free, no long game being given and every disc being closely contested. The second half continued much the same as the first as we scored our turnovers and kept on firinbg hard until the game was won 15-5. Our best performance this season.
We had a quick huddle after the game and found out we were playing back-to-back, with Chevy the team we had to beat to get a shot at 5th place. This was the 3rd time we were playing them over the 3 tours and again they came out on top. Their offence got the scores it needed and we made a few simple mistakes that they punished every time. Tiredness may have been a fector but not diecrediting them - this was the most solid of their 3 games against us. They won out 15-8 winners. BAF lost their match to Brighton meaning we were to play them again for 7th. We were now doen to 10 players having lost Nialler to calf pain and Darkhorse & Seamus to knee trouble. Sfter a big feed we arrived down ready to warm up and play. A womens match went to cap though so there was a bit of waiting around. Eventually we got on and started well, going a few points up. BAF were without Merrick who'd hurt his calf. Soon he decided to mplay anyway and added a threat to their game as they rallied a little bringing the scores to 6-4 I think but we held on and despite a long point with lots of turnovers we took half 8-5. Similarily to the first game our second half performance was strong as we closed the game out winning it 7-2 to take 7th place and our highest ever finish at Tour.!
Congratulations and thanks to all the Paddys who put in all the hard work over the past 5-6 months. From the fitness to the training and all the travel, well done. Let's build on this Paddys.
Paaaddddy.....MURPHY!
Despite missing one of the our captains and a few other key players the team went into the weekend upbeat and quietly confident. However in only the 4 th point of out first game we lost another highly influential player. Cian was running in a stright line when he hit a divot in the bumpy, hard pitch forcing his ankle to go over on itself and immediately knew he was finished for the weekend. Another cruel injury for a fit player. The team played on though and without firing on all cylinders went on to win the game to 3 against a team struggling in their first ever A Tour appearance. Next up were Strange Blue who had but 8 players. They gave it everything but the Paddy team was finding it's feet and built on the first victory to win 15-3 again with a combination of good disc retention and hard D setting up the win. The focus was improving, the confidence in the team evident and it was in the perfect mindset that we faced BAF.
BAF and Paddy Murphy seem to meet at least once or twice a season be it at the Brit Open or at Tour and every match follows a similarily tight pattern of trading points, disputing close calls and playing hard Ultimate. This match was no different as we both went at each other with all we had. Both teams mixed it up using zone and man defence and forced turnovers and scored goals as the scoreboard ticked over with neither able to establish a decent lead. From 1-1 to 7-6 there was nothing separating the teams until Paddy took half. We rallied, we calmed ourselves and then we cam out firing. We won thw second halk 7-2 with a ruthless display. Turnovers got scored and the D line dominated to secure a big win and ensure the easier of the 2 crossover matches in the morning. It was a great game with good spirit missing nothing except for a Britboy vs Merrick rematch :)
Saturday night at Tour was as relaxed as always with a couple of quiet cans, a game of poker (won by Darkie) and a lot of food sending us all to bed tired and ready to get up at 7am. The morning game was against Discuits who we all felt we owed a better match after our collapse at Tour 1. We warmed up hard and focused on simple skills before our biggest match yet. We came out on fire and quickly went 5-0 up. Discuits didn't know what hit them as we combined tight man D with chilled out offence to take the game by the scruff. It continued through to half which we took at 8-3. It was the D that impressed with no man getting free, no long game being given and every disc being closely contested. The second half continued much the same as the first as we scored our turnovers and kept on firinbg hard until the game was won 15-5. Our best performance this season.
We had a quick huddle after the game and found out we were playing back-to-back, with Chevy the team we had to beat to get a shot at 5th place. This was the 3rd time we were playing them over the 3 tours and again they came out on top. Their offence got the scores it needed and we made a few simple mistakes that they punished every time. Tiredness may have been a fector but not diecrediting them - this was the most solid of their 3 games against us. They won out 15-8 winners. BAF lost their match to Brighton meaning we were to play them again for 7th. We were now doen to 10 players having lost Nialler to calf pain and Darkhorse & Seamus to knee trouble. Sfter a big feed we arrived down ready to warm up and play. A womens match went to cap though so there was a bit of waiting around. Eventually we got on and started well, going a few points up. BAF were without Merrick who'd hurt his calf. Soon he decided to mplay anyway and added a threat to their game as they rallied a little bringing the scores to 6-4 I think but we held on and despite a long point with lots of turnovers we took half 8-5. Similarily to the first game our second half performance was strong as we closed the game out winning it 7-2 to take 7th place and our highest ever finish at Tour.!Congratulations and thanks to all the Paddys who put in all the hard work over the past 5-6 months. From the fitness to the training and all the travel, well done. Let's build on this Paddys.
Paaaddddy.....MURPHY!
posted by Mark Earley at 8:14 AM
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