For the third and final winter League Broccoli and UCD made the trip down to the sunny second capital of Corcaigh. Despite Luans' best efforts to delay the entire team we set off from Dublin in JD's car before dark. Young McKenna was wearing the same clothes he'd had on for a week despite appearing to have packed most of his belongings in the biggest suitcase I've seen in years. He wasn't sure where his boots were, he'd lost his Brocoli jersey, had no idea how to tie his shoelaces and generally seemed at a loss. Yep, his mother was away again.
Despite this early set back we made the most of the trip down by exchanging various lurid tales, catapulting water balloons from the car sunroof (or at least attempting to), sinking pints in the crowd favourite, Morrisons (not to be confused with a Morriseys) and generally getting amusement from the drunk Luan. Soon we found ourselves in Cork launching more balloons (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnWiRiqlEqE), and abuse, at our hirsute host, Tigger.
Quickly food was found, cheap and cheerful or €20 a pizza (needless to say Mr. Google and Dr.Coakley spent as much as possible), and back to Tiggers for a pre-session session. Then to An Brog where we met the locals, the UCC players, many sweet pints of Murphys Velvet and the UCD lads too. Quickly spirits got involved and the UCD kids got out of control. Cant bring them anywhere. Luan got involved, the electrics were commented on, everyone got well oiled and we all ambled home merry and loking forward o more water balloon launching. We targeted padestrians crossing a bridge but with no joy. A brilliant night all round.
(Paul, Robin, Ciaran, Tadhg & Johnny in An Brog).
The next morning saw UCD play UCC at 11.30am for the chance to contest the Winter League 'Final'. It was a close game to start with both teams playing good D but turning a fair bit. UCD slowly started to turn the screw though and ran out comfortable winners in the end to make if 5 wins from 5 games for the Belfield team. Next up was the Broccoli vs. UCC game. Regardless of the result (given UCC had now lost 2 games) it was to be UCD playing Broccoli for the title. Still, there was pride at stake fr the Corkonians who came out strong. The game began evenly with the teams trading a couple of points. UCC lost their rythm a little though and soon Broccoli had a grip on the match. A combination of tired legs and deflated players didn't do Cork any favours and half cam at 7-2 to the greens. The match was a scrappy, hard-fought affair with neither teams Offence gelling particularly well, maybe the rake of pints and chipper food was exacting a toll. Broccoli had enough experience though, to battle through and won the match 13-4 in the
end. A fun catapult team call ensued with Kiely pussying out of a double mudball to the head.
A quick break then the 'Final' against a fired up (if somewhat weakened) UCD team. They came out firing and got 2 quick Ds which thy converted assuredly. We switched our Man D to Zone and went on a 10 point scoring spree. They were missing their strong handlers, we were playing well after out slow game against Cork and it all fell into place. Luan and Langer got some great Ds with the JD and BB throwing a nice variety of throws for scores. Stokesy was another vital cog in the works and Col made a hammer-tastic return! All in all it was a strong team performance and we closed out the game, conceding only 4 points during the match, 13-4. A great close to a fun Winter League. The best weekend without doubt being the fun trip to Cork who were gracious and messy/fun hosts. More of that!
MVP - MSP - Well done everyone, let's keep up the winning streak and get further up that Ladder League Table. Keep an eye on the emails for news of friendlies coming up between now and the summer. Up the Broc!!
