Lacrosse is an incredible sport, and the 2014 World Lacrosse Championships in Denver, Colorado has been an incredible experience. New nations have joined the international lacrosse community - Russia, China, Thailand, Costa Rica, Israel, Turkey, Norway and of course the home crowd favourites Uganda, who scored their first ever goal against Ireland and who won their first ever international game in a 4th quarter come back against South Korea.
In the festival tournament taking place alongside the world championships, teams in the Under-11 age bracket competed on fields alongside teams competing in the Over-60 bracket. Old friends have been re-united and new friends have been made. The World Lacrosse Championships is truly a special occasion as it brings people together to celebrate this age-old game that the Native American Indians believe was given to us by the Creator. Indeed, this tournament is special in a number of different ways - the originators of the game, in the form of the Iroquois Nationals, compete alongside the other traditional nation-states, and they are some of the finest and most skillful exponents of the game, akin to how Brazilians play football (the most recent FIFA World Cup notwithstanding...!).
One just has to do a web search of the famous Thompsons who play for the Iroquois to see numerous videos of the guile and ingenuity that their devotion to the game produces. But the tournament is also unique in the way that teams continue playing games even when they are knocked out of contention for the title. This means that all teams play a large number of games, that teams continue playing and as they do so, they increasingly come up against teams of a similar standard to themselves and the scorelines get tighter and the play more intense, and all teams continue to stay on for the event to soak up the best atmosphere that the sport has to offer.
It is in accordance with this aspect that the Irish team faced Germany in its final game of the tournament - to determine the 9th and 10th place position in the tournament, effectively the world ranking. The game commenced at 8pm Denver time under the lights on one of the artificial turf fields, and was broadcast live by US sports television station ESPN. Ireland won the first face-off via Aaron Cahill, and would get on the scoreboard first via an underhand shot from Gillis. Shortly thereafter, Kris Prior took a shot from the wing to make it 2-0 to Ireland, a dream start! The first quarter ended 2-1 in favour of Ireland, but unfortunately that was the last time that Ireland would hold the lead in the game.
By half-time, Germany led 4-2, and though Gillis brought the teams level at 5-5 midway through the third quarter, the Germans pulled away again. The fourth quarter was a tense affair, the crowd was in full force and Ireland pulled within a single goal with around 8 minutes left, but German responded once again to edge in front. The game ended with a scoreline of 8-6 in favour of Germany, and with that, Ireland's experience of the World Lacrosse Championships had come to an end, finishing in 10th place.
Brian Gillis led all scorers with three goals, and Kris Prior, Mike Shea and Tom Riley each had one goal. Connor Sweeney was once again outstanding in goal, and again earns The Physio Company Game MVP. The team is grateful to all its fans, in Ireland and elsewhere, who have shown their support throughout this adventure. It is hoped that the enthusiasm shown for the team will help fuel the growth of the game in Ireland.
Tom Beary
