2nd Catania International Canoe Polo Competition


Catania, Sicily 3/4/5 April 1998

In the first international competition of the year for the Irish Men’s team, we travelled to Catania, Italy. This trip would have been impossible without the substantial financial support of the organisers in Catania for which we were very appreciative.
There were ten teams competing in two groups with the first two teams of each group going through to the semi-finals. Ireland was placed in a very strong group comprising France (current European Champions), Italy (ranked 2nd in the world), Belgium and Latvia. The second group consisted of Germany, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Catania the local team.
Following the opening ceremony, the first game was Ireland vs. Italy. In a tough game Ireland made few mistakes and were narrowly defeated 2-1 by a relieved Italian team. Against the French team, Ireland failed to break through the French defence but put up a very strong performance against the European Champions with a final score of 3-0 to France. Ireland had a comfortable, polished wins over Latvia and Belgium. The comprehensive defeat of Belgium, who had beaten Ireland in the Europeans last September, shows the continued improvement in this Irish side, a fact noted by many of the other teams.
In the 5th/6th play off, Ireland had another comfortable win over Portugal (4-1) to finish fifth in the tournament. Given that the top two places overall went to the two top teams in Ireland's group highlights the strong performance of this young, improving team. In the semi-finals, France had an easy win over the local side Catania (6-0) and Italy came out on top after a tougher game with Germany (4-2). In a very competitive, final France kept track with Italy up to the last seconds when they pressurised for a last minute draw but the home team held on for a 5-4 win.
Results:
1 Italy
2 France
3. Germany
4. Catania
5. Ireland
6. Portugal
7. Belgium
8. Spain
9. Poland
10. Latvia
Team:
Caoimhin Nolan (Capt), Vincent Pierce, Shane Kinsella, Neil Cooke, Conor Walsh, Cathal Gorman, Val Pierce.
Team Coach: Mark Downey.
Irish Mens Team Manager: Ray Manley.


1998 National League Competition Reports


Cascade Designs Canoe Polo Competition ’98, Cork.


Phoenix Kayak Club once again organized the Cork round of the National League which happened to be the first round of the League for 1998. Following the usual slow entries we finally got some. By the official closing date we had only 7 entries. This was increased to 17 three days before the competition. If all the entries had been in on time it would have been possible to organise two pitches, and thus increase the number of games each team had to play. Again the annual plea for teams to enter on time goes out to all players and teams. So with 17 teams, representing nearly all parts of the country, the competition got under way nice and early at 9am on Saturday. Each division was played in a league format with each team playing all the other teams in their own league once with the top four teams proceeding to the semi-finals. Games continued all day Saturday until 7pm and recommenced on Sunday Morning until lunch time when the play-offs began. By this stage the sun had made its mark and with a little imagination, OK a lot of imagination, we could have been in the Mediterranean. Division 1 semi-finalists included two local teams, the Coasters & the Coolers along with Outspan and Malice. In division 2 another Cork team, Leeroadies, along with Titanic, The Rovers and DCU all won places in the semi-finals. Division 3 semi-finalists included the all conquering Grunge team from Sligo, the new comers Bismark, Cork’s new junior team The Young Ones and the D-Cups, who also went by the name of "Ball-Breakers". The division 3 final was contested by Grunge and Bismark. Grunge won, again! Although Bismark put up a good show for a new team and Grunge didn’t have it all their own way. Grunge won 2 -1. The Division 2 final was a contest between a Cork and Belfast, the Leeroadies from Cork and The Rovers representing Belfast. With Leeroadies having the ‘home’ advantage they scored a few early goals to go on to a comfortably 7 -1 win, but The Rovers fought all the way to the final whistle. Mr. Noel O’Flynn TD, one of Corks local Dail deputies was on hand to begin the division 1 final by throwing in the ball to start the game. The Division 1 final was between another Cork team, Coasters and Outspan, a team from Belfast with a few ‘imports’! This was a close fought contest with Coasters scoring two late goals following a yellow card for an Outspan player to win 5 -3. This ensured that the Cork Cup stayed in Cork for the third time in four years. So another year of national League polo begins in Ireland with a weekend of sunshine and some good polo. Finally it is up to me to thank the players and teams that turned up for the weekend and to whoever organized the weather, thanks for the sunshine. A big thanks to all those in Phoenix Kayak Club who put the time into helping organise the whole competition, and most importantly to our main Cascade Designs Ltd. and other sponsors, The Tent Shop, Matthew’s Sports shop and Great Outdoors, Cork who sponsored some of the prizes and gave numerous spot prizes which were given out as prizes in a raffle.
Final Positions
Division Winners Runners - Up
Division 1 Coasters Outspan
Division 2 Leeroadies The Rovers
Division 3 The Grunge The Bismark
Well That’s it from Cork, Hope to see you all again in Carrig-on-Shannon.
Conor Walsh
13 Alden Grove,
Douglas,
Cork.
021 - 346974



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