Willie Buckley first annual tournament
- wbrinkhockey
- Oct 28, 2014
- 2 min read
Sunday was ther first annual Willie Buckley tournament.
As nerves and excitement were at an all time high, people arrived at the event.
The first match was the kids. The team names were Mighty ducks and Super ducks. These kids are the future of roller/rink hockey in Ireland. From this match, the future is looking good. Our ten year old Ben Clynes and his cousin Scott Clynes showed great skill and determination to win. As they were both on opposing teams, it was neck on neck for the entire match. With a few bumps and crashes, each of the players showed great determination and passion for the game.
There were three senior/veteran teams to play against eachother to fight for the WB (Willie Buckley) senior trophy. The Gala vs The Stars were the first two teams to play. The Gala were in the green and black team jerseys and the Stars were in Yellow. Delightedly, the Gala won the first match.
The first of the two junior matches followed the highly skillful Gala team. These teams were WB juniors vs Dublin City Juniors. The two captains Karl Clynes (Dublin City Jnr) and Louise Buckley (WB jnr) had very serious pep talks with their teams before the matches began. As this was both teams first time to play any tournament nerves and stress levels were high. Thankfully both teams had a veteran player each to play in defence, the match ended in a 0-1 to Dublin city jnrs, scored by Karl Clynes cpt.
The next senior/veteran team to follow was the Star (yellow) vs the Commets (white). This was a very tense time for the Star team because they had lost the last game. For the Star, this could be their final game of the day. Unfortunalty for them, they had lost both matches and had been awarded 3rd place in the tournament.
The second match for the juniors featured the same two teams. This was a neck on neck match because the WB jnrs had to score atleast two goals to win the cup, as the City jnrs had a one up advantage from the previous match. Jack Walsh and Linda Buckley played fantastic in this match as they both could sence the importance of a win. This match finally finished at 3-0 to the WB jnrs. With Captain Louise and Co- captain Jack, the excitement was electric. Celebration was in order.
The most important match of the day was being prepared to get underway. The Gala (green) vs The Commets (white). Tension was high and so was the players spirit and competitiveness. This was one of the most tense and fast games of Roller hockey that most of the players have ever seen. Thanks to Danny (Commets catpain) who took countless slapshots and planted the ball in the back of Paul Buckley's goal, one after another. As a result of this, the Commets won the final and celebated in style.
It was a fantastic day as the first of many events to come.
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