An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir March 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 32 | 32 | former teammate Pte Paddy Conlon (28 Inf Bn), who tragically died in an accident in McKee Bks in 2013. The next day Ireland played their first game, against Mali, with the following players: 1 Cpl Darren Kelly, 2 Bde MP Coy (Cherry Orchard FC); 2 Pte Sean Guerins, 12 Inf Bn (BT Harps); 3 Pte Ricky Fox, 3 Inf Bn (Shamrock Rovers); 4 Tpr Mark Horgan, 1 Bde CIS Coy (Avondale); 15 Pte Keith Duffy, 28 Inf Bn (Ballina Town); 11 Armn Aidan Friel, No 1 Ops Wing (Longford Town); 13 Pte Craig Shortt, 1 Inf Bn (Birr Town); 10 Cpl Michael O'Shea, 1 Bde MP Coy (Cobh Wanderers); 20 Gnr David Stack, 1 Bde Arty Regt (Cobh Wander- ers); 8 Pte Craig Wall, 3 Inf Bn (Freebooters); 5 Tpr Chris Kenny, 1 Armd Car Sqn (Sligo Rovers). Subs: 6 Pte Shane Dempsey, 3 Inf Bn (Wexford Youths); 7 Pte Sean Gannon, 7 Inf Bn (Dublin Cen- tral FC); 9 Pte Jody Dillon, 1 Mech Inf Coy (Portlaoise FC); 12 Gnr Ross MacCarthy, 1 Bde Arty Regt (Youghal United); 14 Lt Richard Barber, 27 Inf Bn (St James Gate); 16 Pte Stephen Whelan, 7 Inf Bn (St Paul's, Artane); 17 Pte Derek Walsh, 7 Inf Bn (Usher Celtic); 18 Cpl David Sweeney, 1 Bde Tpt Coy (Ballin- collig FC); 19 Pte Ian Lordan, 12 Inf Bn (Greenwood FC); 23 Lt Kenneth Deegan, Tpt Gp/Sch (Newbridge Town). Ireland got their tournament underway with a high tempo game in the Royal Police Stadium, with a small section of Irish fans singing 'Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!' to get them in the mood. With their confidence high the DF team's wingers got to the bye-line on several occasions and put in dangerous crosses into the op- position box. As the Malians didn't have many tall players their game was played on the ground, working the ball through a tight midfield. However, Ireland kept their shape and were rewarded for their continuous pressure with a headed goal by Mark Horgan in the 18th minute after a great cross from Chris Kenny. Just after the fourth official had signalled one minute of ex- tra time, disaster struck for the Irish when Mali squeezed a shot past Darren Kelly for the equaliser. The Irish team's halftime talk focused on keeping their shape and keeping the ball, and the second half started with Ireland again trying to get back on top. However, despite an end-to-end game no more goals were scored. In the post-match conference, Capt Snee said: "Mali were good opponents and I would have taken a 1-1 draw before the game. Many teams have professional players and I'm impressed with the quality of the teams I've seen so far. We have a young team and many of them have never played at this level." Ireland's second group match against Qatar took place two days later in the Al-Seeb Stadium and Capt Snee announced three changes to the starting 11, with Shane Dempsey, Sean Gannon, and CISM debutant, Jody Dillon, coming in for Keith Duffy, Chris Kenny and Michael O'Shea. A very strong Qatari team started at pace and the game was played mostly in the Irish half, with Qatar having a goal ruled offside as early as the fifth minute. Ireland had a forced substi- tution in the 27th minute due to an injury to Craig Wall, who was replaced in midfield by Michael O'Shea. Qatar finally broke through the Irish defence in the 40th minute to go one up. Ireland started the second half trying to push out and Chris Kenny came on up front for Jody Dillon in the 50th minute. Qatar hit the post on 64 minutes and had a soft penalty claim turned down in the 69th before Capt Snee made his final substitution, bringing on right midfielder Ross MacCarthy for Sean Gannon. Qatar's second goal came from a corner kick on the 72nd min- ute and their third wrapped up the match in the 82nd minute. In the post-match conference Capt Snee said: "I'm proud of this young team: we will assess the USA-v-Mali game later tonight and see where we go from there." For Ireland to qualify for the quarter finals they needed to win their final group game against the USA and they also needed already-qualified Qatar to beat Mali and to end up with a better goal difference than Mali. A big ask, but possible nonetheless. The Irish coaches put the players through light training on Fri- day morning and the manager took the pressure off the squad by not announcing the team sheet until a few hours before kick-off. A good crowd turned up in the Sultan Qaboos Stadium on Sat- urday 21st January for the crunch Ireland-v-USA game, with the Irish among the spectators in their usual fine voice. Trying a new 1-3-5-2 formation Capt Snee announced a starting 11 of Darren Kelly, Sean Guerins, Mark Horgan, Keith Duffy, Aidan Friel, Michael O'Shea, Craig Shortt, Ricky Fox, Craig Wall, Chris Kenny (captain), and Derek Walsh. Before the match Capt Snee told the squad: "We are very proud of your performances in the first two games; you showed fantastic leadership, especially the young soldiers. Concentrate on this game, as we've no control over the other game. We have to believe we are going to win." Team Coach Cpl Thomas Hewitt said to those that hadn't played yet: "Your positivity to the team that gets selected has been great; your encouragement to each other has been great. If you get your chance to play – embrace it, and go out there and enjoy it." As it turned out Ireland had kept their best for their final game, and what a game we witnessed, where brothers-in-arms gave everything for qualification and pride. Ireland took the game to David Stack in action against Qatar Chris Kenny leading the Irish line against USA

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