Antrim 4-22 v 1-12 Down

Sunday 27th June 2010

Ulster Senior Hurling Championship

Casement Park, Belfast

Admission: £13.00

Programme: £2.00

Attendance: 1000 (estimated)

After a half hour break, the main event of the day, the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship began, between the two heavyweights of Ulster hurling. Antrim are so dominant in Ulster hurling, that they are given automatic entry into the Final. Indeed, they have won the Liam Harvey Cup for the last eight years running. Down are generally considered to be the (distant) second strongest hurling county in Ulster, having reached seven of the last nine finals without lifting the cup, and ran Antrim close for the last two finals, and there was real hope that Down could cause a shock by lifting the Cup if everything went their way.

However, it very soon became clear that there would be no upset in this year’s Final, as Antrim raced into a seven point lead with just 10 minutes on the clock, and a 1-12 to 0-1 lead after twenty minutes. By half time, the gap was a massive 2-15 to 0-3, which was a fair reflection of proceedings, as Antrim looked completely dominant with some impressively accurate passes and points scoring, whilst Down were sloppy and utterly failed to impose themselves on the game.

The second half carried on in a similar vein…Down quickly pulled a point back, but Antrim quickly responded with two goals. The game did become a little more even as the second half wore on, which probably was more due to Antrim making substitutions and taking their foot off of the gas, but Down’s afternoon got worse when they had a player sent off for an ugly high tackle. Down did manage to score a consolation goal right at the end, capitalising on a poor puckout by the Antrim goalkeeper, but the final score reflected the comprehensively emphatic story of the game, to give Antrim their ninth consecutive Cup Final victory.

Antrim 2-19 v 1-10 Armagh

Sunday 27th June 2010
Ulster Minor Hurling Championship
Casement Park, Belfast
Admission: £13.00
Programme: £2.00
Attendance: 1000 (estimated)
Match Rating: 4

After a tour of Croke Park last summer whetted my appetite for Gaelic Games, and catching a few London hurling games consolidated my interest, I finally decided to watch a relatively high profile game in Ireland, to take in the Ulster Hurling Championship Finals at Casement Park, Belfast. A double-header was on offer, with the Ulster Minor Hurling Championship Final to be played before the main event of the Ulster Senior Hurling Championship Final.

It’s fair to say that hurling is not a very popular sport in Northern Ireland, and the standard of play is by far inferior to that in the south of the Republic of Ireland, with Northern Ireland being much more of a hotbed for Gaelic Football. The competitiveness of the game is also not helped in Ulster with one county, Antrim (the only county in Ulster where hurling is more dominant than Gaelic Football) being a class apart above the other counties.

Casement Park is the premier venue in Belfast for Gaelic Sports, and is located about a 20 minute walk from Balmoral or Finaghy train stations on the Belfast-Portadown line, or 3 miles south-west of Belfast city centre. It has a large of capacity of 32.600, although most of the pitch is surrounded by uncovered terracing, with just a fairly small and old-fashioned stand certainly in need of some renovation providing covered seating, with uncovered seating available in front of the stand. Almost all of the meagre crowd remained within the stand for today’s games. An excellent glossy programme was on sale, which provided ample information regarding the four teams in action today, how they got to the finals and various other interesting articles.

The first game was the Ulster Minor Hurling Championship, which is an under 18 competition. Antrim were expected to win this game convincingly (as they are in any competition in Ulster), having won the competition for the last eight years running and sixteen times in the last eighteen years. It was somewhat of a surprise that Armagh had made it to the finals, traditionally one of the weaker hurling counties who had not reached an Ulster Minor final since 1982, and had only reached the Senior final once, in 1946, however Armagh did managed to beat Antrim in the league earlier in the year.

The game started off according to the script, with Antrim racing into a four point lead with 15 minutes on the clock and with Armagh struggling to fashion any goalscoring opportunities. However, Armagh bounced back to level the game with 21 minutes gone. The game was open for the rest of the first half, but Antrim managed to open up a 3 point lead by half time, with a 0-10 to 0-7 scoreline. Armagh continued with their impressive play after half time to level the scores within ten minutes if the restart, and a major shock looked a distinct possibility. However, Armagh seemed to fade as they failed to add to their tally and Antrim eventually ran out fairly comfortable 2-19 to 0-10 winners.

Breiðablik 1 v 1 FH

After extra time, 1 v 3 on penalties 
Thursday 3rd June 2010
Icelandic FA Cup Third Round
Kópavogsvöllur, Kópavogur
Admission: 1200 ISK (approx £6.50)
Programme: N/A
Attendance: 1012
Match Rating: 4

The final game of my stay in Iceland turned out to be the best of the lot, with a battle of the major clubs from the southern part of the Greater Reykjavik area in the Icelandic FA Cup 3rd Round, between Breiðablik, the reigning cup holders, which was the first major trophy in their history, and FH from Hafnarfjarðar, who have enjoyed remarkable success in recent seasons, having won the league title in five of the last six seasons, although this season they had not been quite so dominant so far, having gained seven points from their opening five games.

The Kopavogsvollur is based in the characterless commuter town of Kopavogur, but is conveniently located right next to the main dual carriageway heading south of Reykavik. Half hourly buses connect Reykjavik city centre and the stadium, however I decided to take a pleasant hour-long coastal walk, stopping off in another of the glorious geothermal swimming pools in Kopavogur. The Kopavogsvollur is set amongst playing fields and has one large, modern all-seater stand, with a much smaller old fashioned all-seater stand on the opposite side which is barely used on match days. Hard standing is available around the ground, which is not used as there is also an athletics track around the pitch. As with most Icelandic stadia, no floodlights are present.

The game was an even affair throughout, with Breiðablik probably just shading possession and chances, but it was little surprise that the game was scoreless at half time. Breiðablik took the lead on 70 minutes, but their lead lasted barely a minute, as FH equalised. 1-1 was how it stayed for the rest of the 90 minutes, and despite a few near misses in extra time, the match went to penalties. After the first three penalty kicks, it looked almost certain that Breiðablik would win the penalty shoot out, scoring with their penalty whilst FH missed both of their opening two penalties. However, Breiðablik missed all of their remaining penalties, FH scored their remaining three to send the away team into the next round.

The atmosphere at this game was excellent considering the size of the ground and crowd, with both sets of fans providing excellent and consistent vocal support

Fram Reykjavik 2 v 1 IR

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
Icelandic FA Cup Third Round
Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavik
Admission: 1200 ISK (approx £6.50)
Programme: N/A
Attendance: 619
Match Rating: 2

 There are not many times that I would be sufficiently motivated to visit an uninhabited island and go swimming in advance of an evening football match. But then being in Iceland does inspire one to do things out of the ordinary. For this evening’s entertainment, I headed to the national stadium of Iceland, the Laugardalsvollur, to watch an Icelandic FA Cup 3rd Round tie between Fram Reykjavik and I.R.

This game brought together two teams in good form, with Fram having made an excellent start to the league season having won two and drawn two of their opening four league games. IR had made an even better start to their season, having won three and drawn the other of their opening four games, although they play in the second tier of Icelandic football, and so therefore there was the potential for a giantkilling upset at this game.

The Laugardalsvollur, which has a statue of the first ever Icelandic professional football by the main entrance, consists of two modern stands along either length of the pitch. For when the Iceland national team are playing big games, additional temporary stands are installed behind either goal. As the national football stadium doubles up as the national athletics stadium, a running track separates the spectators from the field of play. Behind one of the goals is an attractive mountainous backdrop.

As for the game, Fram dominated from start to finish and always looked like they would comfortably win this game as IR were game enough and battled hard, but very rarely looked a threat going forward. Fram took the lead on 38 minutes, to give a narrow half time lead which did not truly reflect the play of the first half. Fram duly extended their lead shortly after half time, and from then the game became something of a stalemate. IR never really looked like scoring. In fact they did, but not until the stroke of full time and so Fram progressed into the next round. It must be said that there was a poor, disinterested atmosphere at this game, apart from a reasonably sized away following.

Valur Reykjavik 5 v 2 Fylkir

Monday 31st May 2010
Úrvalsdeild (Icelandic Premier League)
Vodafonevöllurinn, Reykjavik
Admission: 1200 ISK(approx £6.50)
Programme: N/A
Attendance: 1157
Match Rating: 4

For the first game during my stay in Iceland, I took in the Icelandic Premier Division match between Valur Reykjavik, the second most successful team in Iceland of all time with a total of twenty league championships and who have had players of the quality of Eidur Gudjohnsen, Gudni Bergsson and Ivar Ingimarsson, against Fylkir, and who have yet to win a league title but did finish in third place last season and therefore will be playing in this season’s Europa League. With both clubs hailing from Reykjavik, this game could be considered a local derby, but considering that eight of the eleven clubs in the Icelandic Premier League are based in the Reykjavik suburbs and the remainder all within the south-west corner of Iceland, almost every game would be considered a local derby.

The Vodafonevollerinn stadium is located about a twenty minute walk from central Reykjavik, immediately adjacent to Reykjavik City Airport, which is hardly used. Having been completely redeveloped in recent years, the stadium is an impressive facility for the level of football. The stadium is entered somewhat unusually, by entering the adjacent sports hall, inside of which displays the rather impressive array of trophies won by Valur over the years. The ground itself has one modern all-seater stand from which almost all spectators watch the game. The other four sides of the ground has hard standing. No floodlights are present, which may be surprising for a top-flight ground, but becomes less surprising considering the short summer season when football is played in Iceland and the fact it barely gets dark during the summer months. No programmes are issued at Icelandic football games.

On a grey, damp evening , the game started with Valur very much in the ascendancy, and they duly took the lead on 12 minutes. It had all the signs of being a comfortable home victory, until, out of nothing, Fylkir won a penalty. Although this was saved, the rebound was tapped in from close range. Valur retook the lead six minutes later, although by the time half-time had arrived, the game had become much more balanced and with Fylkir still very much in the game. However, Valur extended their lead a couple of minutes after the break, and then to 4-1 on 55 minutes to put the game beyond any doubt. Against a by now deflated Fylkir team, Valur were now rampant, and had numerous golden chances to extend their lead by more than just 5 which they scored on 72 minutes. Fylkir pulled a goal back on 83 minutes, but 5-2 to the home side was how it stayed.