Tyrone contingent help Ireland to continental success

SIX Tyrone Aussie Rules players were part of the Irish men’s and women’s teams who achieved success at the 2022 Euro Cup in Edinburgh last weekend.

Newtownstewart native Kevin McSorley, now based in Cookstown, Benny McDevitt and Strabane’s Kyle Devine were members of the men’s Warriors outfit who were left a little bit disappointed after finishing third overall in their competition, while Gortin’s Siobhan Sherrin, Killeeshil native Shannon Stevenson and Moy’s Jade McGee, were members of the women’s Banshees squad who romped to overall victory as the annexed the European title in style.

Played at the Edinburgh Leisure and Edinburgh Academical Sports Ground, the tournament the Irish women secured an emphatic final victory over England Vixens by 33 points to one, while the men suffered a shock semi-final reverse to Germany, who went on to lose to England in that decider.

For the men, it was a majorly disappointing finish to a tournament that had finished much.

They came through the toughest of groups, which included another of the tournament favourites, France, whom they defeated with relative ease, as well as Wales, Switzerland and Poland.

Described as a ‘mega-pool’, drama ensued from the off as the Irish Warriors looked to be the pick of the bunch, which proved correct with the men in green going undefeated to earn themselves the top seeding heading into finals by beating the French Coqs 42-2, Welsh Red Dragons (25-7), Swiss Wolves (48-1) and Polish Devils (62-6).

The French were also in good form throughout the pool games, only losing to the Warriors but defeating each of the rest.

The Welsh were the best of the rest, splitting their games after wins against the Wolves and Devils.
In the finals however, it was a different story. Both the Irish and French faltered in their respective match-ups, causing some major disappointment.

In a shock upset, the Warriors were bested by the German Eagles, meaning the Irish had to settle for a spot in the third-place playoff where they held their nerve and defeated the Croatians to prevent going home empty handed.

“We had high enough expectations and while third is OK, it’s not what we went for,” acknowledged McSorley, who played for the Warriors while McDevitt and Devine were involved in coaching roles after picking up pre-tournament injuries.

He continued: “We finished first seed coming out of the group, having beaten France who we expected to be quite strong.

“We beat them quite comfortably and had we not done that we would have ended up playing them again in the semi-final.

“Instead, we played Germany and I don’t know what it was, but we talked about it before the game, we knew we couldn’t take them for granted, but they came out of the blocks and we just never got going.

“But it was one of those ones when you just know it wasn’t going to be your day. We hit the post with our first two ones and then they kicked one over the shoulder that was about 30 yards wide but it bounced on the angle and went through the goal!

“But I would begrudge them, they were clinical and deserved the win.”

Fortunately for McSorley, a former Australian Rules Ireland president, who captained the side in Scotland, they responded in style to beat Croatia to seal the bronze medal.

“It’s hard to lift yourself for a third place play-off but it would have been worse if we’d lost two on the bounce,” he added.

“The next tournament is in October in Zagreb so it was good to draw a line in the sand ahead of that because it’s a new era for us with a new manager and new players so it was good to show how we can respond in the play-off.”

Sheerin, Stevenson, McGee and the rest of the Banshees, meanwhile, were a class apart in the women’s tournament, scoring at an alarming rate in Pool B thanks to an incredibly diligent and well-structured forward line. Their backline was just as formidable however, and the Irish managed to win all three pool games while holding two of their opponents, the European Crusaders and Swiss Heidis, scoreless.

This meant there was a fierce battle for second place among the Heidis, Crusaders and German Eagles. Despite valiant efforts from the newly formed European Crusaders, the Eagles proved to be the pick of the bunch – defeating both the Heidis and Crusaders and even managing to score a goal against the Banshees – the only team to do this all day.

The Crusaders missed out on second place due to a narrow two-point loss against the Eagles but can go home with their heads held high after besting the Swiss by 20 points.

As for the Heidis, despite the results not going their way, the team fought hard all day long and never quit, displaying a winning attitude that the team should take great pride in.

In the play-offs, the Banshees went on to win it all, defeating the English and once again proving they are one of Europe’s most consistent and diligent Aussie Rules outfits.

Elsehwere, McSorley is now the vice-president of AFL Northern Ireland and he hopes to grow the game north of the border.
Presently, they host training on Mondays in Dungannon and in Belfast on Thursdays and he is introducing an AFL Academy at Northern Regional College in Coleraine where he works.