Euros reprieve for Ireland and Magee

IRELAND’S men’s footgolf team breathed a huge collective sigh of relief a week after returning from the Slovak Open in Slovakia where they finished eighth, missing out on a place at the forthcoming European Championships in Turkey.

Dungannon’s Tiarnan Magee was part of the five-strong Ireland team who travelled to Slovakia in June where they took on England, Scotland,m Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, Russia, Poland, Slovenia and Portugal in a bid to earn their place at the Euro’s, which will take place from December 8th to 15th.

Having been in the top six for a long period of the event, they ended up losing a crunch tie with Portugal in somewhat contentious fashion by the minimum margin to leave them eighth at the end of the event and out of the qualification places.

But they have sealed a reprieve in recent weeks when it was announced that the Norwegian team that had previously qualified for Turkey had decided they won’t be taking their place and because Ireland were the next best in the Slovak Open, they would now be going.

“It was a bit disappointing at the time because it went down to the last hole,” Magee explained. “[Against Portugal] we started a bit ropey but then we started to play really well and we were just chipping away and chipping away.

“We did feel that we were going to do it and it was good craic, getting the updates [from the matches still on the course] and when we finished our round we watched the leaderboard and the guys coming down the 18th.

“And watching the other guys, it was really exciting and it was a bit disappointing to miss out in the end but we’re there now. We made it in the end.”

However, with the Euro’s scheduled to take place in the build-up to Christmas, the Irish team will be travelling massively understrength but Magee, who sponsorship allowing, will be representing his country in December, feels that might not be a bad thing.

“I have been messaging a few of the guys to get a list of who, because it’s just before Christmas, definitely can’t go and there are about seven or eight of our top players can’t go,” he explained.

“It’s disappointing but it’s a couple of weeks before Christmas so it’s understandable but for me, I was talking to one of the guys who I went to Slovakia with and he said ‘we spent all that money going to Slovakia to qualify the team and then if we just don’t go, what a waste of money that will have been’.

“We’ll be going out with low expectations but that is the way I normally like to play. Nobody expects anything from us so we will be able to go out and play with a bit of freedom and to be honest there’s probably no place you’d rather be two weeks before Christmas than in the sun in Turkey, so we’ll get that at least!”