European Experiences: Part 1
Credit:
Last week, I mentioned the fact that in less than 2 weeks Sporting
Fingal will play in their first ever competitive European game against CS Maritimo of
Portugal.
It marks a fine achievement for a club whom have only been in existence for less than three years. I will be very proud to hopefully be involved in what will be an historical night for Sporting. Despite the match being Fingal’s first ever European competitive match, it will not be my first.
My first taste of Europe came back in July 2006 when I joined Drogheda United from Bray Wanderers. Drogheda had qualified to the 1st qualifying round of the Uefa Cup by winning the F.A.I Cup in the previous season.
Our first game was against HJK Helsinki of Finland. We played them away in the first leg and thanks to a wonder strike from Shane Robinson; we drew 1-1 and got that precious away goal.
The second leg was played in Dalymount where the game went into extra time. Two Damian Lynch penalties saw off HJK and we progressed into the second qualifying round where we faced IK Start of Norway. Their team consisted of a few Norwegian internationals and they proved to be a much tougher opponent than HJK Helsinki.
Again, the first leg was played away from home where we marginally lost 1-0. A 1-0 loss away from home in the first leg is not the worst result and the game was still very much alive when we played them back home in Dalymount. I remember well, it was near the end of the 90 minutes. Shane Barrett made a run down the left side of the pitch; he cut inside one defender and sent in a pin point cross to the back post. I managed to sneak in behind the Norwegian defender who had probably thought the game was wrapped up at that stage and get my head onto the ball and put it away.
I remember the Drogheda fans running onto the pitch in celebration. The emotion you feel when you score an important goal in Europe for your team is something special. That goal sent the game into extra-time where both teams, exhausted, had chances to win the game.
Neither side managed a goal in extra time, and so the game went into penalties. Sudden death is when I stepped up to take a penalty. Once again, the mix of emotions that you feel when it’s your turn to strike, when you walk from the half way line, place the ball on the marked spot, look the keeper in the eye, glance at the goal which seems to be getting smaller every second whilst you wait for the referee to blow his whistle and then see your penalty hit the back of the net.
However, in a penalty shootout there is only one winner and perhaps one villain and on that occasion we were the losers with Graham Gartland, a hero in so many other games for Drogheda, the villain on this occasion, missing two penalties.
So my first experience in Europe left a bitter taste in my mouth, losing 11-10 on penalties to Start. Nevertheless, that defeat only left an appetite within our squad to do better next time round. The following year, 2007, we managed to get into Europe and the Uefa Cup competition again.
This time, we felt more experienced, better prepared and we knew what to expect. In the first qualifying round, we got paired against AC Libertas of San Marino. We were expected to beat them and beat them we did, running out eventual winners, 4-1 on aggregate and I managed to get on the score sheet in the away leg where we drew 1-1. In the next round, we were drawn against a top class Scandinavian side in Helsingborg of Sweden. On their team was Henrik Larsson. We played them at home in the first leg where we managed to get a 1-1 draw.
Larsson opened the scoring for them in the first half but I managed to hit a left foot drive from the edge of the box that nestled into the bottom left hand side of the Helsingborg net. It was one of my favourite goals and most memorable I have ever scored.
My joy was short lived, though, as in the second leg away in Sweden; we got well and truly beat, 3-0. It was tough as we had worked so hard to get a result at home and managed to take the game into the second half of the away leg still at 0-0. But Europe is all about experiences, learning from your experiences, growing stronger from them and that is what we tried to do. Next week I will describe how we learned from those experiences and came within inches from knocking out the mighty Dynamo Kiev in their own back yard.
However, let me finish with this, playing in Europe, pitting yourself against the best that each country has to offer is something that you dream of. It really is worth every tooth and nail that you lose along the way trying to qualify for the competition in the first place.
The atmosphere at the games in Dalymount, the feeling when you score a goal, when your team wins, when you see the smiles and tears of pride on your fans faces after the game, those are the memories that I will never ever forget. Those are the memories that I hope to achieve this year with Sporting Fingal, starting away from home in Portugal, against CS Maritimo.
It marks a fine achievement for a club whom have only been in existence for less than three years. I will be very proud to hopefully be involved in what will be an historical night for Sporting. Despite the match being Fingal’s first ever European competitive match, it will not be my first.
My first taste of Europe came back in July 2006 when I joined Drogheda United from Bray Wanderers. Drogheda had qualified to the 1st qualifying round of the Uefa Cup by winning the F.A.I Cup in the previous season.
Our first game was against HJK Helsinki of Finland. We played them away in the first leg and thanks to a wonder strike from Shane Robinson; we drew 1-1 and got that precious away goal.
The second leg was played in Dalymount where the game went into extra time. Two Damian Lynch penalties saw off HJK and we progressed into the second qualifying round where we faced IK Start of Norway. Their team consisted of a few Norwegian internationals and they proved to be a much tougher opponent than HJK Helsinki.
Again, the first leg was played away from home where we marginally lost 1-0. A 1-0 loss away from home in the first leg is not the worst result and the game was still very much alive when we played them back home in Dalymount. I remember well, it was near the end of the 90 minutes. Shane Barrett made a run down the left side of the pitch; he cut inside one defender and sent in a pin point cross to the back post. I managed to sneak in behind the Norwegian defender who had probably thought the game was wrapped up at that stage and get my head onto the ball and put it away.
I remember the Drogheda fans running onto the pitch in celebration. The emotion you feel when you score an important goal in Europe for your team is something special. That goal sent the game into extra-time where both teams, exhausted, had chances to win the game.
Neither side managed a goal in extra time, and so the game went into penalties. Sudden death is when I stepped up to take a penalty. Once again, the mix of emotions that you feel when it’s your turn to strike, when you walk from the half way line, place the ball on the marked spot, look the keeper in the eye, glance at the goal which seems to be getting smaller every second whilst you wait for the referee to blow his whistle and then see your penalty hit the back of the net.
However, in a penalty shootout there is only one winner and perhaps one villain and on that occasion we were the losers with Graham Gartland, a hero in so many other games for Drogheda, the villain on this occasion, missing two penalties.
So my first experience in Europe left a bitter taste in my mouth, losing 11-10 on penalties to Start. Nevertheless, that defeat only left an appetite within our squad to do better next time round. The following year, 2007, we managed to get into Europe and the Uefa Cup competition again.
This time, we felt more experienced, better prepared and we knew what to expect. In the first qualifying round, we got paired against AC Libertas of San Marino. We were expected to beat them and beat them we did, running out eventual winners, 4-1 on aggregate and I managed to get on the score sheet in the away leg where we drew 1-1. In the next round, we were drawn against a top class Scandinavian side in Helsingborg of Sweden. On their team was Henrik Larsson. We played them at home in the first leg where we managed to get a 1-1 draw.
Larsson opened the scoring for them in the first half but I managed to hit a left foot drive from the edge of the box that nestled into the bottom left hand side of the Helsingborg net. It was one of my favourite goals and most memorable I have ever scored.
My joy was short lived, though, as in the second leg away in Sweden; we got well and truly beat, 3-0. It was tough as we had worked so hard to get a result at home and managed to take the game into the second half of the away leg still at 0-0. But Europe is all about experiences, learning from your experiences, growing stronger from them and that is what we tried to do. Next week I will describe how we learned from those experiences and came within inches from knocking out the mighty Dynamo Kiev in their own back yard.
However, let me finish with this, playing in Europe, pitting yourself against the best that each country has to offer is something that you dream of. It really is worth every tooth and nail that you lose along the way trying to qualify for the competition in the first place.
The atmosphere at the games in Dalymount, the feeling when you score a goal, when your team wins, when you see the smiles and tears of pride on your fans faces after the game, those are the memories that I will never ever forget. Those are the memories that I hope to achieve this year with Sporting Fingal, starting away from home in Portugal, against CS Maritimo.
