Irish Warriors winners of the Euro Bowl

Michael McCormick

Having come second in their group, defending champions, Ireland were still eager to take home some silverware. They eventually did so in emphatic fashion, beating Finland 78 – 5 to claim the 2013 Euro Bowl.

The Irish were hard to beat all day. Having lost controversially to France in the group stage by a single point, they were not going to let this game slip and they showed that from the moment the siren sounded.

Led by captain John O’Reagan, Ireland burst out of the blocks and kicked the first five goals within minutes of the umpire blowing his whistle to commence the match. Finland fought hard to stem the flow, but by half time the game was all but won.

Irish forward, Dominic Joyce was having a day out, booting several six pointers and setting up many more. The delivery into the forward line from smooth moving midfielders Caoitle O’Baoill and Jimmy Keogh was perfect all game.

The second half was slightly lower scoring from Ireland and Finland were only able to add a few points to their scorecard. As the siren sounded to end the game, the dominant Irish outfit had recorded another victory by a considerable margin to secure a fifth place finish.

Finland had its highest finish in the Euro Cup and will learn a lot from the day. The standout players for Finland throughout the tournament included captain Kaj Karlsson, Ikka Poti, Lasse Punttila and Tomi Keskinen.