Not always pretty but Portugal worthy winners
AFTER 31 days, 51 games and 108 goals the Euros finally came to a close on Sunday evening in Paris with Portugal spoiling the party for the hosts France.
Swansea City reject Eder was a most unlikely hero as he fired home a late winner in extra time to give Portugal their first ever win at a major tournament.
When Cristiano Ronaldo limped out of the contest in the opening minutes of the final, it seemed destined that France would go on to lift the trophy.
However one man’s misfortune is another man’s gain. Eder had played only 14 minutes in the entire tournament prior to the final but deep in the second period of extra time he somehow produced a moment of magic, a feat which his CV didn’t suggest he was capable of, to win the game.
Had Ronaldo not got injured then Eder was unlikely to feature in the decider.
Portugal deserve immense credit for the way they clung on despite the mental blow of losing their talisman so early. It was a performance in keeping with their overall tournament; pretty unspectacular, going to extra-time, getting the job done.
The victory is a great triumph for coach Fernando Santos and the resilience and defensive organisation he instilled in his side. France on the other hand were most disappointing and their manager and players looked devoid of ideas on how to break down their opponents.
Euro 2016 will probably be remembered for the old saying ‘hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard’.
The tournament also proved that possession is not always as important as it’s made out to be. Just like Leicester in the Premier League, Portugal, Wales and Iceland enjoyed a positive campaign without seeing that much of the ball, whereas England, Spain and Germany had the lion’s share of possession without the same level of success.
We won’t have to wait long for the next fix of international football with the 2018 World Cup qualifiers starting in September with an away trip to Serbia. Wales, Austria, Georgia and Moldova are the other teams that make up our group. the confirmation that Carlton’s Ciaran Byrne ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during an AFL match against Collingwood at the MCG.
Having played 11 senior games already this season the Louth Village man was fast becoming a vital part of the Blues defence. He also made a great impact in his debut season of 2015 only for a serious hamstring injury to curtail his participation.
I’m sure everyone in the county will wish the 21-year-old a speedy recovery and hope to see Casey back in action in 2017. very unlucky not to start the campaign with a win when they produced a spirited comeback to come from seven points down at the break to draw with St Marys.
Dreadnots showed their intentions with a merited win over Geraldines and Sean O Mahonys maintained their recent championship form with victory over Kilkerley.
Naomh Mairtin were in fine scoring form as they completely outclassed O Connells by 14 points.
There were no surprises in Intermediate or Junior either. The pick of this weekend’s fixtures is the double header in Haggardstown on Saturday evening where county champions St Pats make their bow against Sean O Mahonys in a repeat of the 2015 decider.
This clash will go a long way towards telling us the true health of the Lordship outfit after an uncharacteristically poor league campaign. It’s preceded by the meeting of Dreadnots and Cooley which also promises to be an entertaining affair.