Irish Deaf Sports Association

Statements from Directors
Day 17

Sean Herlihy - National Water Polo Director

'I am gutted at the fact we have landed no medals in Water Polo but it was evident that the team has raised their standards when compared to their performance in the European Championship three years ago. However, the standards in other teams have also raised and thus making it harder for us.

Unfortunately, we had no irish luck throughout the competition but determination and positive attitude were two factors that have shown us as a team to be feared by others.

Now our focus will be on the forthcoming European Championship which is due to take place in our back garden in Dublin next year. Should the team carry on with their standards, I have no doubt they will win something. They should be proud of their performance in the Irish first ever participation in the Deaflympics. '

Donal Desmond - National Swimming Director

'I am extremely impressed with both swimmers. They have thoroughly deserved it as they have worked hard for Ireland and I am delighted with the two medals. The competition was very difficult and this is reflected by the fact of 32 swimming world records being broken.

Ireland used to have six European records but they are now reduced to just two. The number of World records is also down from three to two. The spirit within the Irish camp was fantastic and even more so by the fact that both swimmers also took part in Water Polo. Excellent co-operation was made with Sean Herlihy, the director for Water Polo in which we have ensured that everything ran smoothly in the past three weeks.

My long term plan is to encourage young potential deaf swimmers throughout the country and seek to obtain more funding for training if we are to compete with swimmers from other countries.'
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Day 14

13th September

It was the last day for both sports of Swimming and Water Polo. We had chances of getting medals today. Both Eoin and Vincent took part in the heats for 50m Freestyle. They did extremely well, making it into the final on the basis of coming 4th (24.65 secs) and 8th (25.06 secs) overall in the heats. This boosted the morale of the Water Polo players who strongly believed this was their day in landing the coveted Deaflympics medal in the 3rd/4th place play-off match against Germany in the afternoon.

The Water Polo match got underway at the usual time of 1.30pm against Germany. Tensions were evident when both teams lined up at the beginning in front of the audience. We were determined than ever to finally get a victory over the Germans for the first time in history.

First Quarter: As per usual, Nolan was the first to grab the ball at the beginning. His speed at swimming was an ever present advantage to the team. Maher had the honour of having the first attempt of the game but shot the ball wide. Keating quickly came close afterwards with a fierce shot but it turned out to be an easy task by the German goalie to save the ball. Man down at our end due to a foul and Germany took advantage of it by slotting one in (IRL 0:1 GER). Grace, one of our many youngsters, fought back with several attempts but hit the post on two separate occasions. Germany then counter-attacked and it had resulted in a goal (0:2). We were eager to keep the margin low and tried to respond via Keating but his shot was saved. Ryder also came close but hit the post. By that point it seemed we were lacking the Irish luck in the game and really could do with some at this point.

Through some mistakes made by our defence, Germany got the possession and used it well. It resulted in them scoring another goal (0:3). Grace simply could not connect the ball to the goal as it kept hitting the post. Moments before the end of first quarter, the Germans tightened their defence by putting most of their players behind the ball and marking closely whenever necessary. This proved to be quite efficient for the margin of 3 goals remained at the end of first quarter.

Keen to erase our bad start in the first quarter, we set out to make an impact in the second quarter. Keating came close but the German goalie seemed to have studied our shots well in the previous matches by saving subsequent attempts by the Irish. A German was too quick for Grace and escaped his marking and scored (0:4). They were on form. Grace, again, got his shot saved. It was time for us to try something else. German, this time beating Maher, got close and scored but the goal was disallowed due to a foul beforehand on us. String of passes was made at our end but we lost possession near the goal. Germany soon resorted to having an extra man up front in order to increase their goal tally and did so by scoring one more (0:5). We were dismayed with the bad start and it seemed impossible to try and fight back. However, eager to show our 'never say die' spirit amongst our camp, we fought back through Keating who used the man up advantage well (1:5). Grace seemed to prefer the goal posts these days as he shot hit the post once again!

Turner's tight marking of a player was not enough to stop him from scoring (1:6). Doubts were cast by the crowd on whether we would be able to pull this off by coming back from behind. We began to perform much better afterwards by coming close on several occasion but goals simply could not be produced. Thankfully Germany had a goal disallowed just before the break as we could not have faced another goal from the opposition.

A half time talk by coaches Dave and Mike seemed to be pivotal as we performed far better in the third quarter. We started brightly in the third quarter when Nolan carefully picked up unmarked Turner at the other end and he was free with just the goalie in front of him, he hesitated before slotting one in (2:6). Foul was made on Germany by Ryder which resulted in us being a man down but nothing came out of it. Ireland called for a time out where Dave took the opportunity to assure the team to compose themselves and take advantage whenever is necessary. Germany did the same, calling a timeout, shortly afterwards to counter our change of tactics. Man down due to Turner and Germany took advantage and scored (2:7). Nolan defended well but fouled and so was out of pool. But this was made worse as Keogh, our goalie, threw a ball to a German face on purpose. So a penalty was awarded with the absence of Keogh. Ryder swam and took position in between the goal posts and managed to save the penalty attempt. From this point until the break, we seemed to be possessed by a strong Irish spirit as three goals in quick succession were created. First one came from Keating who was appearing to be more ruthless by the minute and scored (3:7). German was starting to resort to dirty tactics but the referee was on hand to spot one and awarded a penalty. Grace took his place and coolly scored one (4:7). Shortly afterwards, through a pass from Nolan, Grace scored another one (5:7). The Irish crowd was ecstatic to witness signs of a comeback and so cheered them on. Moments before the break were tense with both sides battling for a goal but none was created.

In the final quarter we began to maximise the use of 30secs countdown of ball possession as huge proportion of goal scored by German can be attributed to our lack of making the most of the countdown. Keogh saved a shot at point blank and a beautiful string of passes were made afterwards culminating with Nolan taking his time with the ball and slotted it in with just 2 seconds remaining on the countdown (6:7). The game was definitely on but with a lack of concentration, Germany scored another one (6:8). Maher picked up an unmarked Nolan at the other end and decisively passed the ball onto Nolan who, making the most of his expertise in the game, calmly slotted it in (7:8). Keogh - Nolan - Keating - Nolan - Culhane - and finally to Grace who hesitated before the goal but spotted a gap then scored one (8:8). The crowd was on their feet as they knew the forthcoming minutes were crucial for both teams as they went on their quest to nab the bronze medal. Grace came close again but lost possession to the German who threw it to the other end. That particular player escaped Culhane and went on to score (8:9). Another set of passes were made just like the previous attempt but Nolan's shot was far too weak and got saved by the German. Germany was fired up in order to make up for the Irish claw back attempts in the quarter. A skilful German player saw Keogh coming forward abit and grabbed the opportunity to cleverly lob the ball in the goal (8:10). The Irish team, by now, was far too tired and only 1 and half minutes were remaining. Keating was in action and bravely defied two defenders and went on to score a difficult goal with his back facing the goal (9:10). Due to a mix up by the referees, one we were furious with afterwards, Turner got sent off from the pool and this has meant we were a man down. They took advantage and scored from that point (9:11). In the dying seconds, Germany was awarded a corner and bided their time before spotting a gap and scored the last goal of the game (9:12). We were absolutely shattered with the outcome as it was evident we could come back from a large margin down but it boiled down to remaining energy to take on the opposition.

It has been an eventful tournament for us all and we should take account of our ability to compete with top teams in the world and be proud of our ability to come back from behind. However, with the majority of our team being young, we are sure to be positive with the future developments by the youngsters in our team.

Now, the focus was on both Nolan and McArdle for the 50m Freestyle. Nolan, from that point onwards, looked worn out which was due to his tireless effort in the Water Polo match. To ask him to land yet another medal was too much but we knew he would give it his best. Thankfully there was a few hours rest before the final for the above event took place.

At nearly 6pm, Nolan and McArdle lined up and prepared to give it their all in the last aquatic event for Ireland. They got off to a good start and the race looked even for all competitors powering their way to the end. One had to look at the time screen to see who had the luck of finishing in the top three. Eoin Nolan came joint 5th (24.69 secs) and Vincent came 8th recording a personal best time of 25.02 secs. Nolan was understandably gutted with his performance but we all assured him that we were proud of his achievements to date.

So, as a result in the past week, we have landed two medals from Nolan and they are the only medals throughout the Irish camp. We are forever grateful for him to enable the Irish come home with something!

Dave the coach gave a speech to the players on how proud he was on their attitude and determination throughout the tournament. As per traditional, he awarded the player of the tournament to Declan Kearney due to his dedication to the sport and his forever mild manners and sportsmanship. It was such a fitting ending for Declan since he had announced his retirement moments earlier on.
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Day 13
12th September

Playing well against Hungary today at the semi final in Water Polo was our only chance to guarantee a spot to get either the Gold or Silver medals but it was not to be. The start of the match was evenly contested with the score, few minutes into the game, being HUN 1:1 IRL. Keating bagged the first goal. However, Hungary had a distinct advantage over us. They excel in swimming and can backtrack at a speed better than us as well as going on a counter attack faster than we can backtrack. This played significant factor at their end.

Hungary came close and hit the post but moments later Keating went close and his shot went over the bar. Grace also came close but bounced off the water and thus going over the bar. At this instant moment, Hungary went on a deadly counter-attack, throwing the ball over to the other end and their prolific player numbered 4 on the hat, gladly scored on a one to one with Keogh (2:1). Shortly afterwards, Hungary did the same and got one over us (3:1). By then we started to tighten up our defence in order to prevent further counter-attacks by the opponent. Hungary number 4 once again got the ball and despite two players marking him, he still managed to score (4:1). A similar repeat of recent performance was done by Hungary once more and the score was now 5 to 1 up to the Hungarians. At this point, we had to make an impact like we did against Germany if we wish to have any chance at getting a gold or silver.

Man up for us but failed to convert the chance into a goal. Hungary then went on a counter attach only for the attempt to be well saved by Keogh. Ryder passed to Culhane, then onto Grace but lost possession. Keating went close and attempted a lob over the goalie but was far too high and went over the bar. It was evident that Hungary was the better swimming side as they swam fast and attempted a goal but hit the post instead. Finally, our time came via Grace who decided to attempt a goal from a difficult position and it went in (5:2). Then came long the end of first quarter. By then we noticed that Kearney was not on the panel and after further investigation, it seems there was confusion between the coaching team and the FINA officials and Kearney wrongly was suspended for this game. This matter was clarified at the end of the match but was too late by then for any reverse action.

Quarter two began with a penalty for the Hungarians but the ball hit the post. Quickly Keating passed the ball to Maher and reverse pass was attempted. A big lob was attempted but missed the goal. Hungary went on a counter-attack as usual and scored (6:2). The margin seems to be increasing by the minute. The Hungarian goalie seems to be having a good came as he was their main saviour saving our attempts and thus increasing the margin between both teams. Their star player went on the attack and escaped his marker and scored (7:2). String of passes was then made at our end and Grace determined to decrease the deficit of goals, attempted one carefully and scored (7:3). This gap was only temporary until Hungary further increased the gap by slotting one in courtesy of Hungarian number 4 (8:3). A short period of time afterwards, we were a man up and decided to use it carefully. It resulted in Moloney passing the ball to unmarked Turner who in turn scored (8:4). There was a glimmer of hope in the Irish team. And this was further bolstered when Keogh was in action again saving an attempt from Hungary number 4. Just before the half time, Ryder fouled and it has resulted in a man down and we got punished with a goal (9:4). Shortly afterwards, we were a man up but Ryder missed a good chance. Grace also came close but lost possession along the way. The half time break was an opportunity for us to catch our breath back.

We were really determined to get through to the final and started brightly with a goal from Moloney (9:5) and shortly after a timeout called by Ireland, Keating went close and scored (9:6). Sadly Hungary was in action again and scored (10:6). This point was pivotal as the gap was never that close ever again for the remainder of the match. Moloney wrestled the ball off a Hungarian and quickly sought out Grace and passed. But he could not get through the goalie. A long pass by their goalie found Hungary number 4 and Turner was powerless to defend and in turn a goal was scored (11:6). Ryder had an attempt saved. Hungary went on the counter attack and successfully scored another (12:6). We seemed to be worn out from this point onwards. Hungary scored the next two goals in a quick succession before the end of third quarter came (14:6).

One could easily describe the final quarter as 'one way traffic for Hungary'. We could only manage one more goal in the quarter. Hungary started well by scoring a goal due to a defence mix up (15:6). Wesley Nolan spotted an opportunity and decided to go for it. We got a goal out of it (16:7) and sadly it was the last one for this match.

There were several occasions where we went close due to man ups for us but we simply could not convert our chances into goals and this proved to be our weakness along with the failure in the ability to backtrack quickly enough to defend. Hungary scored the next 3 goals on counter attack (19:7). This effectively meant it was the worst result in terms of goals against us in the history of Irish Deaf Water Polo. However, we are eager to move on and record a win against Germany tomorrow for the 3rd/4th place play off. Germany lost against Italy by 9-7.

"I'm gutted but we still have a job to do tomorrow and that is to get the Bronze. We didn't work hard over the past year for nothing." says the director, Sean Herlihy.
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Day 12
11th September

Today we had a Water Polo rest day but sadly for the swimmers, it was business as usual. Both swimmers, Nolan and McArdle were scheduled to take part in the 200m Freestyle heats race in the morning. Upon arrival at the pool, they set about in warming up in the lanes allocated. Turner the coach did the usual work in timing and instructing the swimmers on improving the starting techniques.

Soon the moment of truth came along for both swimmers. Vincent McArdle started at lane 7 in Heat 5 and clocked a personal best time of 2 minutes flat in the race. He was well pleased with the outcome but his initial aim was to have the race done under 2 minutes. By then he was definitely in the top 8 and it boils down to the outcomes of both Heat 6 & 7 races. Eoin Nolan started at lane 3 in Heat 7 and off he went. It was a tough contest since he was competing against the current world record holder as well as the Italian sensational who already have 3 gold medals under his belt. The outcome was satisfactory as he clocked 1.59.37 in the race, coming third after the competitors above. After taking account of all the heats, Vincent came 9th overall and narrowly missed out on a place in the final. However, he competed in the B Final. It was a chance for him to beat the 2 minutes mark. Eoin, meanwhile, made it through to the main final.

After the morning session, we all headed back to the hotel to get some rest and chilled before the finals scheduled to take place from 5pm onwards. The Water Polo players took a trip to Taipei City to support the Irish badminton team before undertaking a light training session at Songshan Swimming centre. They were determined to work on the man up tactics as it was vital to score on every occasion they are a man up in the match.

Soon the time came for us to pop back to the Hsinchu Swimming Plaza for the finals. By then Eoin and Vincent were all set for the finals. Eoin was struggling with knee injury sustained from accidentally hitting a low table as well as a black eye courtesy of the water polo match against the Germans. However, the main objective was to win a medal regardless of any injuries he may have!

Both swimmers warmed up and prepared for the finals. Vincent went first for the B Final race and got off to a good start but the last 100m was rather difficult. He came 4th in the race clocking a time of 2.00.46 minutes. Disappointment was written all over his face but time will come when he will break the 2 minutes mark. Next up was Eoin for the main final. He was allocated a place on lane 7. A good start was maintained by him and that gave him a significant advantage for the first 50m but afterwards he started to lag behind some swimmers. However, this was short lived as he powered up to the finish behind the two rivals. A Bronze medal was the result and it was Ireland's second medal. Eoin looked shattered afterwards and rightly so as the past few days have been heavy what with taking part in both codes of sports.

This is definitely not the last we will see him in swimming as he, along with Vincent, are scheduled to take part in the main event of the week - 50m Freestyle on Sunday. That leaves them both free tomorrow to focus on the Water Polo semi final match against Hungary.

"I knew he could do it. He definitely has the ability to do well on Sunday's 50m Freestyle and Vincent can equally do well too." quoted Alan Turner, their coach.

"I am extremely pleased with both swimmers, they have repeatedly shown that they can still compete at high level in Swimming along with Water Polo." says Donal Desmond, Swimming Director.
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Day 11
10th September

As we had no swimming events today due to the day being a swimming rest day, we only had the water polo match against Germany to prepare for. Luckily, this allowed both the swimmers to rest for today's match and we all took it easy this morning with a late breakfast at 9.30am. However, Donal Desmond the national director for swimming had to attend a technical director meeting to discuss issues relating to swimming. All nationals have agreed to some changes i.e timing of medal ceremonies, specific lanes for training and starting lights.

Dave the coach ran through some tactics with the team and called for them to try and beat the Germans for the first time in history. The players were eager to write history today!

We all arrived at Hsinchu Swimming Plaza in time to watch the match between Hungary and Italy. It was close at the beginning but soon turned into one way traffic for the Hungarians, and the final result was xxxxxx

Ireland and Germany did the usual deed in lining up in front of the crowd and officials and set about in exchanging the pennants and shook hands with each other. Warm up in the pool came along and then it was ready to record a victory against Germany! Nolan came close 3 times but the German goalie was on form and saved all three shots. By then Ireland knew it would take more than a simple shot to score, collective team working was needed here. Germany got a goal only for it to be disallowed due to a foul earlier on on Ireland. First goal then came along for the Germans (GER 1:0 IRL) and it quickly followed up by another goal (2:0). Defensive errors were the cause for both goals. Determined to equalise, Nolan came close again and cleverly lobbed the ball in the goal (2:1). Then it was the end of the first quarter.

Maher started the second quarter by hitting the post, it seems we could not convert chances. Germany soon made it 3-1 up by slotting in a goal from a narrow angle. Man up for us but we failed to capitalise on the opportunity. A German was resorting to dirty tactics and the referee seems to have failed to witness it all and heard Culhane swear. This resulted in Culhane being suspended for the rest of the game. Grace finally came alive in the game and took a shot only for the German goalie to save it. A timeout was called for the Germans, their coach seem to have done the trick as a goal quickly came afterwards courtesy of a man down at our end. Ireland then did the opposite calling a time out but an attempt from Grace could not get through and missed. Again, we were man down due to Ryder fouling their hole man as a result, we got punished with a goal (5:1). By then it seemed impossible to come back at this stage. Keating went close but missed. Determined to improvise, we set about in stringing a clean set of passes, Grace to Turner, to Nolan and to Keating to superbly finish with a goal (5:2). The Irish fighting spirit was evident with a further goal but got disallowed due to a foul. However, we frequently got possession and got awarded a penalty due to a foul near the goal. Grace swam up and took it, and in it went through the net (5:3). Resorting to a long throw tactics, Keogh threw the ball to Nolan and Nolan threaded the ball into Maher's path and he did the business (5:4). A lapse at our end with Ryder going off, Germany took advantage of this man down with a goal (6:4). We quickly started attacking with ball going through several players, Maher, Turner, Nolan, Liam and finally Keating but got saved by the German. Finally the half time break came up!

Confidence became sky high at our end as it was possible to come back from 4 goals down. Dave called a timeout at half a min into the 3rd quarter to clarify a tactic and it seemed to have done the trick with a man up at our end and Grace did the scoring this time (6:5). Keogh was extremely busy at his end saving a number of German attempts and giving us a lifeline at the same time. Keating got the ball and tried to fight off three men bogging him down and after doing so, he attempted to shoot but it went over the bar. Turner was busy releasing pressure off Keogh by defending well and enabled Germany to score high over the bar. Keating was in action yet again moments later but missed with a shot. Nolan integrated well with Keating but no goal came out of it. Germany was stepping up their momentum by shooting whenever they had a chance but none of them went in. Keating had a shot but was too high. Keogh saved a ball and quickly saw Keating available and threw him the ball. Keating, knowing he was heavily marked by the German, resorted to a different tactic by passing the ball to Nolan who had a better view and it worked, resulting in a goal (6:6). 1 to 1 actions were plentiful in the match. Keating had a good chance but needed to restrain the level of shooting as most of them went over the bar. Finally Keating saw some justice from the referee, got a man up in return but Liam mistook an Irish for a German and mistakenly gave him the ball. This proved to be quite a costly mistake as it resulted in a German goal afterwards (7:6). Grace was ever so determined to make his mark in the game and succeeded in doing so with a goal (7:7). However, Grace paid the price for using up all his energy to score earlier on as he could not press properly and this in turn allowed the German to score (8:7). Soon the break came along, the players were thankful for a breather.

Final quarter was exciting and had the crowd cheering both teams on! Maher was lively and came close with a shot but hit the post instead. Referee was watching the German like a hawk and caught a foul, man up for us, Grace saw Turner free and did the deed of lobbing the ball into Turner's path and a goal was created (8:8). The opposite occurred moments later but luckily a German lost possession along the way. Keogh quickly passed the ball to Ryder, then to Turner, then to the prolific Nolan for him to seek a gap and score (8:9). For the first time in the game, we are now leading but this was to be short lived as the German goalie saw a German waving for a ball near Keogh, no Irish men in sight and as a result, the German equalised (9:9). The score stayed the same for the rest of the game. Both teams went close and the ball either missed the goal or got saved by the goalie. The match was now over and we were quite disappointed with the result as we felt we should have converted a series of chances coming our way. This effectively meant we have finished fourth in the league and will be playing against Hungary in the semis. We were hoping to avoid this draw but belief within the camp is still high and we are convinced, with a rest day tomorrow and an hour of training, we should be ready to face the Hungarians again and win for a change.

"I was heartbroken at the end of the match as it was clear we should have won the game, we fought really hard after the 1st Quarter. Our minds were just not there and the players know themselves that they did not quite perform in the first quarter. But we still can do it in the semis against Hungary!" says Sean Herlihy.

Sean came across some interesting facts; Germany has a panel of roughly hundred players to choose from whereas we only have 16 to choose from!!





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Day 10
9th September

An adrenalin packed day is one way to describe today's events! It all started off with both swimmers qualifying for the final of 100m Freestyle. They both clocked excellent times to qualify. In Eoin Nolan's case, he came second in his heat clocking a 52.66 seconds which enabled him to come second overall in the event. Vincent McArdle achieved a Personal Best time of 54.23 seconds which was enough to see him qualify as 8th best overall in the event. They were due to appear in the final at 5pm in the evening.

Now, for the Water Polo match against the USA. Even though the Americans have lost every game by a large margin, we treated the match with such apprehension as it was essential to win in order to qualify for the semis. All players were available for the game although Dave the coach was aware of the need to rest the swimmers for the final later on.

When the match got underway, Keating opened up the account by slamming in a goal (IRL 1:1 USA). Both teams in the first few minutes of the match tend to be nervous and it was evident when the American player beat Maher and slotted in a goal (1:1). Having done our research beforehand, the weaknesses amongst the American team is their ability to backtrack quickly to their territory and their shortage of substitutes as they only had one substitute available throughout the matches. Keogh capitalised on the backtracking weakness by throwing the ball into Frank Grace's path and he gladly blasted the ball past the goalie (2:1). By then the game was definitely gaining a momentum as Ireland began to attack more and scored a bundle of goals. Grace got the next one in courtesy of a penalty and Nolan did the next one (4:1) without having anyone mark him. Nolan was subbed straightaway to conserve energy for the final later on. Grace was quickly becoming a prolific player but his attempt in throwing the ball backwards failed. USA finally sprung into action only for the ball to hit the post. Keating got fouled, then passed onto Grace then back again and Keating slammed the ball in once more (5:1).

Turner was eager to get on the account and he did so by swimming fast across the pool with the ball and duly did the business of scoring. He then was rested in favour of Kearney to take over the full back duty. Keogh was repeatedly using the tactic of throwing the ball far into the Irish's path on the other end and this time Keating was in action to slot one in (7:1). Just when we were heading for a large margin, it stopped when Moloney made the mistake of passing the ball back to the goalie only for the ball to land on an American's hands and the opponent did the punishment by scoring the second goal (7:2). Man up for us and Culhane took advantage by bisecting across the pool and scored (8:2). Finally the end of the first quarter came afterwards.

String of passes was the Irish trademark in the second quarter. Such example was when Turner passed the ball to Culhane, then to Keating and he slotted in another goal (9:2). Another long range pass from Keogh to Culhane was enough for another goal (10:2). Turner got carried away and fouled the opponent and this resulted in the American scoring one (10:3). Keating was fast becoming our most valuable player in terms of goal scoring as he broke free and swam non-stop to the goal and easily slotted one in (11:3). Dave decided to swap the whole team except Keogh the goalie to give them a much needed rest for few moments.

Nolan made the most of his ability to break free and swim fast by scoring one (12:3). Captain Ryder saw his attempt saved by the American goalie. McArdle was proving to be quite an efficient full back by pinching the ball off the opponent and passed it to Nolan and then onto Grace but the attempt was saved.

Ryder, showing a typical attribute of captaincy by being selfless, passed the ball to Grace and then the ball found its way to Nolan then a goal was made. (13:3). Moloney who has been quiet throughout the tournament showed his true colour as he quickly swam across the pool and received the ball in time to score his first Deaflympics goal! Cheers from the crowd were obvious with the flags flagging. But this was short lived as USA, determined to make a mark, scored from a narrow angle past McArdle and Keogh (14:4) and this was repeated afterwards with another goal from USA. Thankfully halftime break came along and the players got out of the pool.

Third quarter was a chance to further increase the score margin between both teams. Keating passed the ball to Ryder and he notched up a goal (15:5). From that point, it seemed we were on track to be the team who have scored the most goals against USA but it was ages before our next goal. The lack of scoring was due to losing possessions and missed attempts. Keating seemed to prefer to assist the goals in rather than be the scorer by passing one to Grace and another goal was created (16:5). Ryder was puzzled with the referee's decision on his third foul but was in no position to complain as he was suspended for the rest of the match. Culhane missed a shot and Keating was at the place at the right time by picking up the ball afterwards and coolly slotted it in (17:5). Keating is the top scorer for Ireland in the Deaflympics by scoring another one (18:5) and Maher added another in (19:5). Wesley Nolan followed Moloney's steps in scoring his first Deaflympics and his goal was executed in style by lobbing the ball over the goalie and into the goal (20:5). Man down due to a foul by Nolan and USA took advantage of an extra man by getting one in (20:6). A long ball from Kearney to Nolan was enough to reach 21 goals (21:6). Last break before the final quarter arrived.

In the final quarter, Wesley Nolan repeated his moment earlier on by lobbing a ball over again and in it went (22:6). Keating showed how ruthless he can be by slamming the ball in hard (23:6). USA came close on some occasions but tend to either miss their attempts at scoring or lose possession. Grace started to get into the game more by scoring one courtesy of a long pass from Keogh (24:6). USA then missed their chance and Keating was quick to avail himself for a ball from Keogh and did the business afterwards (25:6). Beautiful passes were made by Keogh, Wesley, Grace and Turner tried to finished it off with a goal but the ball did not go over the line but luckily Grace was on hand to finish the job himself (26:6). Dave called a timeout to allow breathing space for the players to recompose as they were bit all over the place defensively. Only 47 seconds remained, Ireland defended during a man down occasion but USA missed. Few seconds before, three Irish were sprinting to the other end of the pool and Grace did the honour of closing the game up by scoring one (27:6). It was a solid performance by the Irish team and it was just what we needed before our big game against Germany tomorrow.

Eager to keep up the routine and support each other, the team was on hand to cheer McArdle and Nolan in their 100m Freestyle final at 5pm. Nolan decided to opt for Blu 70 suit while McArdle decided to stick with his Speedo LZR racer suit. The atmosphere was rather tense as this event was quite popular with the crowd and with Nolan being the current European champion in 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle, he was eager to prove his worth in the final. Off they went, and it felt like seconds when they finished the race. Nolan came second, clocking a better time of 52.63 which meant he has beaten John Kealy's record of the fastest Deaf Irish in the 100m Freestyle. However, more importantly this meant Nolan has gotten the first Irish medal of the present Deaflympics. McArdle came 8th but can be consoled with the fact that he has achieved a personal best time during the heat.

Donal Desmond - "Fantastic news for Ireland, it was truly a tough competition to participate in and both of them did really well in the event. The standards in swimming have increased this year!"

It was a great day in all and the duo hope to perform similar feat in their forthcoming 200m and 50m Freestyle this week.

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Day 9
8th September 2009

Today was an action packed day featuring participation in both sports of Swimming and Water Polo. Vincent McArdle was competing in the 400m Freestyle event. He was in a good shape and expected to break his personal best time.

Along came the heats, Vincent appeared in the fourth heat and off he went. His pace was steady along the way and at one point he was leading but dropped back after 2 lengths. However, he maintained his short distance from the leader throughout the race. He came third in the race clocking a personal best time of 4.19.60 minutes smashing his previous best of 4.22 minutes! This meant he had qualified for the finals as 8th best time overall in the heats. Alan Turner, the coach, quoted; "I'm well pleased for him, I knew he would slice a chunk off his personal best! He will go further in the finals." To ensure Vincent give his best in the finals, he opted to rest throughout the Water Polo match.

It was a great start to the day and the Water Polo match against the Hungarians in the afternoon complemented the morning race well!

After the usual lining up for the announcement and greeting the opponents, the team set out to make up for some mistakes yesterday against the Italians. Ireland started well and Keating had the honour of opening the account by scoring a goal. (IRL 1:0 HUN). However, the Hungarians were determined to answer back by knocking one in (1:1). A clumsy foul was made on an Irish near the goal so a penalty was awarded to the Irish and Frank Grace, determined to make an impact, had the pleasure of knocking one in (2:1). Maher came close with a chance but shot the ball over the bar. By that point, Dave the coach called a timeout and gave a talk on a specific tactic to adopt in the match. Then we had a man up which meant one Hungarian was sent off for 20 secs, it was an opportunity to take advantage of one opponent less in the pool but the ball went wide. Experienced player, Nolan swam ahead with a ball and cleverly slotted one past the Hungarian goalie (3:1). A stupid foul was made by the Irish which has resulted in a penalty for the Hungarian but Colm Keogh, our goalie came to the rescue by saving the penalty and it was the end of Quarter 1 - (3:1).

It was evident that the Hungarians were gobsmacked with our performance and especially our defence as we have managed to keep them at bay thus reducing any chances for them to score. Soon enough the next quarter started, Alan Turner a veteran in our team fouled the opponent and was called off, Hungary took advantage of the man down situation and scored (3:2). Seconds later, the recent situation was the opposite and Ireland scored a goal courtesy of Nolan (4:2). The Irish fans, mostly made up by school children at the local school were cheering us on with large visible banners and flags. Ryder had the misfortune to foul the opponent and as a result a penalty was given and Hungary did the duty of scoring (4:3). Determined not to let the fans down, another Irish goal came along by Keating assisted by Patrick Maher (5:3). By then the Hungarians started to shift a couple of gear up and attempted long range shots from various positions. One went past Keogh (5:4). Counter-attacking was fast becoming the Hungarians' speciality as each time their goalie got the ball, he passed it straight to the hole man's way but in doing so, Paul Ryder the captain quickly backtracked and got into the holeman's way and safely knocked the ball off. This has helped ease the pressure off Keogh who was getting busier by the minute! There were instances when we were a man up but failed to convert the chances. Hungary finally equalised by putting one in courtesy of a counter-attack. Defence was quickly becoming our weakness. Grace got the ball from corner and tried to attempt goal but missed in the process. In a bizarre set of circumstances, the Hungarian goalie was called off for a dirty foul and to make the matter worse, one of their players accidently caught a ball with two hands and resulted in two men down. The Irish not wanting to embarrass themselves put one in through Grace (6:5). Determined not to fall further behind, Hungary scored one when we were a man down (6:6). Similar incident was repeated and Hungary finally got on top of it all by scoring one and going in front (6:7). When having the possession, a foul was made by the Hungarians and thus having a man up for us, we were eager not to let this chance go amiss. Patrick Maher calmly slotted one in (7:7). Thankfully it came just seconds before half-time and enabled us to have a breather.

The crowd was rather astonished to witness such a scintillating match and even the German fans were on our side cheering whenever we scored a goal! Third quarter was far trickier than the previous two quarters as Hungary resumed the scoring by a long range shot (7:8). Hungary was getting dirtier and got away with several fouls but the Malaysian referee spotted one on Nolan and awarded a penalty to the Irish. Keating swam up and unfortunately shot the ball straight to the goalie's hands. However we made it up a minute later when Grace swam ahead in time before the ball changed possession after 30 seconds in the opponents' hands and Keogh cleverly passed it to Grace's path and he did the business by putting one past Hungary (8:8). The tension was far too much for the supporters but we were determined to make history today.

Hungary came close once more but missed and Grace did the opposite seconds later. One of the Hungarians players numbered 10 on the hats, saw a chance from a long distance and attempted one shot. Unfortunately it went in and put them ahead again (8:9). Later on, we were a man down and thankfully Hungary missed. Maher came close but missed too. Hungary's goalie threw the ball to their holeman and he decided to be creative and lobbed a ball in the goal (8:10). Grace had a goal disallowed moments later. Again he came close but Hungary pinched the ball back. By now we were really tired from it all and the break could not have come any sooner. Dave the coach gave a brief talk about seizing chances and pressing close against the opponents whenever they came close in our territory.

We began the final quarter by going a man up and Grace attempted one but their goalie, fast becoming their saviour, saved the ball. Timeout was called by the Hungarian's coach. Dave grabbed this opportunity to put in a word or two to some players. By now, two Hungarians are no longer eligible to take part in the match due to picking up three fouls each. This had no effect on them since Hungarians substitutes have the same abilities as their first 7 players! This was evident by them scoring again via a counter-attack (8:11). Soon another goal came their way courtesy of a man down for the Irish (8:12). Ryder came close but the ball hit the post. We were rather frustrated at our failure of converting the chances. We had no fuel left in our bodies by then. Hungary called a timeout and their coach seemed to have done wonders for us as we were awarded a penalty later on. This time round Nolan decided to swim up and take it. It seems luck was against us once more as their goalie calculated the move well and saved it! Liam Moloney who is one of the youngsters was determined to make a name for himself and attempted a chance but narrowly missed the goal. Hungary decided to further torture us with another goal, this time due to a foul made by Kearney (8:13). Eager to make up for his recent foul, Kearney decided to shoot a ball as the countdown was approaching 0 but their goalie duly saved it. Tired legs were the cause throughout the Irish team as Hungary scored one more thus taking the total to 14-8 to Hungary. At the last few seconds, Moloney was determined to restore pride by attempting a goal but their goalie was on top of it all and saved it again! Final score was 14-8 to Hungary.

It was a valiant performance set by the Irish. It can be seen that the Irish does have the required qualities to be a contender for the Gold but an improvement in converting chances is needed. Dave the coach was pleased with the performance and quoted, 'A clear improvement from yesterday and the team should be proud of themselves'.

"Fantastic performance, we clearly have a chance in the competition" - Sean Herlihy.

The day was far from being over as the players dressed up and rallied together to watch Vincent McArdle in the final of 400m Freestyle. He stepped up on the starter step and got off to an excellent start. It was rather difficult race and the leader from Italy was far too good in the race and made it first at the end. Vincent, however, came 8th but has significantly made an improvement to his time in the heat by clocking a personal best of 4.18.85 minutes. Also two world records were broken in the final events which further showed that the suits were making a huge difference! We were elated to witness it all and even more so when we heard the news of the Irish Deaf Football team making it top of their group courtesy of drawing with the Japaneses (0:0) this morning.
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Day 8
7 th September 2009

Vincent McArdle made the first move in trying to land the first medal for Ireland this morning. He took part in the heat for 100m Butterfly but came 8th in the race and the time set was not enough to send him to the final scheduled to take place in the evening. However, he has landed a new personal best of 1.02.82 minutes so he was well pleased.

The Water Polo players joined him at the Swimming Plaza at 11am. The excitement surrounding the team was really obvious as they were eager to make their mark in the Irish first ever Deaflympics Water Polo match! Along came 12.30pm when they were allowed to warm up before the match against Italy at 1.30pm. We are wary of the Italians as we know little of them and the last time we played against them was back in 2002 during the European Championships in Sheffield. Senior members of the team have recognised some of the Italians.

Paul Ryder, the Irish Captain, led the team to the line up before the crowd to exchange the pennants and shook hands of the opponents. The action was filmed which has included the full first quarter. The first 7 in the team consists of the following players:

Colm Keogh (gk)
Alan Turner
Paul Ryder (C)
Patrick Maher
Roy Keating
Eoin Nolan
Frank Grace

Subs:
Philip Culhane
Liam Maloney
Mark Patchell
Wesley Nolan
Declan Kearney
Vincent Mc Ardle

The first 5 minutes was rather tense as neither of the teams has scored by then but the first goal finally came afterwards courtesy of Nolan. It has meant that Eoin Nolan now has the distinction of becoming the first ever Water Polo goal scorer in the Deaflympics and it was captured on film. First quarter ended with 1-0 to the Irish.

Local school children made up the most of the spectators seating area and they were cheering the Irish on in our match. As they have made an effort to bring large Irish flags and banners, this gave the team an extra incentive to win. They set about in creating more goals in the second quarter. Italy seized opportunities from a long distance and decided to test the goalkeeper on various occasions. This has resulted in them scoring three goals whereas Ireland could only manage an extra goal coming from Roy Keating, the youngster. Half time score: 3-2 to Italy.

Dave the coach gave a motivational speech to spur the players on during the break and it made a significant difference with the Irish scoring two further goals courtesy of Keating and Nolan but the Italians further punished the Irish with 3 goals. There was a particular occasion where Ryder came close with a one to one chance but scored wide over the bar. It could be seen nerves have played a big part in the game. Third quarter ended with the score of 6-4 to the Italians.

Nolan came close a few times but could not get through and Frank Grace attempted to score from a long range three times but each of the shots could not get through the Italian Goalie.

Each of them could only contribute an additional goal apiece in the final quarter with the Irish goal coming from Nolan once more. Therefore the matched ended with an Italian victory over the Irish 7-5. Disappointment was an emotion one could attribute to the players after the match. However, first match tends to be tricky and we are sure to bounce back and play even better tomorrow. The match tomorrow will be against the current European Champion, Hungary! They won 27-6 against the Americans. At this rate it seems the American will end up with a wooden spoon since they only have one sub available throughout the matches.

From 5pm onwards, finals of the swimming events featured in the morning took place and this was rather interesting as 7 occasions have seen new world records. The controversial swim suits have played a huge part in the world records getting smashed. Both of our swimmers have suits and hopefully this will contribute a lot in our forthcoming swimming events this week.

Sean Herlihy, National Director for Water Polo, said; 'The match was indeed very close but hopefully we will learn from our mistakes today and improvise in tomorrow's match. However, the team is highly motivated and is hungry for a first win!'

Tomorrow will see Vincent competing in his better event; the 400m Freestyle race. Also there will be another opportunity win the first Irish medal by Wayne Reid tomorrow (in Athletics 10,000m).
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Day 7
6 th September 2009

Today was going to be an interesting day as the first Water Polo match would begin in the afternoon. The swimming, however, will begin instead from tomorrow onwards. As the boys attended the usual morning training session at Songshan Swimming Plaza, both directors and I seized the opportunity to watch the most anticipated football match between Ireland and Great Britain. As it currently stands, whoever wins the match is more likely to come out top in the group.

The match was rather balanced at the beginning with both teams having an equal share of possession and there were times where both went close to getting a goal. The second half was rather heated as it has resulted in three players getting sent off. Ireland came out worse of it having two of their players sent off with straight red cards. However, we held on for a draw. It was a fair result but the next game against Japan will be rather difficult due to the fact that two of the players sent off will not feature in it.

After the match, we caught a taxi to meet the aquatic boys to get the coach to Hsinchu where we will be based in for a whole week. The reason for this is due to the swimming pool used for Water Polo and Swimming is at Hsinchu. It seems we are constantly being surprised by the efficient organisation of the Taipei Organising Committee as in front of the coach there was a police car leading the way to Hsinchu with flashing sirens. VIP is an acronym we are getting used to these days!

Upon arrival at Hsinchu, we were eager to make it in time to watch the first Water Polo game between Hungary and Germany. This way we would get to study their tactics and see whether both teams have grown in strength since the last European Deaf Water Polo Championship. Also we had the opportunity to watch the game between USA and Italy. Both teams have not competed in the international scene for quite a while now.

Vincent McArdle and Eoin Nolan trained afterwards as both swimmers have a series of events lined up this week as well as the Water Polo matches. Both of them will be well worn out by the end of the week!

Tomorrow will be an exciting day as Vincent will be starting the day with the 100m Butterfly heat followed up by the first ever Irish Deaflympics Water Polo match against Italy. Should Vincent qualify for the final, he will then be bidding for the first Irish medal at 5pm tomorrow.
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Day 6
5 th September 2009

As the Opening Ceremony was the main highlight of the day, some training schedules were amended to enable the athletes and officials to attend the Opening Ceremony. The Water Polo team was allocated an even earlier time for training in the morning at 9am for an hour. This has meant the players have had to get up at 7am for breakfast!

After the training session, the players by now were itching to play a match. The first match is only two days away. We will be playing against Italy in our first ever game in the Deaflympics. It is bound to be a match to remember and hopefully we will get off to a winning start!

All the athletes apart from badminton team and some football players had an early dinner due to not getting the opportunity to eat during the opening ceremony. The athletes not making it to the ceremony have matches tomorrow so it was essential to conserve their energy and have an early night to prepare for the matches ahead. Anyhow, all the athletes and officials turned up at the lobby in the hotel for a photo shoot. It would be the only opportunity to get a decent photograph of us all in our official clothing as some athletes will head home before the closing ceremony. Kevin Mulqueen, the official IDSA photographer, managed to get a good set of photos of us all. Afterwards, two coaches took us to Taipei Stadium where the Opening Ceremony would be held at.

Upon arrival, we were astonished to see the number of local people turning up to cheer us on. We were treated like celebrities. It was a sight to treasure and it would only get better when we arrived at the arena. The arena was a huge hall beside the main Taipei Stadium. All the athletes and officials from each country waited at the arena in allocated areas before being called upon to walk around the tracks inside the Taipei Stadium. Eoin Nolan, Wexford, was the flag bearer for the night and rightly so since his achievements in the sports of Water Polo and Swimming in the past years have been outstanding and will continue to be the case in the coming years. It was hard to describe our emotions when the Irish team was called as the next country to enter the stadium. We were gobsmacked to see the huge number of crowd in the stadium cheering and waving us on with the 'I Love You' sign. It was truly the most memorable occasion to date.

We even spotted a fan in the stadium waving an Irish flag. Times like these made us ever so proud to be representing our country. The whole event took just over two hours and the fireworks that followed the talk given by the Mayor of Taipei, President of Chinese Taipei Deaf Sports Association and the outgoing President of ICSD were out of this world and could easily have surpassed the standards set by Beijing Olympics. Little did we know that the whole event was screened live on TV and broadcasted through the internet. It was fitting since the Deaflympics has made its debut in Asia and they have done well to make it the most memorable one.

Alan Turner easily called it the best ever ceremony he has attended to date. That is a significant fact since he is attending his 8th Deaflympics, a record set by an Irish athlete.

The lads are eager to watch the water polo matches getting underway tomorrow between Germany (Current Deaflympics champion) and Hungary (Current European Champions) and USA and Italy.
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Day 5
4th September 2009

Time has flown by since we first arrived here last Tuesday. It was another usual day for the players and swimmers. An earlier start at 8am for breakfast was attended by all the players which clearly showed that we have defeated the curse of jet lag and our bodies are now fully adjusted to match the Taiwanese time!

At 9am, the players attended the Water Polo training session at Songshan where they worked on various tactics. At the same time the national directors Donal and Sean, for Swimming and Water Polo respectively, attended the ICSD Technical Meeting. It was an opportunity to meet other countries’ directors and discuss the arrangements surrounding the forthcoming races/matches. It was vital to gain information regarding additional technology equipments such as flashing lights, and computerised times. They would then relay the information back to the coaches and swimmers/players.

It was with a great regret that during the Water Polo meeting, Sean was informed that the Water Polo sport will not feature in Deaflympics 2013 in Athens. A minimum quota of 12 teams must take part in the competition but we currently have around 7 teams in the world. This will come as a big blow to the players as they have worked so hard over the past few years for this prestigious event and the young players were hoping to reach their peak in 4 years time. However, Sean has stressed that with planned campaign ahead, it may feature in the Deaflympics after Athens but this may be one too late. The players are now even more determined than ever to excel in this competition.

After lunch, the team was subjected to a photo shoot to thank the sponsors by emailing them a copy afterwards. Without them, the trip would not be made possible. Free time was given afterwards in which the players seized the opportunity to wind down in the room and/or have a nap. Usual physiotherapy sessions for certain players were given during the free time. Almost all players are injury free and hopefully this will be the case for the first match.

Late afternoon training session took place in the outdoors pool beside the hotel, there the players worked on the overall stamina by general swimming and exercises. Mike Heffernan led the team to a series of cooling down stretches and emphasised on the importance of keeping oneself in the shade and hydrate regularly by drinking water.

After dinner, the boys hung around the games room where they played a series of games with the boys from football. Safe to say, we excelled in some of the games and maintained our alpha male status amongst the camp!!

Tomorrow will be a long day for us all as we will be attending the official opening ceremony and the announcement on who will be the flag bearer has yet to be made.

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Day 4
3rd September 2009

Today has been a busy day filled with the usual slots of training sessions. Breakfast was served from 9am to 10am in the same place at the basement of the Grand Hotel. It was rather evident that the players have overcome the jetlag effect by turning up in time for breakfast. Sadly it was not the case for the Water Polo Director, Sean Herlihy! Hopefully tomorrow will cure him of such effect!

The first training session took place at Sangsong Sports Centre where the majority of the Deaflympics events will be held at. A coach took us all there and we were amazed at the sheer size of it all. The players were relieved to be able to get their hands on the Polo balls in the water. The pool beside the hotel do not allow the use of any balls so this particular session was rather important in terms of tactics and shooting practice. Also the pool was indoors based and polo oriented which made a huge difference to the more general pool sized beside the hotel.

A trip to Starbucks was in order after training to treat ourselves to some hot drinks and snacks. By that time, we were soaking wet from the sudden outpour of rain. It made a change from the usual hot weather. However, this may be just a temporary period as the forecast has predicted a three days of full sunshine with 36C degrees to come! Some players seized the opportunity of this free time to buy more sun block cream!

We then returned back to the hotel where we rested in our rooms and in the lobby. By 5pm, the players resorted to another training sessions at the pool beside the hotel. There Dave Fitzgerald worked his magic amongst the players to focus on certain set of aquatic exercises. Lauren Sinclair the physio closed the session by leading them to a full cool down body stretching session.

Mike Heffernan, the fitness coach, who makes up the final piece of the whole team jigsaw has arrived and will be looking forward to torture the players with his infamous routines from tomorrow!

The players was given free time from 8pm onwards and they have taken advantage this few hours slots to go shopping in the city. This will be their last opportunity to shop before the Games begin. Also, a 11pm curfew have been declared for the forthcoming days to get the players used to the planned early starts.

It can be seen that the players are very much looking forward to the matches ahead. Thankfully we have two more days to help fine tune our performances before the Games. Tomorrow will hold another training session tailored for the swimmers and water polo players. Turner will be looking into implementing his training programs for both swimmers.

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Day 3
2nd September 2009

We started the morning off with a swimming session for Vincent McArdle and Eoin Nolan. Both swimmers will also participate in sessions for Water Polo since they will be the first Irish to participate in two codes. They struggled with the scorching heat out here. But as they have regular training sessions planned by Swimming Head Coach (and also a Water Polo participant and competing in his 8 Deaflympics) Alan Turner, hopefully it will give them an opportunity to settle down.

Turner overslept this morning and had to be woken up by Vincent. It clearly showed the effect of jetlag. Most players overslept and missed the deadline of breakfast at 10am but thankfully an extra half an hour was allocated for breakfast. It was understandable since it would take more than a day to adapt to Taiwanese time which is 7 hours ahead of the time back home!

Water Polo had their share of training at 11am this morning which focused on general fitness. Plenty of sun cream was applied beforehand as the last thing to do is to participate in a match with a sun burn! Training took place on two lanes beside GB swimmers. Both Nolan and McArdle were eager to check out the opponents in action. Later on, Lauren Sinclair, the physiotherapist for the team held a session on body stretches.

Lunch took place at 12.30pm and few of the Water Polo players resorted to some physio action from 1.30pm to 3.30pm to help soothe any aching pains they had from training sessions as well as solve some niggling injuries they have. The rest of the players took this opportunity to have a nap to further adjust their biological clock. Sean Herlihy, IDSA Water Polo Director, held a meeting to discuss plans for the week ahead.

Another training session was held for the Water Polo players from 4pm to 5pm. They felt an improved performance and have put it down to Lauren’s tutorial on self stretches earlier on in the morning. Afterwards, it was rather evident that the players have suffered the wrath of the sun despite the generous application of a sun block cream earlier on!

Donal Desmond, IDSA Swimming Director, got a technical handbook and it contained an interesting fact; 171 swimmers from 40 different countries will be taking part in the Games.

Dinner was served at 5.30pm with choices being Spaghetti Bolognese and Chicken Curry followed up by a delicious scoopful of vanilla ice-cream. Dave Fitzgerald, the Head Coach for Water Polo, then held a talk with the players. Afterwards, they wounded down by having two games of bowling.

At 9pm, the players were free to do their own things and most of them were used up by applying the after-sun cream!