Mens Firsts trip to Canterbury

Canterbury Report
by Donal Kingston

Photos

Quins travelled to play two matches against English Premier One side Canterbury at the weekend (29th-30th Jan 05). Due to a delay in departure from Cork & baggage going astray in Gatwick, it was well after midnight before the squad got to bed. Our good friend Morty P collected us from Gatwick in the Canterbury team bus - Morty will always have a career in motor racing when he retires from hockey!

We had a practice session on the superb Canterbury water base pitch at PoloFarm grounds at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. Of course this early start wasn't to the liking of some squad members & the quality early on in the session was very poor. The watching Canterbury contingent must have thought they were going be in for two poor quality games. Thankfully following a few words of encouragement from the management staff things improved as the session went on.

For lunch we headed into Canterbury itself & the various groups enjoyed a stroll around the beautiful city. The management team were in the company of Morty P & he made sure that they well fed with a quality lunch at Marlowe's Restaurant. Coach Dale also managed to get his shopping done in this period of time. A few of the (injury prone) squad members headed back early to PoloFarm for an injury assessment session with Mazza.

Dave arrived mid afternoon (following his many other duties) & we all assembled for the team talk. The match had a 6.30 p.m. start & we got ready for the main business of the day. Having watched a match earlier in the day between Canterbury & Chelmsford we knew a very tough assignment awaited us.

The match began at an excellent pace with the ball zipping off the very fast surface. Both sides were testing each other for openings & attacking gaps at every opportunity. Quins were really positive from the word go & finding the runs of the forwards with good early passes. Both teams had opportunities in the first half, with the 2 keepers pulling off quality saves. The tackling around the circles was very crisp & very few corners were conceded. The rolling substitutions were used to great effect & everyone worked really hard. In the second half Canterbury made the breakthrough with an unstoppable drag flick from a corner that gave David Harte no chance. It was the only time he was to be beaten over the weekend. Quins really pressed on after this setback & equalised in the last minute with a well worked short corner routine. John Hobbs corner was deftly touched home by Paul Lombard from close range. The game finished honours even & everyone on the Quins squad contributed fully to an excellent team effort.

We retired to the Canterbury club house after the game & were superbly looked after by our hosts. We had good food, drink & great craic. We departed the club house before midnight & retired to our various locations. Morty P again came up trumps dropping off the squad at their two houses. Morty was hosting half the squad which must have been fun! The other half of the squad stayed in Roger Snelling's house. Roger (Canterbury manager) vacated his house for the weekend & left a food mountain for the lads. Ducks was the chef in chief & performed his duties very well (there was talk of him being a bit cranky on Sunday morning, probably due to the fact the Dave won all the money playing cards!). The management team headed back in the Chef de Mission's van with the Chef driving & coach + manager up front. In the back were Ken, Rosemary, Mrs. B, Dave & Mazza. Dave also had an excellent idea to stop off at a Chinese takeaway on the way. The smell was beautiful so we all decided to indulge.

A very early start on Sunday morning (9.30 a.m. to be exact) was made very worthwhile as the squad were given an excellent Core Stability session by Mazza. Eaks in particular enjoyed his contribution to the session! After the session it was straight into match preparation & we were ready to role. Everyone was in tiptop shape and ready to go. The match started at midday & Quins started really positively scoring within the first 5 minutes - Richard Gash scoring from play with a well struck low shot. 10 minutes later & the lead was two as Richard swept home Eaks well placed corner. All aspects of the Quins play was really positive with Johnta in outstanding from in the centre of the park. Dave Harte made two very good saves from corners in the first half. In the second half both sides attacked whenever possible, with Quins counter attack looking especially tasty. 10 minutes from time David Egner made sure of the victory as he swept the ball past the advancing keeper.

After the match we were again fed by our fantastic hosts. Then it was a quick pint, onto the bus (again driven by Morty) & straight to Gatwick. This time the flight departed on time & we arrived home 20 minutes early.

All in all this was a very worthwhile experience for everyone involved & all contributed handsomely to the success of the weekend. Very sincere thanks to everyone at Canterbury who made us feel so welcome - especially Morten, Roger & Bill Hayes. Bill was on hand to help & advise all weekend. He made the managers life very easy. From a team point of view this was brilliant preparation for the Europeans & the squad again is extremely grateful for the amazingly generous sponsorship of WILLIAM BLACK & SONS.

A very special thanks to Mervyn & Judy for transporting all our gear over & back by van. It never ceases to amaze me how generous they are in every way

Squad
D. Harte, J. Hobbs, S. Nicholson, C. Harte, J. Black, B. Hayes Curtin, M. Black, J. Aherne, D. Lombard, R. Leonard, P. Lombard, R. Gash, D. Eakins, D. Egner, P. McLaughlin

Management

Manager - D. Kingston
Coach - S. Dale
Technical Director - D. Passmore
Physio - Mazza

Sponsors - Supporters - Camera Man

Mr. & Mrs. Harte (Camera Man) Thank you!
M. & J. Black
K. & R. Dale