The Irish Team (L-R) Alison O’Riordan, Jennifer Mullan, Sinead kissane, Sylvia Gee, Joanne O’Flynn, Ruth Gorman, Mary White
As the World Cup kicked off St. George’s Park hosted its own tournament, the Continental Media Cup representing Ireland and wheelsforwomem was Jennifer Mullan
This year a male and female team of Irish media representatives were asked by Continental tyres to make the trip to St.Georges Park Football Centre for the first time to take part in the annual Continental Tyres Media Cup soccer tournament. Originally I was planning on taking part in the Cultra Hilclimb where I had great success last year but I couldn’t refuse the offer of this trip as a soccer player and fan myself.
After a few brief introductions in Dublin Airport, we were on our way to East Midlands where we were met by a mini bus and brought to the venue deep in the English countryside. Not long after our arrival members of the Continental team greeted us and brought us down to the pavilion beside the pitch we would be playing on where we were presented with our team kits and a bite to eat. After a quick visit to the dressing rooms we all togged out in our new gear and team ‘Dames Joyce’ was formed.
Next on the itinerary was a guided tour around St. Georges Park and I have to admit I am still a little speechless after it. The quality of the facilities are without a doubt one of the best in the world and it is a little more clear as to why there is such pressure on the English teams to perform when you see what has been invested in their development.
After lunch we gathered down on the David Beckham 3G pitch for our team photos in the scorching heat before we all took part in the warm up session. The tournament consisted of three 14 minute games with the top teams proceeding to the semi final. We had no real plan on how best to position everyone other than the consensus was that I would play in goal and we’d go from there. Our first game started so well when we went 1–0 up early on when I took a chance on a kick out to go for glory on the short pitch and somehow it slotted in past the opposing keeper at the other end. We unfortunately went on to loose the first two games before we squeezed out a one all draw in the third match. As this wasn’t enough to progress any further in the competition we set up a penalty shoot out with the team we had drawn with which we managed to dominate quite easily.
Jennifer in action
Photo by James Arbuckle/Continental Tyres.
The guys team were having a much more success and progressed to the semi final so we provided them with some moral support from the side line before collecting our room keys and heading back to the on-site Hilton Hotel to get ready for the evenings activities.
A Brazilian themed BBQ along with a screening of the Spain vs Holland World Cup game and several other activities going on around the place made for a fantastic evening of entertainment after a top class day.
Before we knew it we were back in Dublin the next afternoon saying goodbye to our fellow teammates that we had only met the previous day. I think we were all of the opinion that we would love to return next year for another go at bringing the trophy back to Ireland.
A massive shout out has to go to the other girls on my team, Mary, Joanne, Sinead, Ruth, Orla, Alison and Sylvia, here’s hoping we will be back flying the Irish flag next year!
Jennifer Mullan
20th June, 2014
