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© / Quelle: friesensport.de - Redaktion / 20.05.2004
Begeisterung bei Bill Daly & Co. nach
Training auf EM-Strecke in Halsbek von Ute Draschba
Westerstede/Halsbek. Bill Daly & Co. trauten am Donnerstag (20.05.) beim Eintreffen zum Training mit der irischen Eisenkugel auf der EM-Strecke in Halsbek kaum ihren Augen. "Und das ist wirklich die EM-Strecke, auf der wir am Samstag boßeln", fragt Daly ungläubig Anke Thaden vom Betreuerteam des Friesischen Klootschießerverbandes (FKV). Der Altmeister und seine irischen Mitstreiter konnten ihre Begeisterung kaum zügeln und zauberten fast aus dem "Stand" mit kraftvollem "Rundschlag" Würfe von bis zu 300 Meter auf die Bahn. "The best bowling road we've seen on the Continent", schwärmt Daly verschmitzt. Von den Jugendlichen warf Cormac Garvey und von den Männern Donal O' Riordan gleich mit dem ersten Wurf durch die Kurve. Das schaffte bei der FKV-Qualifikation als einziger die "Powerkanone" Uwe Köster (Marx), der nach Verletzungspech knapp die Qualifikation verpasste und jetzt als Ersatzmann im FKV-Team steht. Nicht schlecht staunten Harm Henkel und Frido Walter (beide Pfalzdorf) sowie Hans-Georg Bohlken (Ruttel) über die lockere Trainingseinheit der Iren. Für Bohlken heißt es am Samstag um 14:30 Uhr gegen Anthony Gould zu bestehen, Walter trifft 15 Minuten später sogar auf Donald O' Riordan und das Finale bildet um 15:30 Uhr das Duell der Altmeister Harm Henkel gegen Bill Daly. Mehrere tausend Zuschauer werden zu diesem Spitzenmatch im Straßenboßeln am Samstag in Halsbek erwartet. Der irischen Geheimtipp ist Eddie Carr, der gleich in der zweiten Wettkampfpaarung um 12.50 Uhr gegen Ralf Look (Großheide) antritt. |
© / Quelle: Christy Santry from BC Bol Chuman / 20.05.2004 Bill Daly: "The best bowling road we've seen on the continent" from Christy Santry
Westerstede/Germany. In brilliant sunshine the Wavin Ireland Ból-Chumann team enjoyed a useful workout on the road in northern Germany yesterday morning and afterwards player/coach Bill Daly was highly confident about the prospects of the team going into in Saturday’s Irish Road Bowling discipline. “This is as good a road as we could have asked for and we can’t offer any excuses if we can’t handle it,” said Daly. “I would go as far as to say that it is the best bowling road we’ve seen on the continent since we travelled to Tubbergen, Holland, for the 1980 European Championships.” Team Manager, Liam Daly, a member of the group who travelled to Holland for the first international in 1969, was on the one word with the Ból-Chumann player/coach. “A number of our players are strong, open bowlers and they will be able to open up without having any fears of misjudging the play of the road,” he said. In yesterday’s early morning training spin words of wisdom were passed from father to son. Declan O’Donovan, a member of the ’72 team, is here guiding the fortunes of his son James. And young Seamus Sexton from Nadd is here under the tutelage of his namesake and father, Seamus (snr.), a winner of a Road Gold in successive internationals, Jever/Friesland in ’74 and Cork/Ireland in ’77. Reigning All-Ireland champion Eddie Carr showed up very well in training. “ The road has a high camber in the middle and I can use my spin to counteract the fall to either side,” commented the Armagh man. The Irish team are seeded for a 9.00am start going into the Dutch Moors today and while they didn’t have a training session on the course they should, nonetheless, be well up there in the challenge for the medals. David Murphy, Brinny, must surely represent one of the team’s best hopes of a Moors medal. Murphy was the sensation of the Meldorf Millennium Championships when as a member of the Youth’s squad he took gold in the Moors and silver in the German Loft. Hopes are high too that Carrigtwohill’s Catriona O’Farrell will finish among the medals in the Senior Women’s Championships. The versatile O’Farrell, a dual silver medal winner – Road and Moors – in Meldorf in 2000 will enjoy more home support than any other Irish player in Germany this weekend. Included among a large group that travelled here from east Cork early in the week are her father, Seamus, and Carrigtwohill intermediate hurling panellists Seamus Collins and Niall Kidney. Well, as the Irish team joined with the thousands in the colourful opening parade through the cobbled streets of Westerstede yesterday afternoon James Buckley was unable to join them. Buckley remained back in the team hotel nursing a leg injury picked up in the road training earlier in the day and his chances of making it to the Ból-Chumann starting line-up appeared very remote indeed. Coupled with the loss of Christy Mullins, this was another big blow to the morale of the Irish team.
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