The Gaelic Warriors Wheelchair rugby team travelled to Ulm, German on June 20^th to defend the Schwaben Cup, which we won last year. It was always going to be a huge task as all the German teams were stronger this year and were obviously going to be very keen to not let the cup out of the country this year. Apart from that, no one has every won the cup two years running so that in itself was an added pressure.

We flew to Munich where there was a bus waiting to bring us the two hour journey to Ulm. We landed in Ulm around 10pm and after getting some grub on board we met up with John McCarthy and Garrett Culliton at the train station, who had made their way down from Holland after the European Athletics Championships. As luck would have it the hotel was only about 500 yards from the station. It has to be said that the hotel was probably the most inaccessible hotel we have every stayed in, but everyone pulled together to make it work.

We had an early rise on Saturday morning, as we were the first game on at 9:30am. Probably just as well as the temperature was getting into the mid 20’s already at that stage.

Our first game was against Donauhaie 2. Admittedly they weren’t the strongest team there, but the Warriors played their most perfect, mistake free game ever. Everything was working out perfectly. Our defense was very good, and our press resulted in many turnovers. Our passing was as good as it has every been with overhead passes, long and short passes all coming off perfectly. We won that game 29-13

If our first game was one of our best ever, then our second one nearly hit the other end of the scale against Heidelberg. We beat Heidelberg by 1 last year and we started ok with the game going score for score for the first 4 or 5, but following a few mistakes, they got themselves into a lead of 3 or 4. We now had to chase the game and as they started to waist the clock we got ourselves frustrated which brought many more mistakes and you could say that the wheels came off, and the game ended 32-10.

Our next game against the Outlaws was always going to be a difficult one with everyone’s head hanging a bit after the previous defeat. The Outlaws had one of the top German National players, on loan, playing with them for the weekend so they were a far stronger team than what they were last year. The whole team raised their game and it was neck and neck at half time. 13-12 to the Outlaws. A few crucial refereeing decisions (in error we felt) gave the Outlaws a chance to get a 3 point lead, early in the second half, which turned the whole game. We were again chasing a game, which, more often than not causes the loosing team to give away more turnovers, and the game ended 29-21. All in all this was a good game played by the Warriors who fought hard right to the very end.

The results on Saturday left us 3^rd in our group which meant we had an even earlier start on Sunday morning, having to play Quadrufit, from the Czech Republic, in a cross over game at 9am. With the nights rest, the whole team gelled well together and with both our defense and our press working well we won out 47-41 in the end.

With that win we were now in the 5^th/6^th place play off, against the Red Devils Bad Wildungen’. The game started evenly enough but the Red Devils had a walking 2.5, also a National player, whose chair was next to impossible to pick, who was the difference between the teams. The heat became quite hard to handle towards the end of the game, with outside temperatures nearly reaching 37 degrees, so the whole bench played a major part in the game. The Red Devils ran out winners by 42-24 in the end.

While we were hoping to retain our title of the Schwaben Cup, on our return, the tournament was a very good one for us. Apart from the Heidleberg game, which went a bit pear shaped, the whole team, both staff and players, gelled very well together through out the whole weekend. The heat in Ulm both on and off the pitch made it tough for everyone and with the hotel not being the most accessibly, it could have been a troublesome weekend, however, everyone kept their spirits up to make it a very successful weekend.

The Gaelic Warriors were represented by:

         Coach: Martin Baxter (Donegal)                                  

         Kit Manager/Team Mechanic: Jimmy Philips (Dublin)

         Ass. Coach: Nick Sweeney (Dublin)                           

         Captain: Michael Flaherty (Galway)

         Team: Garrett Culliton (Laois), John McCarthy (Cork), Stephen Hickey (Dublin), Michael Hickey (Tipperary), Ray Sweeney (Dublin), Alan Lynch (Louth)

Check out the complete Schwaben Cup 2003 Results