However they have performed admirably having lost 2 key players to injury , just days before the tournamnent started. Tony Tierney and skip John Kenny did not travel with the squad. Ireland play their final 2 pool games tomorrow 11th December against Scotland and Denmark.
Match reports:
IRELAND’S men took on one of the world’s top teams at the European Curling Championships in Sweden in their fifth round draw yesterday, going down 10 – 3.
Peter Wilson and his Irish rink – Neil Fyfe, Bill Gray and John Furey, all played exceptionally well against the classyGerman team, skipped by Andy Kapp, but whatever the Irish did the Germans seemed to have the answer.
Losing a three at the first end didn’t help the Irish cause, but the team continued to try everything they could to keep on terms with the Germans, but the most they could score was a single in the ends they had he last stone.
The Germans then piled on the pressure with another three and a two in ends four and six. When Kapp drew the shot for another one in the eighth end the teams shook hands.
The Irish team came off the ice pleased with their play and the way they handled the ice conditions after stuggling with weight and line earlier in the week.
The team now have the other three fancied teams to play before the end of the competition, but their form has improved as the quality of the opposition has got better giving them more hope for the future.
Ireland 3 – Germany 10
THINGS just got tougher for the Irish men’s curling team fighting to keep their place in the ‘A’ division of the European Curling Championships in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden.
The ambition of the team at the start of the week was to achieve three wins to get them a place in the World Championships next March. But with the three strongest teams still to face, it’s looking like a step to far for skip Peter Wilson and his team of Neil Fyfe, Bill Gray and John Furey.
In their latest game they went down 9-4 to Norway, but put in a fine performance getting the Norwegians rattled after scoring a two in the first end. Unfortunately, they failed to impose themselves on the game, losing a three in the next end. The teams then exchanged singles over the next two ends before they lost a four in the fifth end to hand the game to the battled hardened Norwegians, who will now be one of the favourites for the title on six wins and one loss.
Ireland 4 Norway 9