Vancouver Harps

Vancouver men edged out in Semi Final thriller

ISSC Vancouver were the recent honorary guests at a 7-a-side tournament hosted by San Francisco GAA in the newly opened Treasure Island complex.  This facility boasts 3 full size pitches with stunning views of downtown San Francisco and was a recent host for the All-star tour.
Men’s and ladies football teams were joined by the hurlers for a tournament that was played in temperatures which soared to 28°C and at times the temperature on the field often exceeded this as high intensity games were to the fore and the Harps right in the heart of the battle.  Games were played at a ferocious pace over the course of 15 minutes and as you will find out the Harps could not always be separated after that time!

Vancouver Harps 1-3 - Michael Cusack’s 0-5
The Harps began their tournament at Treasure Island with a round one victory over Cusack’s.  This was a close contest from start to finish played in baking hot conditions with not an air of a breeze.  The Harps found themselves 2 points in arrears but were to keep in touch with scores from Darren Duff and Dave Tonge to leave the scores level at the interval.
Cusack’s again took the lead but a fine score from Peter Agnew kept the Harps in touch.  Excellent work in the Harp’s defence from Pat Lowney kept the contest on a knife edge but Cusack’s were to go a step further ahead leaving a 2 point gap between the teams.  It was at this stage that the Harps put together their best move of the match, a free-flowing hand passing movement the length of the field involving nearly all their players culminated in Tonge unselfishly laying the ball off to Gary Howe who had the simplest of tasks in finding the net.  This sucker punch put the Harps in the lead and they were to hang in for an opening, hard fought victory.

Vancouver Harps 0-10 - Emerald Society 0-8
The Harps second encounter found them pitted against San Fran’s finest – a combination of the local Police and Fire departments.  Due to the nature of their occupations this outfit proved themselves to be very physically fit and strong and it was this early strength that allowed them to dominant the opening of proceedings and only for stout defending from Paudi McGinn, Conor Walshe and Bryan Gogan they would have been in further arrears.  Again the Harps showed their fighting qualities and scores from Howe and Sean Twomey kept them in touch, indeed they were to take a half-time lead through an excellent Agnew effort.
After the interval they were to further stretch their lead through a Billy Quinlan effort but the ‘Society’ were not to be outdone and they pegged back a couple of scores to leave a tight closing few minutes.  The Harps put their opponents to the sword with points via the boot of Duff and Howe giving them another slender victory.

Vancouver Harps 0-2 - Sean Tracey’s 0-8
Both these sides had already qualified for the knock-out stages so this game was to decide who topped the group and therefore would play the second placed side from the other division.
Tracey’s raced into an early lead and playing with a now strongly increasing breeze at their back they were to completely dominant the half and only for Lowney producing heroics the game would have been over before half-time.  The Harps were clearly beginning to show signs of tiredness and they were to go into the break down by 5 points, their soliditary score coming from Tonge.  They were to re-group at half time and showed their battling qualities with inspired points from Tonge and Quinlan, however Tracey’s advantage from the first half was to prove too much and they ran out comfortable winners in the end.

Senior Semi Final
Vancouver Harps 2-7 - Ulster 2-7
Extra-time; Harps 0-5 - Ulster 0-6
The game of the day saw the Harps lock horns with current San Francisco senior champions Ulster.  This was to prove to be an immense battle which thoroughly entertained both sets of supporters and neutrals alike.  Ulster were overwhelmingly favourites but with their backs to the wall the Harps were not about to let anyone walk all over them.
There was never to be much separating the sides with the Harps having early scores from Howe, Tonge and Agnew being cancelled out by Ulster.  Things were to continue in a tit-for-tat nature with Ulster finding the net only to have this equalised by Quinlan.  Every time a side went in front they were to be reined in, this was proving to be a battle-weary, pulsating encounter.  No quarter was being given as further Harps scores from Howe, from a long distance free off the ground and excellent scores from Twomey and Agnew giving Ulster the scare of their lives.
Ulster were to take the lead from a rather dubious point and they were to bag a goal despite the best efforts of McGinn, Twomey and Lowney at the back for the Harps.  The drama continued with Agnew netting a fine goal for the Harps levelling the tie yet again and forcing extra time.
And so they continued….
This was to prove to be a repeat of normal time, with points being traded and no sign of the non-stop pace letting up.  Points from Quinlan and Duff edged the Harps in front but they were to be pegged back and eventually Ulster squeezed out that all important match winning score to break the hearts of Vancouver.
The Harps left the field with their heads held high as they proved they could live with anyone on their day.  They had gained the respect of the entire San Francisco GAA community with their spirited displays and tenacity.  A great weekend for Vancouver football and this surely bodes well for a summer of high octane football in the West of Canada.

Squad for the tournament:
Peter Agnew; Darren Duff; Bryan Gogan; Gary Howe (Capt); Pat Lowney; Jerry McCarthey; Paudi McGinn; Billy Quinlan; David Tonge; Sean Twomey; Conor Walshe; Peter Gunn; Denis Ryan.