Trips to the third city of the UAE are always high on the priority list of the Fianna...especially since the welcome we receive is fantastic, the craic mighty, and more often than not a keg of the plain stuff thrown in to quell our thirst. The competition is usually good too.
February 2000 saw a somewhat formative Abu Dhabi club compete in a triangular tournament with Al Ain and Dubai
The Fianna struggled a bit with fielding a women's team back at the start of 2000. The old reliables had all ambled off to new pastures, while the new crowd were still dodging the raindrops in Ireland. Nevertheless, we did manage to cull a few from the by-standers, borrowed a couple from Dubai, dragged Rita out of post-natal retirement...and Voila, the Abu Dhabi Fianna women were reborn!
The mixture of jerseys speaks volumes for the crew assembled! Included are...
Uschi Bhan, Geraldine O'Shea, Marian McElligott, Rita Hehir, Mary Rea, Fiona Lynch, Karen Lynch, Mairead Rowan...watched over by Declan O'Donovan
Rita soon showed that her temporary retirement had had no ill effects on her harrying abilities...
and her ability to clear her lines
The men, fielding an average age of 41, and obviously inspired by the performance of the women, were next into action...
Back Row: Sean Harding, Mick Ryan, Dixie Collins, Niall Hehir, Roger Slinger
Front Row: Johnny Rea, Neil Creedon, Ian Walker, Pat English, Anthony Carey
It has to be said that Mick Ryan was completely lost without his hurl!!
These photo's are somewhat indicative of a game where we seemed to be running around everywhere but always end up in the same place!!
Firstly, Pat breaks out of defence on another incisive solo run...then Johnny decides that incisive solo-runs aren't his forte, so wellies the ball up into the danger area...before Anthony tees up the equalising point with seconds left on the clock
Abu Dhabi 0:3 Dubai 0:3
