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The Dublin Demons were once again crowned the Haggis Cup champions after a 4-year gap last weekend. This years trip was eagerly anticipated when circumstances made last years trip unfeasible. So it was an excited bunch of demons that met up in Dublin airport ready to do battle and drink beer. The dedication of the Demons fans knows no bounds as Liam Saurin performed the “reverse paulie” to get to Glasgow. So Liam arrived by ferry while the rest of us took the short flight to Preswick, the short train to Glasgow, the quick check in at the Euro Hostel and the fast march to the Walkabout pub. After that there were a few leisurely pints and a big mac at 4 in the morning. When one of the boys tries to chat up a flower you know its time to head home for a few hours kip.

So after 4 hours sleep the demons awoke refreshed, sober and ready for battle. Well the guys that flew in that morning were – the rest were just happy to get some orange flavoured water and toast into the bellies. It must have been that big mac at 4 in the morning that did all the damage!

Some time later we were bundled into the taxis and shipped off to Cartha Queens rugby club to check out the opposition. It soon became apparent that the Demons had the smallest squad in the comp with just 11 players for a nine-a-side comp. The other teams present on the day were the Glasgow Sharks, The Glasgow Hammerheads, 4 time winners – The Edinburgh Bloods, 2009 winners the Aberdeen Dingos and England’s Central Division Champions The Huddersfield Rams.

The Demons found themselves in Group 2 along with their old foes the Edinburgh Bloods and the Glasgow Hammerheads. In an evil twist by the tournament organisers, the hungover Demons we scheduled to kick off the comp with the first game against the Hammerheads. With less than ideal preparations the Demons took to the field ready to do battle and play some footie.

Game1 vrs Glasgow Hammerheads
The Demons squad for the tournament was missing one important playing specialist – a ruckman. So it fell to John “Toasty” Enright who was just returning to competitive football after a career threatening injury (hand modelling career) to become a makeshift ruckman. Thankfully the opposition didn’t realise this and toasty turned in a solid performance in an unfamiliar position.

Returning to the Demons squad for the Haggis Cup was the goal machine – Michael “plugger” Currane. After his high profile move to the Leeside Lions, where he played just 20 minutes of footy before he got cottered, it was the ex-Demon that opened the scoring with a well-taken goal. Another goal for plugger quickly followed and the Demons were on their way. Adam got himself a brace after some impressive marking and the Demons went to the break with a four-goal advantage over Glasgow.

The second half didn’t go quite as smoothly as the Hammerheads came back into the game with two goals and the Demons missed a few chances. One particular demon was guilty of missing a golden opportunity from five yards out with no defenders in sight – he would make up for this mistake in spectacular fashion later in the tournament.

Game 1 ended with a Demons victory and in the huddle afterwards a solid opening game satisfied everybody but we knew we’d have to raise the standards to be in with a chance of winning the comp. Walshy then decided to lower the standards with a silent but deadly reminder that we had done enough talking and needed to watch our opposition in action!!

Demons 04.05 (29) vrs 02.04 (16) Hammerheads

Game2 vrs Edinburgh Bloods
Game 2 saw the Demons line up against their old foes the Edinburgh Bloods. The last time these two teams met was in the 2008 Haggis Cup Grand final were an injury hit squad of Demons, were put to the sword by a very full Edinburgh squad. The Demons were out for blood and the Edinburgh squad were the targets. The Demons newest recruit Adam Simpson was a former Edinburgh player so he was keen to get one over his new club and four-goal tally would seem to indicate that he is over them. Plugger popped up with another two-goal performance and the Demons were comfortable winners.

The Demons defense had coincided just 2 goals in two matches and they were the rock that this cup run was based on. Walshy was solid as always and his accurate and long kick outs were causing all types of confusion in the opposition mid field. Walshys kicks were so long in fact that at times he was bypassing the midfield and kicking the ball to the half forward line. Little paulie was back with the Demons after a year off travelling and he’s anticipation and bravery was catching out a good few forwards over the day. Aido Conaty in his second year of footy was enhancing his status with strong running and great defending.

Demons 07.04 (46) vrs 0.03 (3) Bloods

Semi Final vrs Glasgow Sharks
After close to two hours on the sidelines soaking up the sun and watching the other teams the Demons eventually got back on the pitch to play the semi final against the Glasgow Sharks who had been narrowly defeated by Huddersfield to finish second in Group 1. The Demons were understandably slow out of the blocks after a few hours of sitting around and found themselves behind for the first time in the tournament after the Sharks scored an early goal.

That was to be the last time that they were to lead as the Demons woke up and battered them for the rest of the half. John “Toasty” Enright was winning every ruck contest and the ball was been tapped straight to our “token black guy” Damien Kruger. Krugs was having a brilliant tournament in the center where he was at the heart of every move and came to the fore in the semi final where he got two goals to secure victory.

The stand out player of the semi final was Adam Simpson who was marking every ball that came his way and slotting goal after goal from every angle on the pitch. He finished the game with an amazing seven goals in a 24-minute match. Outstanding work from the Demons new star!

Coach Bouncer got in on the action in the second half and managed to give off a hand pass and allegedly a concussion to the Sharks player. The jury is out on that one…

Demons 09.02 (56) vrs 03.03 (21) Sharks

Grand Final vrs Huddersfield Rams
The Demons made it to another grand final and faced up to England’s Central Division Champions The Huddersfield Rams. The Demons went into the game confident of a result but it soon became apparent that the Rams weren’t going to roll over and die. Their ruckman was strong and well able to win the taps against his less experienced opposite number. The game was extremely tight in the first half where both teams struggled to make an impression on the game. Joe Rocks was flinging himself at every loose ball and setting up some opportunities for the forwards. The rams scored the opening goal where the Demons could only get some minor scores.

The Demons got themselves back into the game with a fine team move. Walshy with a kickout saw toasty in plenty of space. His pinpoint pass was well fielded and Toasty speared the ball down the line to plugger who got in front of his man to take a good mark. His kick was then centred to the goal square where Adam took a big pack mark over three rams defenders and scored the goal to level the game. At half time the teams were level at 1.4 apiece.

The second half started with flurry of goals and behinds for the Rams and before the Demons knew it they were two goals behind. In the short amount of time remaining there didn’t seem to be a way back for the Irish team. There is heart in this Demons team and after some battling close to the sideline by Adam and Joe the ball made its way to Toasty. The player who had missed from 5 yards out in the first game made no mistake from the sideline and the ball sailed between the posts to bring the Demons back to life. Suddenly there was a spark and the belief began to grow – the next ball was won and sent into the forward line where it was broken by the defenders. John “Toasty” Enright gathered the ball and snapped over his shoulder to leave the Demons trailing a single point.

The momentum was now well and truly with the Demons and when kruger was fouled near the sideline nobody doubted that a goal was going to be scored. Krugs lined up his shot and let fly – the kick was straight and accurate but the distance was going to be cut fine. Richie Jenner then performed a great piece of 1% work by shepherding the defenders away from the ball and ensuring that goal was scored. Cue manic celebrations from the Demons bench but the players realised that the game wasn’t over yet. Decci Cotter came on and with a wily head started slowing down the game. Every mark was been used to burn up precious seconds as the Demons saw out the game to become the Haggis Cup Champions of 2010. Captain for the tournament Bernard Sellars lifted the cup and Demons prepared for a night of celebrating.

Demons 04.06 (30) vrs 03.07 (25) Sharks

Adam was named player of the tournament that night in the Walkabout and the Demons celebrated with a leaky trophy and plenty of beers long into the night – at least most of the boys did… One player went back to the hostel for a power nap and woke up the following morning!! At least he was nice and refreshed for the trip back to Dublin the next day!