Carrickfergus 2011
Rumour had been rife that this year’s Carrickfergus Open would not be held but last weekend it did and it turned up a couple of surprises. There was several that made the trip up from the Southern counties including Concannon, Davis and McCabe, who also brought several of his Boyne Valley protégés to their first competition.
The entry stood at 13 as, surprisingly, few of the experienced Northern fencers made the trip this year with big names Downey, Jackson, Nicholl and Kitson all missing. Perhaps they got word that the traditional sponsors of the Open, those that provide the much craved winner’s sword, had pulled out this year.
Due to a strange twist, both Concannon and McCabe found themselves in the small poule of 6 while Davis had an opportunity to win all of his matches as he faced Brigadir and Kearns in his poule. Concannon came out with 5/5 dropping a total of 7 hits, giving him an indicator of +18. McCabe only dropped one bout to Concannon and finished the poule 4/5.
However, it was in the other poule that Davis was making waves. He had won 5/6 bouts and with one remaining took the time to check out the standings in the smaller poule which had already finished. Going into the last bout he had indicators of +16. Davis closed his poule with a 5-3 win which put his wins at 6/6 and indicators of +18. With Davis and Concannon tied at the top on indicators, Davis grabbed the first seed for the first time on points scored with 30 to Concannon’s 25.
McCabe’s fortune was out of his hands as anyone in the large poule who dropped only one bout would seed third ahead of him. As fate would have it, both Brigadir and one of Boyne Valley’s novices dropped two bouts and McCabe snuck in as third seed.
With a shortage of pistes, delays were inevitable but the sabreurs were assured that they would be fencing within the castle rather than the marquee. This came as great relief as the marquee had some questionable flooring which could have led to fencers catching their feet in the middle of points.
The quarters saw two Boyne Valley club mates face off (names are welcome in comments as the results aren’t up yet!) with the winner through to challenge the top seed Davis in the semis. Meanwhile, Concannon and McCabe set up a second match of the day in the other semi.
The first semi saw Davis take on (Alec). Davis took a comfortable lead at the start of the match, so much so he went into the break with an 8-2 lead. (Alec) wasn’t finished just yet and with the Boyne Valley crowd rallying behind him there was a comeback on the cards. A huge string of successful hits closed the gap down to two points at 10-8 to Davis, who seemed to have lost his fluidity and was attempting slower versions of his earlier successful counter-attacks. Davis dug deep though and closed out the match with beaming pride for his first final appearance.
The second semi saw Concannon start slowly as McCabe took a 3-1 lead. Concannon got vocal to himself as he tried to raise his game but couldn’t close the gap. Just when it looked like he was going to close the gap to one point, his body wire pulled out of the sabre to hand McCabe an easy counter and McCabe extended his lead to 8-5 at the break. After the break tensions rose significantly as Concannon tried desperately to land some successful attacks but McCabe’s attacks in preparation were so sharp, well timed and consistent that Concannon’s confidence fell apart. On McCabe’s 14th point he let out a roar that sent out the message that he believed it could have been his day. While Concannon managed to pull it to 14-13, the comeback wasn’t on and McCabe went on to defeat Concannon in the DE’s for the first time and book a final with Davis.
While the two have met before several times, they had never met in the final and they were forced to wait even longer as the final piste kicked up such a fuss that the final had to be moved to a different piste in another part of the castle.
With the UCD team divided between supporting foil and sabre, Davis’ crowd was dwarfed by McCabe’s Boyne Valley troupe who were hungry for more success after Alex Lolies’ WS win. The match was closely contested but the pair were both showing visible signs of fatigue both during and between hits. In the end it looked like McCabe had the edge as he continued to throw himself forward while Davis reverted to counters that failed as his body grew weary. McCabe came through to win and had to make a prompt exit due to work commitments but at some point he’ll get to sit and down and savour his first open win, even if didn’t get to take home a new sword.
Canco
If anyone has any extra scores or corrections, please leave a comment, the results were not up online at the time of this post!
Amsterdam SA 2010
Concannon and McNamee both made the trip to Amsterdam last weekend for the second satellite of the season. While Concannon was looking to turn things around after the VDS the week previously, McNamee was only now starting to look at this season. Last week he was in Paris for the World Championships where he won 2/6 in the poules and beat Mohsin (IRN) 15-9 in the L128. He finished 94th after being knocked out by the Hungarian Iliasz, 15-6.
The Dutch federation moved the venue this year and while the new location was an impressive sports facility which allowed an impressive gala final, the main sports hall lacked ventilation and the heat made the fencing that little bit more challenging.
Concannon won 3/6 in the first round despite entering the poule as the second seed, some of the unseeded continental fencers proving too much for him to handle. In particular, the counter attacks of the 6’4″ Hansen left Concannon with few answers losing 5-3. Meanwhile, McNamee was continuing his fine form winning 5/6, only dropping to Speelman (NED) in a close 5-4 match. This round left McNamee and Concannon sitting 4th and 28th out of 46 respectively.
In the second round of poules, Concannon found two of the same fencers from the poule before, facing Goossens (NED) and Hansen (GER) again. Unfortunately, the results were to be the same. Goossens was simply too quick in advance for Concannon who found his counters and parries off the pace on the day. Concannon again dropped to Hansen but this time not through counter attacks but some remises which caught Concannon off-guard. Concannon only won 2/6 in the second round and with some poor indicators was fortunate to make the cut, seeding 33rd while the cut was made from 37th and below.
McNamee repeated his result almost identically from the second round, again winning 5/6 facing an entirely new poule. While he had beaten Elixer Lopez (VEN) in the first poule 5-4, the second round saw McNamee drop his only match 5-4 to Daniel Lopez (VEN) the younger of the two Venezuelans. With less impressive indicators (9) than the first round (15), McNamee saw his seeding drop slightly to 11th after the second poules.
While McNamee avoided the incomplete L64, Concannon had to do battle with the young Goedhart (NED). While Concannon took an early lead mostly won in the middle, Goedhart started to find his distance. Letting Concannon fail his attacks by distance, Goedhart confidently marched several attacks converting a steady number of points to reduce the early deficit. Concannon led 8-5 at the break and the 2nd half was to see much of the same: Concannon winning hits in the middle while Goedhart won more points through marching attacks.
Tied at 13-13, enter the referee. Concannon’s initial attack failed, followed by an immediate riposte from Goedhart which also failed. When Concannon recaptured priority, the referee called final action together, missing Goedhart’s failed riposte. In the next hit, Concannon’s lunge delivered a hit to Goedhart’s chest as Goedhart mal-parried with a late riposte. The referee, however, saw it is a simple parry riposte and while Concannon felt the match should be over (15-13), found himself 13-14 down. The final hit was undisputed as Goedhart delivered one final marching attack to leave Concannon disillusioned… and out.
McNamee met Wiech (POL) in the L32, neither of whom had to fence in the incomplete L64. The early points in the match were divided as Wiech was to take a slight advantage at the break. McNamee was earning points when ever patient enough to go deep into his side of the piste but was not picking up points on Weich’s preparations due to the referee seeing no preparations. The referee was not consistent in his calls but more often than not did not call preparations to McNamee’s detriment as Wiech took the match 15-11.
A disappointing day for the Irish as referees took centre stage. While both fencers were planning on attending the January Copenhagen satellite to turn the season around, it has been cancelled. The result of this is that the next international event that both Irish may attend is in Orebro, Sweden in February next year. Let’s hope for better results in the New Year.
Canco
For the official results, see the link below.
http://fie.ch/Competitions/ResultsList.aspx?Key=C853095D1AE29C8C7C96A2F8888BE8E7
Gand SA 2010
This weekend saw just two Irish attend the Gand satellite in Belgium. McNamee and Concannon made the trip with two very different agendas in mind. While McNamee is preparing for the World Championships in a fortnights time, Concannon was looking to build on his win at the Wests last weekend in his first international of the season.
The satellite started slowly for the pair as both were left with disappointing results from the first round of poules, both winning only 2/5. With similar indicators, McNamee -1 and Concannon -2, they were left seeded 28th and 29th respectively in the 44 strong competition. Better was to come as the second round of poules was more fruitful.
McNamee took full advantage of finding himself in the only poule of seven, winning 5/6, only losing to the 2008 Olympian and eventual winner, O’Connell (GBR). The strong round leaving him seeded 7th for the D.E.’s. Concannon also improved upon his first round winning 3/5 and seeding 17th. Things could have been even better had he beaten rather than lost 5-4 to former world number 3 junior Bustamante (ARG).
As neither had to compete in the L64, there was a short break for the pair before the L32. Here Concannon met Galasso (ITA) whom he had already met on the day in the second round of poules, Galasso winning the first encounter 5-3 with some commanding charging attacks.
It was a disappointing match for Concannon who led 8-5 at the break thanks to some patient defending. After the break, however, Galasso returned a new man and Concannon changed tactics to attack. It was to be a poor decision by Concannon as the Italian took full control of the 2nd half with Concannon scoring only a single hit, the match finishing 15-9 to Galasso. Meanwhile, McNamee finished in the L16 after being beaten by French club-mate Foures in a close match dominated by counter-attacks.
It’s worth mentioning that last year the Irish duo were a trio including Corcoran who had a lot of success last season including a L16 at the Kish Island World Cup. Due to an accumulation of events leaving Corcoran without a proper training regime, he has withdrawn from the circuit with immediate effect for the foreseeable future.
Hopefully the time will come for Corcoran to make his comeback in the green, white and orange as without him there are now only two competing internationally in men’s sabre. At one point last season the three Irish were searching for qualifications to enter Ireland’s first men’s sabre team into a World Cup. Now there are not even enough competing to field a team.
It is time to look at some of the up and coming fencers in Ireland to fill this gap but with the deadline passed for the Amsterdam SA it will be at least January in Copenhagen before we see three Irish at a satellite. It is more likely however that this will not happen until Newcastle’s Cole Cup in June next year.
Canco
Full results from Gand are available from the FIE website at the following link:
http://fie.ch/Competitions/ResultsList.aspx?Key=B3E348CE100A0438C3AD35C2DBE49EAF
