DEAF SPORTS Swimming deaflympics

An adrenalin packed day is one way to describe today's events! It all started off with both swimmers qualifying for the final of 100m Freestyle. They both clocked excellent times to qualify. In Eoin Nolan's case, he came second in his heat clocking a 52.66 seconds which enabled him to come second overall in the event. Vincent McArdle achieved a Personal Best time of 54.23 seconds which was enough to see him qualify as 8th best overall in the event. They were due to appear in the final at 5pm in the evening.

Now, for the Water Polo match against the USA. Even though the Americans have lost every game by a large margin, we treated the match with such apprehension as it was essential to win in order to qualify for the semis. All players were available for the game although Dave the coach was aware of the need to rest the swimmers for the final later on.

When the match got underway, Keating opened up the account by slamming in a goal (IRL 1:1 USA). Both teams in the first few minutes of the match tend to be nervous and it was evident when the American player beat Maher and slotted in a goal (1:1). Having done our research beforehand, the weaknesses amongst the American team is their ability to backtrack quickly to their territory and their shortage of substitutes as they only had one substitute available throughout the matches. Keogh capitalised on the backtracking weakness by throwing the ball into Frank Grace's path and he gladly blasted the ball past the goalie (2:1). By then the game was definitely gaining a momentum as Ireland began to attack more and scored a bundle of goals. Grace got the next one in courtesy of a penalty and Nolan did the next one (4:1) without having anyone mark him. Nolan was subbed straightaway to conserve energy for the final later on. Grace was quickly becoming a prolific player but his attempt in throwing the ball backwards failed. USA finally sprung into action only for the ball to hit the post. Keating got fouled, then passed onto Grace then back again and Keating slammed the ball in once more (5:1).

Turner was eager to get on the account and he did so by swimming fast across the pool with the ball and duly did the business of scoring. He then was rested in favour of Kearney to take over the full back duty. Keogh was repeatedly using the tactic of throwing the ball far into the Irish's path on the other end and this time Keating was in action to slot one in (7:1). Just when we were heading for a large margin, it stopped when Moloney made the mistake of passing the ball back to the goalie only for the ball to land on an American's hands and the opponent did the punishment by scoring the second goal (7:2). Man up for us and Culhane took advantage by bisecting across the pool and scored (8:2). Finally the end of the first quarter came afterwards.

String of passes was the Irish trademark in the second quarter. Such example was when Turner passed the ball to Culhane, then to Keating and he slotted in another goal (9:2). Another long range pass from Keogh to Culhane was enough for another goal (10:2). Turner got carried away and fouled the opponent and this resulted in the American scoring one (10:3). Keating was fast becoming our most valuable player in terms of goal scoring as he broke free and swam non-stop to the goal and easily slotted one in (11:3). Dave decided to swap the whole team except Keogh the goalie to give them a much needed rest for few moments.

Nolan made the most of his ability to break free and swim fast by scoring one (12:3). Captain Ryder saw his attempt saved by the American goalie. McArdle was proving to be quite an efficient full back by pinching the ball off the opponent and passed it to Nolan and then onto Grace but the attempt was saved.

Ryder, showing a typical attribute of captaincy by being selfless, passed the ball to Grace and then the ball found its way to Nolan then a goal was made. (13:3). Moloney who has been quiet throughout the tournament showed his true colour as he quickly swam across the pool and received the ball in time to score his first Deaflympics goal! Cheers from the crowd were obvious with the flags flagging. But this was short lived as USA, determined to make a mark, scored from a narrow angle past McArdle and Keogh (14:4) and this was repeated afterwards with another goal from USA. Thankfully halftime break came along and the players got out of the pool.

Third quarter was a chance to further increase the score margin between both teams. Keating passed the ball to Ryder and he notched up a goal (15:5). From that point, it seemed we were on track to be the team who have scored the most goals against USA but it was ages before our next goal. The lack of scoring was due to losing possessions and missed attempts. Keating seemed to prefer to assist the goals in rather than be the scorer by passing one to Grace and another goal was created (16:5). Ryder was puzzled with the referee's decision on his third foul but was in no position to complain as he was suspended for the rest of the match. Culhane missed a shot and Keating was at the place at the right time by picking up the ball afterwards and coolly slotted it in (17:5). Keating is the top scorer for Ireland in the Deaflympics by scoring another one (18:5) and Maher added another in (19:5). Wesley Nolan followed Moloney's steps in scoring his first Deaflympics and his goal was executed in style by lobbing the ball over the goalie and into the goal (20:5). Man down due to a foul by Nolan and USA took advantage of an extra man by getting one in (20:6). A long ball from Kearney to Nolan was enough to reach 21 goals (21:6). Last break before the final quarter arrived.

In the final quarter, Wesley Nolan repeated his moment earlier on by lobbing a ball over again and in it went (22:6). Keating showed how ruthless he can be by slamming the ball in hard (23:6). USA came close on some occasions but tend to either miss their attempts at scoring or lose possession. Grace started to get into the game more by scoring one courtesy of a long pass from Keogh (24:6). USA then missed their chance and Keating was quick to avail himself for a ball from Keogh and did the business afterwards (25:6). Beautiful passes were made by Keogh, Wesley, Grace and Turner tried to finished it off with a goal but the ball did not go over the line but luckily Grace was on hand to finish the job himself (26:6). Dave called a timeout to allow breathing space for the players to recompose as they were bit all over the place defensively. Only 47 seconds remained, Ireland defended during a man down occasion but USA missed. Few seconds before, three Irish were sprinting to the other end of the pool and Grace did the honour of closing the game up by scoring one (27:6). It was a solid performance by the Irish team and it was just what we needed before our big game against Germany tomorrow.

Eager to keep up the routine and support each other, the team was on hand to cheer McArdle and Nolan in their 100m Freestyle final at 5pm. Nolan decided to opt for Blu 70 suit while McArdle decided to stick with his Speedo LZR racer suit. The atmosphere was rather tense as this event was quite popular with the crowd and with Nolan being the current European champion in 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle, he was eager to prove his worth in the final. Off they went, and it felt like seconds when they finished the race. Nolan came second, clocking a better time of 52.63 which meant he has beaten John Kealy's record of the fastest Deaf Irish in the 100m Freestyle. However, more importantly this meant Nolan has gotten the first Irish medal of the present Deaflympics. McArdle came 8th but can be consoled with the fact that he has achieved a personal best time during the heat.

Donal Desmond - "Fantastic news for Ireland, it was truly a tough competition to participate in and both of them did really well in the event. The standards in swimming have increased this year!"

It was a great day in all and the duo hope to perform similar feat in their forthcoming 200m and 50m Freestyle this week.