If you weren’t at the Dublin vs Porto vs Limerick mini tournament on October 22nd you missed one hell of a day. Porto brought only 8 players and no bench staff and took everyone by surprise while the Dublin Limerick gave everyone multiple heart attacks. PetraFire, one of DRD’s B Team blockers, wrote this fantastic piece on the day.
Saturday 29th saw us take on not one but two incredibly strong opponents: Porto and Limerick Roller Derby. There was a sense of nervous excitement in the air. We had ‘scoped’ our opponents out and we wanted to show how far we had come as a team this past year, leaving aside Flat Track Stats predictions. This would be our last home game of the season and our ‘derbyversary’ with our beloved coach Fouloutboy. Determined not to see his disappointed face (seriously, it’s the worst), we set out to play OUR game; to show our supporters, our league mates, our family and friends how we have grown together as packs and as a team as a whole.
The first game was tough. We started super strong but Porto had some serious fight in them. They set some incredibly tough walls for our jammers to get by, while their own jammers showed skill in both juking abilities and straight up badass strength. Taking Bloodrunner (#314) on our backs was like taking on a wrecking ball (minus Miley). Their strength finally outweighed ours but we took the loss with grace and with dignity knowing we had played our best and done ourselves proud.
The second game was exciting, to say the least. Taking our coach’s advice on board we started out very strong and we didn’t let Limerick’s relentless offence bother us. When I got the chance to watch the game, the Yak Pack, in particular, brought a tear (of sheer, unbridled joy) to my eye. They were working together like a beautiful, well-oiled machine! The emotions heightened even more by turning to see my mother, who is not an avid sports fan, roaring , fists in the air for Flick le Bean (my housemate) as she slid and swooped around the opponents’ hips. We had been leading by thirtyish points up until the last few jams when unfortunately we started getting a little penalty heavy and Limerick were not going to give up the fight. The second last jam saw Limerick leading by two points. I slid off track, head low, afraid to look Fouloutboy in the eye. I felt I had let the team down a little. One last jam, Flick and the Yak Pack took to the track. Flick made her initial pass, fights through to score. The crowd went wild. People were yelling at her to call it. Coach kept his cool. We didn’t know where Limerick were at points wise and we all had complete faith in Flick, although, I admit it was MAJOR squeaky bum time in Shoreline, Greystones. She made another pass and called it. Final whistle blew. An official was called. Me nerves, lads. We did it though, we played our game, we did what we came to do and we went home with a 2 point win over Limerick. Flick, you absolute diamond: ‘She’s so gentle at home but she’s a tiger on track’. Mum, you are so right. I’m still high on the buzz. If we continue to progress at the rate we have this past year, I can’t even imagine what we could be capable of achieving in 2017. Watch this space!
PetraFire
