With an Irish team in the final, a ceili, a rock band and free food all weekend it truely was one to remember...

Terenure Rugby Club was the perfect venue for what was an exceptional tournament, organised and run very well by a Committee who even arranged for it to be sunny for 2 days. The tournament began with a bang on the Friday night with a full ceili taking place much to the amusement of all the teams. We danced and sang and had a laugh until the early hours before making the trip to hosts across the city.

The next morning saw 2 groups of 5 with the 2 top seeds of Chaos and Accrington in one with Throwing Shapes, SLUG and Captain Drinking binge.The second group drew the 3rd seeds Mixed Veg with Flyght Club, Nobody Loves Me, Disco Fever and Uni. All the matches were played in lovely sunshine with a blustery wind and in great Spirit. The food was fantastic with a huge breakfast and lunch satisfying even the meat-lovers. After the days play the quarters were MV vs CDB, TS vs Flyght Club, Chaos vs UNI and Accrinton vs SLUG.

So, with the play for the day done and dusted we all gathered for team photos. Thanks to John Redmond we had professionally snapped 'wedding shots' which will be up online soon. Need less to say the 'tiger' disco'  and 'funniest joke ever heard' photos will be rather good. Dinner followed soon after, another all veggie feast and soon after that came another little surprise. 'Latitude' were a 4 piece metal band of 16yr olds who put on a great show. They climbed whatever they could, got involved with the crowd and generally played a fun, loud set. Highly amusing and banter-filled. Next up was a dj who kept us entertained til the wee hours with a mix of cheese and cool. Bed was a welcome friend after a long day!

Day Two saw the seedings go to plan as the semis saw Shapes and Mixed Veg face one another and Chaos face Accrington. The other 6 teams formed 2 3 team groups to battle out for 5th to 10th. The Shapes Veg semifinal didnt dissapoint with the lead changing hands repeatedly in a tightly fought and nervy affair. The spirit was very high even with a lot on the line as any call made was quickly resolved. Shapes started well and went 2-0 up only to be pegged back to 3-2 down. Then it was 5-3 for Veg until Shapes came back at them to go 6-5 up. Points were traded til 7 all whn Veg took another long point for 8-7. Time over, game to 10 after shapes again drew level. And suddenly it was 9-9 with eveything to play for. shapes came out and got the D they needed before patient O saw them win it in the front corner. A great game and a deserved winner. The other semi saw the Londoners overcome Chaos to set up a rematch with the Shapes.

The battle for 3rd ended up going right to the wire as Veg fought back from 7-3 down to clinch it 9-7. The Binge won top of the the bottom pool with an equally hard fought victory over UNI. And the final ended 15-4 to Accrington after a commanding display of fast, clever and highly skilled Ultimate against a very tired Shapes. The sun shone on as the awards were presented and with Reuben and Brian in fine form we all had a good laugh. The catering staff were thanked, Mixed Veg won Spirit and the crowd parted with a smile on its collective face after a truely great weekend. Thanks once more to the Committee, more of the same please  :)

Excellent photos courtesy of John Redmond here:

http://www.johnredmondphotography.com/dub06/index.htm http://www.johnredmondphotography.com/dub06/index.htm">http://www.johnredmondphotography.com/dub06/index.htm >

And some more from Mark Earley here:

http://www.pbase.com/markearley/dubtourney2006 http://www.pbase.com/markearley/dubtourney2006">http://www.pbase.com/markearley/dubtourney2006 >