IRELAND REMAIN THE favourites to win the 2013 AFL Europe Championship after beating a gallant Sweden in the opening round, 22-16.
It was a mostly scrappy encounter with the early rain not making it easy for the players to mark or kick the ball cleanly. Ireland’s big midfielders were too strong for the Swedish and Paul O’Halloran was dominant in the ruck giving them first use of the ball.
Both defences were able to dominate throughout the match with the ball being easily rebounded from poor kicking into both forward lines. Ireland’s Gerard Lenihan was outstanding in the backline and only got better as the game progressed.
For Sweden, Irish-born Tony McLoughin was a stand-out in defence and provided plenty of ball to their speedy midfielders Aberg, Sahlin and Rydbert.
In the other matches of the day, Great Britain caused an upset by beating Denmark 43-33 and Croatia kicked the first six goals of the opening quarter to put their match with Germany beyond doubt and ran out eventual winners 47-33.
Round 2 kicks off at 3pm on Tuesday at the DCU Sportsground with Sweden v Croatia, followed by Great Britain v Germany (5pm) and Ireland v Denmark (7pm).
The competition will take place on Saturday August 3rd, Tuesday 6th, Thursday 8th, with the Grand Final taking place on Saturday 10th.
The tournament will be streamed live via AerTV and TheScore.ie on match days.
More information and tickets are available at www.dublin2013.org
