Encouraged avidly by their 77 supporters, Glenanne made a proud, defiant debut in the European Club Championship (A Division) in Bloomendaal, Holland, yesterday in going under by no more than 4-1 to the international-packed German side Harvesthuder.
The accomplished Hamburg team swept into a clinical 3-0 lead within 14 minutes through Kai Hollensteiner (short corner), Philipp Woydt (open play) and Florian Keller (penalty stroke) but from then on Glenanne resisted with tenacity and skill, especially in the second half.
Indeed the Germans were pressed back to concede a finely struck short-corner goal to Stephen Butler in the 52nd minute.
At that stage the set-piece count was 63 in the Dubliners' favour and it was only in the closing exchanges that Harvesthuder made that corner tally 7-6, with Keller slotting home his second goal four minutes from the end.
Once Glenanne settled down to the occasion, they matched the Germans in many phases. Butler, the Tallaght side's only senior international compared to eight German-capped opponents, played an outstanding pivotal role. Prompted by the ever industrious Graham Shaw, right winger Mark Lambe sorely tested the Harvesthuder cover while Joe Brennan showed precocious enterprise at sweeper. David Shaw, Ciaran Bolger and not least Ian Clarke also excelled at the back.
Overall it was a performance that promised some reward in the matches to come against Cannock of England (today) and Grunwald of Poland (tomorrow). These two sides drew 2-2 in yesterday's other Pool A game.
Meanwhile, in the women's B Division tournament in Prague Pegasus fell to a 2-1 defeat against host team Slavia which virtually ended their chances of reaching tomorrow's final and earning themselves promotion into the top flight next season.
The Ulster side were architects of their own misfortune as they missed two penalty strokes in a second half which they dominated after playing second fiddle in the opening 35 minutes.
Pavla Kozakova opened the scoring with a 12th minute penalty corner conversion before Claire McMahon equalised against the run of play four minutes before the break.
After Karen Humphries had missed from the spot Karolina Kazdova converted from the spot in the 46th minute for the winner before Pamela Magill's effort from a similar situation was saved by the Czech keeper less than two minutes later.
