2019 Budapest Fives Report Plate Semi Final

Results

New Wave Funk (Eng)	2	V	1	Deportivo Dooradoyle (Ire)
3 Lions Touching Cloth (Eng)	0	V	3	Budapest Celtic Lions (Hun)

We were down to our final 4 teams in the Plate competition with 2 teams representing England, 1 representing Ireland and 1 for Hungary.

The first Semi-Final would see New Wave Funk take on Deportivo Dooradoyle. New Wave Funk in their second tournament had already surpassed their achievements at the 2018 Barcelona Fives. There, they went out 3-2 at the Quarter Final stage. Here they were just one win away from a debut final.

In contrast, Deportivo Dooradoyle had bags of experience in Semi-Finals at our tournaments.

2011 Amsterdam Fives Plate: Deportivo Dooradoyle won 3-1 v CEPL (Hol)

2013 Barcelona Fives Trophy: Deportivo Dooradoyle won 1-0 v Team Also Ran (Ire)

2013 Barcelona Fives Plate: Depo Allstars won 2-0 v Shahs of Sunset (Eng)

2014 Berlin Fives Plate: Deportivo Dooradoyle won 4-1 v All of Ronan's Men (Ire)

2015 Barcelona Fives Plate: Depo Legends lost 1-0 to Hardly Athletic (Eng)

2015 Barcelona Fives Cup: Alabama Hotpockets drew 1-1 Elcombe Old Boys (Eng). Won 3-2 pens.

2018 Gdansk Tournament Plate: Deportivo Dooradoyle lost 5-2 v Freshers FC (Eng).

2018 Gdansk Tournament Trophy: Hotpockets won 9-1 v Audley London (Eng).

In their previous 8 Semi-Finals, they had gone on to reach a final on 6 occasions. It was an impressive record. It was a record that was under severe threat at the end of the first half here.

New Wave Funk got off to a flyer going into the change of ends 2-0 up thanks to a fifth goal of the day for Nick Moore and a seventh goal of the day for Alex Jones. Alex Jones' goal put him top of the goalscoring charts for the day.

Deportivo Dooradoyle staged a comeback in the second period reducing the deficit to 2-1 thanks to Patrick O'Briens sixth goal of the tournament. It was too little too late for our Irish friends as they were out 2-1. New Wave Funk were in the final.

The second Semi-Final was 3 Lions Touching Cloth versus Budapest Celtic Lions. The 3 Lions element of 3 Lions Touching Cloth were something of Plate specialists as this was their 6th Plate Semi-Final in 9 tournaments. They had reached the Plate Final on three previous occasions. When 3 Lions FC played in the 2015 Budapest Fives they met Budapest Celtic (Tigers) and bowed out 4-0 here at the semi-final stage. Could they get their revenge?

If they could it would be double revenge as 3 Lions FC also lost 2-0 to Budapest Celtic Tigers in the group phase in 2015. Budapest Celtic Lions were on a bit of a roll though so would take some stopping. They were now 5 games unbeaten and showing the form that had lead them to Cup titles in the past.

In the Quarter-Finals, Budapest Celtic Lions had swept a good John Lewis FC aside (3-0) and it looked like 3 Lions FC would fall the same way. There was only one goal between the two teams with Maxime Bernard on target. In the second half Budapest Celtic Lions doubled their lead before Vadim Malyi scored for the second game running to wrap things up.

There was no way back for 3 Lions Touching Cloth. We would like to thank both 3 Lions and Touching Cloth for pooling their resources and merging.