Ireland win Inter-Regional water polo title to seal promotion

Ireland’s 2004 age group team have been promoted to Division One at the Inter-Regional Water Polo Championships.

They won the Division Two title at Walsall Gala Baths following a close winner-takes-all clash against East Midlands.

Ireland and East Midlands both opened with convincing wins, beating East and North West Ravens respectively.

Both teams went through the first four games undefeated, setting up a grandstand finish as they met in the final game of the tournament.

Ireland came out on top, winning 6-2 to lift the trophy and ensure they’ll move up to Division One for the 2021 Under-18 Inter-Regional Championships.

Down to the wire

Team manager, Siobhan Egan, said: “The event ran smoothly, all the games were played in great spirit and that’s a credit to all the teams.

“We had some great matches against tough opposition, our most being against South East when we had to come from behind in the game to win, then our last game against East Midlands with both of us fighting for top spot.

“The game was exciting, we scored first which gave us the upper hand, but to East Midlands’ credit, we never got out of sight, they fought back and kept the score close until the last quarter.

“The new rules made the game more exciting, with players over the weekend using them to their advantage.

“One of our highlights was our goalkeeper scoring on a 7 on 6 attack. The rule of playing the free where the ball lands sped up the game and some teams really took advantage of this.

“You could see all the boys adapting to the new rules on free throws and corners as the weekend progressed.

“We would like to thank the organisers for a great event, which is something we look forward to each year with anticipation and is the highlight of the year for our U16 boys.”

Inter-Regional Water Polo Championships Division Two