Ireland’s mens team rounded off day 1 in the European C Group with their second win of the day beating a useful Serbian team 9-7. The game started well for the Irish taking a steal of two in the first end and although the Serbian team came back immediately with a two in the next end, the game never felt particularly problematic for the Irish team.

A four for the Irish in the fifth and a subsequent 8-4 lead meant the game was Ireland’s to lose in the second half and although the Serbian team never gave up they also never looked like recovering the deficit.

All in all a useful 9-7 result against the team who put the Irish out of the competition last year.

Day two’s opponents for Ireland in the 2014 European C group were WCF newcomers Israel. In what turned out to be a tight and highly entertaining encounter, both teams pulled out their A-game and put on a display of quality curling, punctuated with excellent shots.

It was obvious from the start that both teams were looking to keep it clean and the two initial ends were blanked. This set the general pattern for the game where very few shots were in play and the team without the hammer trying to force the single.
It was controlled display by both teams until the ninth end. The Israelis were looking to steal a single, the Irish to blank. In the end the Israeli’s lost sight of the fact that forcing a single would have been a good outcome and they left the Irish with an easy two to take a single point lead into the final end.

The final end was dominated by the Irish who early on took control of the four foot and challenged the Israelis to better it. By the time the final shots were played the Irish were happy to leave the one foot draw open to the Israelis in the knowledge that they would have hammer in the extra end. However, the Israelis were unable to take advantage of Ireland’s largesse, they missed the draw to the hidden one foot and left Ireland 6-4 winners.