Alive Outside Festival Series Kicks off in Sandymount
The Alive Outside Festival Series got underway this past weekend with the Sandymount Beach Tag. 20 teams from Dublin and Leinster took advantage of the beautiful day and played out a very competitive tournament on Sandymount Strand.
The tournament had 4 groups with 5 teams in each group. 1st place in each group proceeded to the Cup Semi Finals. The second placed teams entered the Plate Semi-finals. 3rd placed teams competed for the bowl and 4th placed teams battled it out for the aptly named Super Bowl.
The Super bowl was won by Classic Combo who held off a late rally from Don’t Hassle The Hoff in a thrilling game. In the Bowl Final Wii Not Fit made light work of Tagtical Genius despite being denied a last minute try by a desperation diving tag. Undoubtedly the match of the day came in the Plate Final with nothing between the teams Republic of Loose Bowels and the Luas Cannons headed for sudden death, golden try extra time. It looked unlikely that either team would break the deadlock but with only seconds left on the clock Luas Cannons engineered a break out from their own half and raced the length of the field for the winning score. In the main event reigning All Ireland Champions the Panthers finally got their hands on some beach silverware when they beat a tiring Universally challenged side to take the cup and the maximum points from the first leg of the Festival Series.
Next Stop on the tour will be in Cork on the 6th of August for the Rebels Tag Festival, where a lot of ambitious Cork teams will have their eyes set on taking maximum points and chasing the Panthers early lead down in the hopes of winning the All-Ireland Festival Series Championship.