Harpies sneak past fading Falcons

Holyhead Harpies - 500* vs Falmouth Falcons - 430

	Falcons	Harpies
Keeper	Frobisher	Weatherwax
Chasers	Grinderford (C)	Birchgrove
	Meadows	Gladstone (C)
	Goodfellow	Barnacle
Beaters	Bundy	Tolipan
	Wagtail	Gibberd
Seeker	Mostafa	Bloch

And so it came down to the real business end of things. Finals time, and a mouth-watering prospect first up, with the fourth placed Falmouth Falcons facing the fifth placed Holyhead Harpies.

The two teams finished just a point apart on the ladder, with the Falcons winning eight of their twelve games compared to the Harpies’ seven plus a tie.

This was an intriguing clash as Falmouth and Holyhead were, depending how you really looked at it, two very different teams, but with two very similar seasons.

Both seem to lack that top end class really needed to make a decisive claim. Both have had extremely strong, indeed surprisingly strong seasons considering their respective rosters, but neither exudes an air of confidence, an aura that there is any real chance of a BIQL title in either of them. Not in 2012 anyway.

But as teams these two could not be more different both in structure and in result, although they do share a strange incongruity between approach and dividend. The Falcons’ are the epitome of brute force yet total consistency, efficiently dominating lesser opponents on the back of their talismanic captain Marina Grinderford’s goal-scoring prowess. But they seem to lack a second gear for when the occasion really warrants it.

On the other side of the Galleon, the Harpies are extremely subtle and tactical in their gameplans, yet extremely volatile somehow. The Harpies are a contrast between baffling collapses to the likes of Chudley and Wigtown, while somehow playing like world beaters in defating three of the four teams above them on the ladder. Wins over the Arrows and in particular the Magpies were impressive, but the third higher-finishing rival to fall to Holyhead was the Falcons.

Holyhead’s early-season 1470-1110 win over Falmouth was certainly memorable by virtue of its epic length and gladiatorial quality, but it should have represented little. The match was way back in Round three, not to mention the fact that it was the Harpies reserves who did most of the damage.

The Falcons starters had a clear advantage over their counterparts in every position, an advantage only amplified by the absence of ill Harpies captain Gwenevak Glossop. Therefore, as the higher team on the ladder aswell, the Falcons deserved to be favourites.

But clearly Holyhead took a great deal of confidence from their previous triumph, as they shot off the blocks, dominating the early moments.

The Quidditch quality was immediately inspiring. It is remarkable how every year from the very first game a clear statement is made by each of the Top Eight teams saying ‘this is finals Quidditch, and this is how good we can be.’

But it was the Harpies who were particularly good, running away to a ninety point lead in the second hour before a slow-starting Marina Grinderford finally got going.

Grinderford had been criticized for dropping off over the second half of the season, but she put any rumours of fatigue to bed with a performance of mindblowing dominance and skill. At one point Grinderford scored seven consecutive goals, unanswered by either her team-mates or opponents.

With fellow England international Fairfax Meadows in support, the Falcons were able to easily overhaul the early deficit and begin to pull clear. With Glossop missing, the Harpies lacked Chaser direction. Stand-in captain Generys Gladstone was full of individual brilliance, but was struggling to marshall the potential maximum out of Gweneth Birchgrove or Gwendoline Barnacle.

The Falcons may have dominated the Chaser contest, but they weren’t having it all their own way. The most decisively relevatory surprise of the day was the performance of Talulah Tolipan and Rohesia Gibberd. As ever the pair lacked the natural devastation of some of the world’s best Beaters, but their determination and work ethic was second-to-none and as the game progressed their dominance over a rather shellshocked Cyprian Bundy and Gordon Wagtail only increased.

Without high quality Chaser support, Tolipan and Gibberd’s efforts did not quite allow the Harpies to regain any fundamental ascendancy, but it kept them close. After four tough hours the frustrated Falcons were still less than one hundred clear. It was clear why they were antsy, and the frustrations proved anything but unfounded when Zelda Bloch snapped inevitably into action. Bloch easily outstripped Oakden Mostafa to the snitch early in the fifth hour, so it was the Harpies who took the first finals success.

The Falcons now had a minorly nervous wait and would hope the remaining three favourites all do their business well enough to keep them fighting another day.

Holyhead Harpies - 500: Gladstone 19, Birchgrove 9, Barnacle 7, Bloch Capture

Falmouth Falcons - 430: Grinderford 30, Goodfellow 7, Meadows 6

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: MARINA GRINDERFORD (FALCONS)