The Guernsey women entered the away inter-island showdown at Oakfield having not lost since before the millennium, while their men’s counterparts were undefeated from 2012 onwards, but all good things come to an end.
A much-improved Jersey men’s side won emphatically, taking the concluding match 72-40, while a closer women’s match resulted in a 58-51 victory for the hosts.
The Caesareans’ earlier 102-47 victory in the U21 men also factored into a ‘Redwash’ that spanned all age groups over multiple weeks.
Weather-induced travel issues meant that these three matches all unfolded on the Sunday and this led to a tough double for two of the star U21s, but men’s coach Adam Farish is not using that as an excuse.
He admitted the result would ‘take some time’ to fully digest.
‘We’ve got some soul-searching and hard questions to ask ourselves – where our commitment lies and working towards next year, if we’re going to enter a team in the Island Games,’ he said.
He also underlined the importance of assessing the coaching set-up, including his own position, ahead of next year.
The Greens had struggled to get going on offence, including scoring a paltry three points to Jersey’s 13 in the first quarter.
That led to them trailing 33-15 at half-time and despite stepping it up from there, including three-point threat Max Hamon finding his range, entering the final quarter with a deficit of 24.
‘We were not taking the right shots and we were not running our offences,’ Farish added.
The coach did credit the team for leaving it all on court, and also picked out Henry Pang for coming on and playing with confidence in his inter-insular debut.
‘There’s no faulting the effort and commitment and heart.
‘Nobody quit at any point in the game and everybody kept on working right until the final minute.’
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A mixed-experience women’s squad featuring five debutantes were 11-9 up at the quarter but soon relinquished their lead, hitting half-time trailing 27-19.
Emma Sykes proved effective from range, while a few other Island Games players had led the way for their greener counterparts, but a lack of competitive experience and opportunities showed in the Sarnians’ inconsistency.
A small fightback had the Greens closing to five after quarter three before losing their grasp of the game decisively.
Although a scoreboard display error had exaggerated the deficit into double digits and may have proved discouraging, coach Jenny Murphy felt they should not have been in that position to start with.
‘It’s crazy, really,’ said a coach who had taken her role in 2023 and enjoyed a victory the following year in the last women’s inter-insular to go ahead.
‘We knew it was going to happen at some point.
‘You don’t want to be the first coach in 27 years to have lost to Jersey.’
With Jersey having made vast improvements in recent years, and Guernsey still in a transitional stage after the home Island Games, one of Murphy’s wishes had come true in a fairly cruel way.
‘We wanted to have a more competitive game, as it has not been competitive for so many years.
‘That sentiment has come back and bitten us on the bum.’
