With Ireland being granted a spot in the IESF Championship 2023 held in Iași, Romania, a qualifier was held to determine the 5 players who would earn a spot at the event in east Europe. The main tournament kicks off on the 25th of August, and features a plethora of other countries from across the globe, all fighting for a piece of the $100,000 prize pool. Just last year, the 2022 tournament was subject to UK representation, with Wales sending a team to the play-in tournament in Bali featuring Emyr “eMy” Green and Morgan “m0g” Butler.

The qualifier was held on FACEIT on the 25th of March, where eight teams battled it out in a double-elimination best-of-one bracket. The winning team, who played the qualifier under Viperio (presumably for the ease of using a pre-existing FACEIT team rather than being supported by the organisation) fought through the upper bracket with relative ease. A decisive 16-0 win against “Just Terrible” in the opening round matched them up against another mix-team by the name of “CuckTomProject”, of whom they dispatched 16-10 on Overpass. The grand finals were an even easier walk in the park for the Tom “arTist” Clarke-led squad, who successfully put “CRY IS FREE” to bed with a 16-6 victory on Anubis.

UKCSGO understands that both Seán “Atrox” Greene and Jack “Gizmy” Von Spreckelsen were in consideration for a spot on the team, with Atrox being an Irish citizen, and with Gizmy being able to attain an Irish visa thanks to one of his parent’s Irish heritage. However, Gizmy would be unable to acquire the appropriate visa in time, and Atrox did not participate in the qualifier for reasons unknown.

Adam “AdamJC” Colwell shared his thoughts on the turnout for the qualifier and how they are looking forward to the event in Romania:

It’s good to have competitive representation from Ireland, for such a small scene with little to no investment there are quite a few really good up and coming players. We’re looking forward to competing on the world stage and hopefully representing Ireland well abroad if we’re given the opportunity. Looking forward to putting Irish CS on the map!

Ireland will attend the 2023 IESF Championships in August as:

Adam “AdamJC” Colwell
Tom “arTisT” Clarke
Matas “Extinct” Strumilla
William “Wiiam” O’Shea
Conor “conoR” McCool

Ciaran “biscu” King (Coach)

*IESF has not confirmed whether Ireland will be attending the main event, or whether they have earned a spot in another qualifier. From the information provided by IESF and on their website, it is assumed that Ireland will be in attendance at the main event in Romania.

Won the @IeSF_Master Irish Qualifier with @arTisTcsgo @ExtinctsCS @conorcs_ @WiiamCS pic.twitter.com/Khk9KZ4KOB

— AdamJC (@AdamJCcs) March 25, 2023

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