Posted by Liam Molloy on April 4, 2013 in Inside our Offices

It is an old cliché, but here at Ancestry.com we like to work hard and play hard. This February marked the first Ancestry.com FIFA championships hosted by our Dublin Ireland office in our dedicated XBOX suite.

Sixteen participants competed for glory in the singles contest whilst eight teams competed in our doubles contest. After one month, twenty individual games in which we witnessed moments of skill, bravery, controversy, pride and passion there could only be two winners. Ronan Redmond, Customer Service Associate representing the Belgium and England teams, won the grand slam by winning both the singles and with the help of myself, Liam Molloy, in the doubles.

After the tournament we met up with some of the participants to get their quotes and wanted to share of few with you so you could get to know the Dublin team, while also getting a feel for their heartbreak or ablation.

“Well I’d just like to thank the fans, the management and most of all my parents for giving me what I needed to succeed! It was very nice of the government to grant me Belgian citizenship also. I really think I can retire on a high now!”

Ronan Redmond – Customer Service Associate and Grandslam Singles and Doubles Champion (Belgium and England)

“Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m a FIFA champion on two continents and I think I’m a special one.”

Liam Molloy – Sr. Manager of Development and Doubles Champion (England)

“I would like to thanks the Brazilian FA for their kind words and the team and fans for their support throughout my reign – unfortunately we couldn’t finish on a high but considering half of the team was struck down with food poisoning the day before the final I think we can be proud of our efforts in the final.”

Eric Booth – Sr. Marketing Manager, Singles runner-up (Brazil)

“We didn’t underestimate our opponent, but they were a lot better than we thought. Hazard in particular was great today. He’s very fast and if he gets a yard ahead of himself nobody will catch him.  Truth be told there are a lot of very disappointed boys in the dressing room right now and the 33 or 34-year-olds will be 36 or 37 by the time the next World Cup comes around, if they’re not careful. Result Belgium 8 Ivory coast 1.”

Mark Dunning – Head of International Analytics, Singles semi finalist (Ivory coast)

“It was a game of 2 halves and we gave it our all but in the end we were not good enough. We should have played to the final whistle and if we had kept all 11 men on the pitch we would have won.”

John Halvey – Operations Manager, Eliminated in the first round (Netherlands)

“Of course I am gutted we didn’t get the result we deserved today, it reminds me of the 2012 Champions League final (Bayern Munich vs Chelsea) where one team went to play soccer and other team went to stop the other team from playing. I hold my hand up- I got my tactics wrong-we should have practiced a couple of penalties but I’d like to congratulate the Ivory Coast on their victory. Now we are just looking ahead and starting to prepare for the next tournament.”

Shane Burke – Development Engineer, Doubles runnerup (Spain)

 

 

 

Do you have what it takes to become our next FIFA champion? If so visit our careers page at:
http://corporate.ancestry.com/careers/

 

 

 

Liam Molloy

Liam Molloy has served as director of international development at Ancestry.com since November 2013, having joined in 2010 as Senior software engineer. During his time with the company, Liam has engaged in a variety of projects, including international home pages, new user wizards, third party web records, a Facebook canvas application, agile coaching, and enabling continuous delivery and agile development practices. Prior to joining Ancestry.com, Liam was a consultant for six years at California based Vertigo, where he gained valuable experience working with companies such as Microsoft, Hard Rock, NBC and NFL. Raised in London, England, Liam has spent the past 10 years in the bay area of California, and has recently relocated to the company’s international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Outside of work, Liam enjoys spending time with his wife Kristi and eight-year-old boy, Palmer. He likes Mini Coopers, traveling, games (both computer and board), has made his own MAME cabinet, and has a home sports bar which he decorates with sports and music memorabilia.

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