Carrickfergus Knights 16- 19 Trinity College

Sunday 18th March 2012 – Trinity College Sports Grounds.

By Trinity College Reporter.

After two heartbreaking losses in their opening fixtures, the Trinity College American football team welcomed Northern Ireland’s finest, the Carrickfergus Knights, to Santry. The sides met last year in a tough encounter, as Trinity were beaten 39-0, due to significantly depleted numbers. The Knights had a stellar season last year, but the DUAFC believed in their ability to overturn their rivals and get their season back on track. Trinity made their intentions clear very early on in the game. A few minutes into the first quarter a poorly gauged throw from Adam Devenney landed in the hands of cornerback Imar Coleman. The lightweight defender scurried back towards goal before being brought down, and earned the plaudits of his teammates. This fantastic piece of play gave the home team a shorter field to work with, and within a few moments quarterback Dan Flynn combined with target-man Alex Gurnee for a well worked touchdown. With this play Gurnee is continuing his outstanding form, and the team set the tone for the day. A two point conversion was unsuccessful, making the score 6-0.

The offence didn’t have to wait long to get the ball again; last year’s player of the season, Brian O’Driscoll, came up with another interception after a few more passages of play. This drive ended when kicker Peter Quinlan’s effort, into the wind, fell just short. Trinity had made an early impression on both sides of the ball, quelling opposition pressure, and countering with some big hits. Flynn made progress through the air, and the offence ticked over quite successfully. The landmark play of the quarter was another huge catch from Gurnee, who brought the collegiate offence to within five yards. Trinity turned to their talismanic halfback Rob McDowell, and he fought his way into the endzone, and won six more points for the team. Again, the two point conversion was missed.

The momentum was carried into the second quarter, as linebacker David Barker forced a fumble around midfield which the Trinity defence recovered, and Andrew Redmond forced another fumble close to the Carrickfergus goal line. The latter effort was a bruising blindside hit which caught the visiting quarterback by complete surprise. The rich vein of form carried through to the end of the half, an excellent completion to wide receiver Craig Marron was a standout play. Trinity’s first real scare came with an injury to their starting quarterback Dan Flynn after some great pressure from the Knight’s defensive line resulted in a huge sack. Flynn had been marshalling the play exceptionally well and his loss could be detrimental to Trinity. The half arrived with Trinity leading 12-0.

Perhaps sensing that this game was slipping away from them, the Knights came out looking very strong in the exposition of the second half. They began to connect on offence and made some good ground as they progressed to the Trinity goal line. Ultimately, it was the home defence who had the last laugh, as a wonderful goal line stand forced the ball to be turned over on downs. Trinity were in a tight spot, as they had to begin from their own goal line and were without Flynn, who was too injured to continue. McDowell was entrusted with the ball from a direct snap and the resulting play was magic. The blockers opened up a huge gap for McDowell and he bolted the full length of the pitch for a touchdown. The team opted to kick on this occasion, and Peter Quinlan neatly dispatched the point. Again the visitors came back strong, and they finally managed to get through the combative Trinity defence for a score. They successfully kicked an extra point, to bring the margin back to twelve points.

Despite the best efforts of Rob McDowell and Josh Megan, the offence couldn’t produce any momentum, and the Knights were beginning to gather momentum on both sides of the ball. In the final quarter, Carrickfergus marched down the field and were only stopped short by some more heroics from Brian O’Driscoll, who recorded a second interception. This turned to disaster for the college side, as they were pinned down at their own goal. A short series was brought to a halt when an uncharacteristic fumble gifted Carrickfergus possession yards from the endzone. This was duly recovered and carried over the line for 6 points, and an extra point, leaving the score at 19-14. No matter their effort, Trinity’s unorthodox running offence could not come up with enough yards to guarantee safety on the scoreboard.

The Knights ploughed on, and gave the home side cause for worry as they approached the goal line. However, O’Driscoll rose above the rest again to claim his third grab of the day when it mattered. With a very short field to work with and time running out, Trinity made a gutsy decision to sacrifice two points in the form of a safety, and give their opponents the ball back. The game then resumed with Trinity leading 19-16. Peter Quinlan took the free kick, and in a calamity of errors for Carrickfergus, Trinity pinned their rivals in their own half. Trinity had only a nervous few minutes of defensive work to play in order to claim their first victory of the season, and their defensive rigidity, a trademark of the team, proved to be enough.

The win brings Trinity’s record to 1 win and 2 losses, and will help kickstart the DUAFC’s season. The club now has five games before the playoffs, and will expect to improve its record significantly in the run-in to summer.

Report by Conor Bates

On the opening kick off of the 2012 IAFL campaign, Rhinos receiver Shawn “Dougy” Douglas caught the ball and followed his blockers all the way to the end zone for his first touchdown of the season. It wouldn’t be long before he returned though as the Tullamore Phoenix opening drive ended in a turnover after a fumble forcing sack from defensive end Stephen Mooney. Set up in prime field position inside Phoenix territory, Rhinos quarterback Stephen Macken lofted a pass deep into the end zone which was hauled in by Dougy.

Still in the first quarter the Rhinos defense halted the Phoenix on their next possession which resulted in more points for the Rhinos offense. Quarterback Macken threw a deep pass into the end zone once more which was batted away from receiver Alex McGuirk by a Phoenix player, but only as far as receiver Paul Hosford who showed great reflexes and concentration to haul in the batted ball for a touchdown. He then converted the point after attempt to bring the score up to 19-0.

The Rhinos defense continued the game as they started it, stopping the Phoenix offense from gaining any momentum. While Tullamore found some success running the ball the passing game was not as successful. The Rhinos secondary accounted for 3 interceptions with John Keegan, Sam Monson and Wellington “Wello” Omorodion all snagging passes from the Phoenix QB. While John Keegan and Sam Monson picked up a lot of yards on their returns, Wello was the only defensive player to take the ball all the way to the end zone for a touchdown.

Leading 26-0 at half time the Rhinos were not about to get complacent and let the Phoenix players turn the game around. The second half was fought even harder by both teams with the Phoenix chasing the game and the Rhinos aiming for that elusive shut out. Rhinos quarterback Stephen Macken added to the scoring total in the third quarter when he ran up the middle falling over into the end zone for the first touchdown of the second half.

The final score of the game came late in the fourth quarter as quarterback Stephen Macken found receiver Shawn “Dougy” Douglas just inside the end zone once again for Dougy’s third touchdown of the game. Receiver Sean Power was unlucky in the fourth quarter after he caught a pass from Macken, turned up field and dived just inside the pylon for what would have been his first touchdown of the season only for a holding penalty to take the score off the board.

While Tullamore failed to get on the scoreboard they did not stop trying, forcing the Rhinos defense to step up to keep them at bay. The receivers from Tullamore managed to come up with some spectacular receptions at times much to the dismay of the home team. Fighting hard to the very end Tullamore threatened to score up until the very last play of the game. On their last drive they picked up first down after first down through the air but the Rhinos defense stiffened to keep them out of the end zone. Final score Rhinos 38 Phoenix 0.

After opening the season on a high note, the Rhinos are back in action in two weeks time against northern division opponents the Belfast Trojans. The game will be held in Castleknock College at 1pm on the 25th of March 2012. We hope all the friends, family and fans who came out to support us yesterday can make another appearance in two weeks time as it was great having you there!

Week 3 results:

Dublin Rebels 52-18 Trinity College;

Tullamore Phoenix 0-38 West Dublin Rhinos;

Belfast Trojans 31-12 Craigavon Cowboys.

Despite a slow start, Tullamore Phoenix opened their first season in the IAFL South with a 19-0 win over the Dublin Dragons on Sunday. Receiving the opening kickoff, Tullamore benefited from great work by its kick return team, especially Cian Minnock, to secure excellent field position. However, the offence failed to take advantage and the Dragons’ defence forced a fumble to gain possession of the ball just two plays later.

 The Dublin team were unable to do anything with their possession though and quickly went three and out. Determined to make amends on their second drive of the game, Phoenix marched the ball 70 yards to get within eight yards of the Dragons’ endzone. Once again though, simple mistakes cost Tullamore and they fumbled the ball on third and goal, bringing an end to the first quarter.

 Taking the ball at the start of the second quarter, the Dragons were once again unable to score but their ability to convert on third down meant they were chewing up a considerable portion of the clock. In a rush to put points on the board before halftime, Phoenix turned to their passing game and, despite reaching the redzone for the second time in just four possessions, they were unable to convert on fourth down meaning the game remained scoreless at halftime.

 The third quarter went much the same way as the second with the Dragons eating up huge chunks of game time while still failing to score. Indeed, a full 40 minutes elapsed between Tullamore’s last offensive possession of the first half and first possession of the second, including the 15 minute half time break. However, far from being rusty, Phoenix took to the field with a new determination and, thanks in part to the hard yards of running back Darren Byrne and a couple of excellent catches by rookie tight end Aaron Fennally, they worked their way into the redzone once more. This time, Phoenix weren’t to be denied. After taking advantage of a pass interference penalty on first and goal, Finbarr Glynn continued his scoring streak from last season, taking the ball in from three yards for the game’s opening score.

 Now chasing the game, the Dragons had little choice but to throw the ball and the Phoenix defence took advantage with Rory O’Keeffe (74 yards) and Steve McElligott (26 yards) returning interceptions for touchdowns on the next two Dragons’ possessions to make the score 19-0.

 Speaking after the game, Phoenix Head Coach John Judge said: “I’ll never be disappointed with a win but I thought there were a number of areas where we could have been better today. They’ll have to be improved on if we’re to compete with the Rhinos in Dublin next week. “That said, there were a lot of guys out there playing their very first game and I think everyone on the team will be a better player for the experience.”

Other Week 2 Results:

Cork Admirals 6-20 Dublin Rebels

Carrickfergus Knights 13-8 UCD