Last Tuesday, Conor McGrath, Dave Edwards, Stephen Kearns and Sam Kidd from the South Dublin Panthers paid a visit to Presentation College Bray on the invitation of Jack Lawlor, a 2nd year Presentation College student. As part of a Sky Sports initiative to introduce minority sports to schools, the four Panthers put the students through their paces, giving them the opportunity to experience all the positions that American football has to offer. The students then put into practice all the skills they had learned in a game of “Burkey Ball”, a Panthers’ favourite version of flag football.

The Panthers organisation would like to thank Jack and all at Presentation College for hosting them and getting to know the sport we love. It’s safe to say that if these guys take up the sport their level of talent means that American Football’s future is in safe hands

The Craigavon Cowboys welcomed the Carrickfegus Knights to Chambers Park last Sunday in their 2015 season opener. The game drew a big crowd as the Cowboys also organised a Family Fun Day as part of the fixture.

The visitors came out of the blocks flying, scoring on their opening drive and again soon after to take a 13-0 lead. After a long injury delay, the Cowboys gathered themselves on both sides of the ball and saw their hard work pay off when Peter Loughran crept the ball over the line behind some great Offensive Line blocking. The failed conversion saw the game reach the half at 13-6 in the Knights’ favour.

The second half started the same as the first with the Knights dominating early with a touchdown. Once again the home side were on the back foot but managed to claw their way back into the game with Running Back Carlos Delgado scoring the touchdown of the day after a 62 yard run. Carlos broke a tackle out wide then showed terrific pace to speed past the secondary defence before running into the End Zone.

After some stuttering from the Cowboys’ Offence, the Knights crawled back into the game again through a controversial touchdown that the Cowboys protested over but to no avail. It was a disappointing day for the Cowboys with some harsh lessons learnt, but they have chance to rectify any issues before they travel to face the Dublin Rebels on the 12th April.

Cowboy’s Head Coach Greg Loughran commented on the game, “We made some key mistakes at crucial times in the game and they made us pay. They are a very well organised team and we came away with heavy hearts as we felt we didn’t do ourselves justice. We will learn from this and come back stronger”.

Although the Cowboys were unhappy with their on-field performance, off the field the Family Fun Day was a resounding success. Over 400 visitors attended the event and lent plenty of noise, colour and atmosphere to the event and a great day was had by all.

Thanks to the Cowboys for the game report and Arianne Photography for the photos

Results –  Sunday 22nd March:

Shamrock Bowl Conference:

Trinity College Dublin 29-28 Dublin Rebels

Craigavon Cowboys 12-34 Carrickfergus Knights

IAFL1:

Mullingar Minotaurs 6-29 Dundalk Mavericks

Cork Admirals 33-6 Waterford Wolves

Defending champions, Belfast Trojans opened their 2015 campaign with a 33-9 victory over the South Dublin Panthers at Westmanstown in Dublin.

UL Vikings go to 2-0 with a 17-6 win over UCD in a tight game at Belfield.

North Kildare Reapers start their season with a 12-0 win over the West Dublin Rhinos.

More details to follow.

Thanks to the Vikings’ Kelly Angley for the review and Dexter Tougher for the photos

After a two week delay the IAFA Shamrock Bowl Conference finally got underway last weekend. Trinity travelled for their first game of the season away to the University of Limerick, one of the most dreaded away venues in the country. The game was always going to be a close contest between the two rival college sides, both determined to open the season with a bang.

Trinity started with possession of the ball with Dan Finnamore calling the shots, handing the ball to Rob McDowell on several plays where he was met by what seemed to be a sea of blue jerseys, led by defensive tackles Glen Carr and John Mullen. Trinity botched the snap on their first punt with the Viking linebacker Lorcan Crean steaming through to recover the fumble.

Next, captain Ian Cahill and his offense took to the field for their first SBC game with Cahill himself under centre. Adrian Garvey charged behind his offensive line to bring it to 3rd and 1 on their first drive into Trinity’s end of the field, but after failing to convert the attempt the Vikings opted to pin Trinity back with a punt.

On Trinity’s second possession, the noise from the Vikings sideline was deafening and started affecting the Dublin students with two false starts on a three and out series.

The Vikings showed faith in their new and improved offensive line and pounded the rock hard. In their second series they put together 12 plays with some great tackle breaking runs by Garvey, being led up field by the mean duo of Guards Jason O’ Leary and Kieran Coen. Trinity took the field for another quick single first down series as they got pinned in behind their ten due to an outstanding punt by the Vikings.

The Vikings broke the deadlock on their third drive deep in the second quarter. After pounding the rock with Garvey, the Vikings threw for their longest pass of the day to the same man for a 22 yards before out muscling Trinity into the end zone, with a fullback carry from Centre Murtaugh’s block, to take a 7-0 lead.

Trinity then switched their QB in an attempt to even up the score before the half. McDowell completed a 30 yard pass down the Trinity sideline to put them in a position to test the Viking’s redzone defence, which almost ended with CB Sheehy picking a McDowell ball out of the sky. It got called back for a flag however, which pushed Trinity deeper into enemy territory. One last attempt to even it up before the half, an untimed down from the 10, McDowell throws a rocket to his WR #31 who jumped in the end zone to catch the ball as he was simultaneously hit by defensive backs Craig Switzer and Sean Sheehy to jar the ball loose and end the half.

The second half kicked off with the Vikings having possession and running the ball for another long drive, where they successfully went for it on 4th down to keep their drive alive. They were probably within range to attempt a field goal but opted to play it safe and again pin Trinity back with a great punt.

Trinity stuck with McDowell under centre as they continued to test the Vikings’ dominant run Defence, after which the Vikings took the field again after a short series. Continuing to hand the ball off to their running backs, the Vikings continued to pound and pound again with RB Garvey picking up chunks of ground as they moved the ball along. Finally Cahill hit them with a run himself for 25 yards into the end zone, thanks to a huge block by WR Andrew McMahon.

This put the Vikings in a very strong position, up 14 points late in the third, after already establishing a strong run game that chewed the game clock.

Trinity opted to put back in QB Finamore, and on his first snap got the ball to his TE but was tackled by club legend Seamus “Smash” Hogan who knocked the ball loose and sent the already loud sideline insane. This proved to become a major issue for Trinity who had to burn timeouts as Finnamore and Coach Drake could not communicate over the Vikings booming sideline. The Vikings defence fed off this and were all over Trinity’s receivers, and shut down any run attempts forcing Trinity to yet again punt.

The Vikings took control of the ball, and the game, at this point as they completed another long offensive drive, sending the game into the fourth quarter with runs from Goldrick, Gleeson, Cahill and Garvey. Trinity again had little success running the ball, but Finnamore did make a great spiral throw to his WR #87 for 34 yards to put them in the redzone and give them a glimmer of hope. Trinity tried a pass to the Viking sideline, but Lorcan Crean provided tight coverage, not allowing any chance for the ball to be caught. Trinity then tried another pass to their own sideline, but veteran DB Switzer batted it out of bounds, ending the drive for this tough Trinity outfit.

The Vikings took the field again with the intention of chewing the clock, but after a time consuming 3 and out rushing series, the Vikings punted to give Trinity one last possession.

Trinity took the field with the intention of airing the ball. On the first play, Finnamore completed a short pass along the Vikings sideline to WR #81 for 10 yards, but this was to be their last completion. On the next play, Finnamore was nearly picked off by Hogan, who stood out on the day. With time ticking down on Trinity they gave the ball to McDowell to run, but he was swallowed up by the Viking’s defensive line. On third down, Finnamore stood tall in the pocket near the half way line, before letting a rocket go 30 yards to an uncovered McDowell who had snuck behind the Viking’s linebackers. However a diving pass defence from the Viking’s newest captain, Ray “Hunting” Burke, slapped the ball right from his hands. This set up one last pass attempt for Trinity, but this was batted down and out of bounds by Switzer, effectively ending the game. Cahill and his offence then kneeled out the game and took their first victory over Trinity in almost 2 years.

The Vikings move atop their division at 1-0 and have a quick turn around to play UCD this Sunday in another battle for the division. Trinity have a two week break to recover before their 2014 semi-final re-match against the Dublin Rebels, in their season opener.

Trinity and the UL Vikings will meet again on May 24th in the Trinity Sports Grounds, Santry.

The SBC Week 1 match-up between UCD and Trinity College Dublin, which was cancelled due to an unplayable pitch, has now been rescheduled for Saturday 11th April, kick-off 2pm.