Belfast Trojans 8 Univ Limerick Vikings 42

1st quarter scoring: Vikings TD Seamus Hogan 8 yard run. 1 xp Daniel Smith.
2nd quarter scoring: Trojans Safety Erin Wagner. Vikings TD JP Nerbun to Seamus Feehan 28 yard pass. 1 xp Daniel Smith
3rd quarter scoring: Vikings TD Seamus Hogan 30 yard run. 1 xp Daniel Smith. Viking TD JP Nerbun 7 yard run. 1 xp Daniel Smith.
4th quarter scoring: Vikings TD JP Nerbun 2 yard run. 1 xp Daniel Smith. Trojans TD Erin Wagner 7 yard run. 2 xp no good. Vikings TD Adrian Garvey 30 yard run. 1 xp Daniel Smith.

The UL Vikings reached their third consecutive Shamrock Bowl in fine style in the UL Sports Grounds this weekend. They defeated a strong and well experienced Belfast Trojans team in a decisive manner. The game was played in perfect conditions and a sizeable crowd turned up to cheer on UL.

The Vikings kicked to the Trojans to open the game and the Belfast unit came out determined to set up their running game. Using running back Erin Wagner as a battering ram they picked up solid yards at times but Wagner found it difficult to find running room against the speedy Vikings defence. Bill Parkinson and Liam Ryan made important tackles and forced the Trojans to punt. The Trojans punter, who had an excellent game, kicked deep into Vikings territory but Seamus Feehan fielded the kick and put the Vikings back into Trojans territory. Quarterback JP Nerbun then directed a ground based drive where Seamus Hogan and Jim Davis picked up good yardage behind the Vikings O-line of Kieran Coen, Brendan Moroney, Jamie O'Brien, Dave Moloney and Mark Thompson. Seamus Hogan punched the ball in from 8 yards out for the go ahead score. Daniel Smith converted the extra point. He was 6 for 6 on the day. Both defences then took over and strong performances from Bill Parkinson, Jim Davis, Cormac Ryan and Mark Gaffney limited the Trojans O while Jeroen Egge, Chris Weir and Erin Wagner were disruptive forces for the Trojans.

The second quarter continued as an intense and very physical struggle with both teams looking to exert dominance over the other. The Vikings took over on offence after an excellent kick by the Trojans punter. The Trojans D-line pressured the Vikings QB and Erin Wagner dragged Nerbun down in the endzone to get the Trojans on the scoreboard. The Trojans then took over on offence and made excellent yardage on the ground through Wagner and a couple of receptions by Kai Ruggeri. Chris McKeown then went deep to Ruggeri in the endzone but the ball was picked off by the Vikings Safety Liam Ryan. The Vikings then took over on their own 20 yard line with 2 minutes left in the half. Nerbun led an artful drive completing passes to Marc Ashworth who gained valuable first downs and got out of bounds to stop the clock. Then Nerbun connected with Seamus Feehan on a spectacular 28 yard touchdown pass as time expired in the half.

The Vikings started the 2nd half strongly with Seamus Feehan ripping off a mazy 50 yard return on the opening kickoff. Seamus Hogan then took the ball off tackle on the first play and took it 30 yards for the score. JP Nerbun then added another on a 7 yard bootleg that capped a drive dominated by strong running from Adrian Garvey. The Vikings defense continued its struggle with Wagner with Bill Parkinson and Alan O’Carroll landing some huge hits on the big running back.

The Trojans came out in the fourth quarter needing to score quickly as the game was slipping away from them but Brendan McCarthy came up with an interception that killed their attack. Adrian Garvey then continued to torment the Belfast defense and Marc Ashworth picked up more yards in the air. JP Nerbun then punched the ball in from 2 yards out. The Trojans continued to battle and never gave up on the game and were rewarded by a bruising 7 yard TD run by their standout running back Erin Wagner. Their 2 point conversion was unsuccessful as a pass to Ruggeri was broken up on the goal line by the Vikings Liam Ryan. Adrian Garvey then capped an MVP performance on the day with a dazzling 30 yard TD run to end the game.