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To kick off our partnership with Double Coverage, we’re looking at the opening fixture of the Shamrock Bowl Conference this weekend to commence a Summer filled with three Leagues of Irish football and with it comes the increased coverage we’ve been promising from DC. Going along with tradition, the first game of the Shamrock Bowl Conference is a university match up between the University of Limerick Vikings and Trinity College Dublin, taking place TCD Sports Ground this Sunday.
This should be a firecracker of an opening game. These sides met three times last year, with Trinity winning the battle 2-1. Victories of 0-20 and 22-10 surrounded a heartbreaking 13-12 loss for the Dublin side that went on to win the SBC South and head to the play-off semi-finals and compete in the Atlantic Cup. And they have to be favourites for this game too. As well as playing at home they have strengthened the roster that finished last year with less than 20 players. Their main force has returned too, to add experience to the side. Rob McDowell is back from his ACL injury and the running back will be sure to be a key figure not only in the team but the League. In comes impressive young quarterback Dan Finnamore from the Drogheda Lightning whilst last year’s stand-in QB, Alex Gurnee, heads back to his original tight end position to add more weapons for Finnamore to use. The highly impressive Andrew Redmond will be looking to command the defence and continue his streak of turnovers from the safety position.
But this isn’t going to be a walkover. With an offence that boasts Sean Goldrick, Paul Keane, Sean Sheehy, an impressive O-Line and Adrian Garvey, when he’s not terrorizing opposing offences from the defensive end position, the Vikings can score on any team. Keane takes up the quarterback position left vacant by Marc Ashworth, and, whilst they’re big shoes to fill, the former wide receiver has plenty of weapons to help him out. Garvey will revert back to his running back position after a year on the defensive side of the ball and Goldrick, whilst he will play both ways, will always be a dangerous receiver.
Double Coverage currently ranks Trinity higher than the UL Vikings in our Power Rankings, but can the Limerick team change all that come this weekend? We could see an early shift in those rankings next week. Will the UL side be able to bounce back from what will have been a disappointing season by their own high standards? Will they be able to get some kind of revenge on the Trinity team? We’ll find out Sunday.