A bumper weekend of Irish ball this week! We have three Shamrock Bowl Conference games, an IAFL-1 match-up and the International Challenge Match between the Dublin Rebels and the Centre College Colonels from Kentucky, USA. So let’s get to it!
Shamrock Bowl Conference
Carrickfergus Knights vs. Craigavon Cowboys
This is a highly interesting match-up. The two teams actually met in a preseason match-up, with the Cowboys coming out on top, but the Knights have one of the largest squads in the Irish Leagues this year with thanks to a very proactive offseason recruiting and nurturing their youth squad. With the experience those new pick-ups will have acquired in the baptism of fire that has been Carrickfergus’ opening three games, this will be a very different side to the one that Craigavon faced before the year.
However the Cowboys will have adapted too, having had somewhat of a baptism of fire of their own. Their schedule has been tough, with four of their five games being against the top 3 teams in the SBC, with their fifth match being a comfortable win against the West Dublin Rhinos. The Cowboys’ youth set-up is probably the only one that can match the Knights’s youth development team, something that will set these two sides in good stead for years to come. And looking at some of the young talent now available in the senior side it is easy to see why.
Two things you can always guarantee with the Cowboys is that they will travel in good numbers and they will be physical throughout the entire game. They don’t know how to give up and that is something Carrickfergus will have to contend with on Sunday.
However the Knights proved in their last game, a 34-7 whupping of the Dublin Dragons, that they also continue firing right until the end of the game. So one thing is certain, these two will battle to the final whistle.
North Kildare Reapers vs. West Dublin Rhinos
The Reapers have had a fantastic season no doubt. A win here and they will guarantee at least a .500 record, which is impressive alone in a debut Shamrock Bowl Conference year, but factor in that it will more than likely see them head to the playoffs and it is an outstanding effort by all those involved at the club.
They’re coming off the back of that 68-0 destruction of the Waterford Wolves, where receiver Michael O’Reilly retired from the team in style, reigning in four touchdowns to finish his Reapers career at the top of the SBC Receiving Scoring Charts. The team still has an array of weapons including Ciaran Heneghan and Sean Leamy, who both also profited from a leaky Waterford defence last time out, and a quarterback in Eoin Hallissey who has the arm to get the job done.
The North Kildare team has one of the strongest coaching set ups in the entire League, and this combined with the team’s close-knit bond has seen them reap (sorry, had to be done) the rewards on the gridiron.
The West Dublin Rhinos are at the other end of the spectrum. They are a well organised side and well coached too, but they remain winless so far this year. Their offence has been low scoring for a number of years now but their defence has regularly been solid, often keeping teams to a score or two, and thus they have picked up wins in past seasons. In 2014 however they have struggled to score or defend, putting up just 5 points per game and conceding 23.5 on average.
They look to be relegation candidates along with the Waterford Wolves, and the two sides meet on the final game of the year in what could be the decider of who goes down. A drop in division may not be the worst thing for either of these sides, but talk of that is premature when there is still football to be played. The Rhinos will not give up for sure and will make the Reapers work hard for any spoils they are to take from this game.
UL Vikings vs. Waterford Wolves
The Wolves are another team that have limped through 2014. Injuries have piled up and left the squad down to the bare bones. So a travel to Limerick to face the red-hot Vikings is probably not going to help matters.
The Vikes have hit some form, and their rookies will have developed well because of it. Their two losses, against Trinity and the Dublin Rebels, probably came at the right time for team, in terms of getting them out of the way early in the year before hitting a streak of wins heading into the playoffs. They’re a team that will cause waves, and could quite easily mount a challenge for the Bowl.
With Marc Ashworth, Adrian Garvey and Sean Goldrick having been here and done it all before and a fine set of rookies such as tight end Jake Kelly, who has provided Ashworth with a reliable target in tough spots at times this year, the Vikings’ offence is in an excellent state.
But the defence has defined the team for a number of years now, and it’s been solid again with two shut outs in the last two games.
So what can the Wolves do to stop the Vikings?
Well keep quarterback Eoin Reinhardt upright. He’s been knocked out of a couple of games already this year and, like everybody, can not repeatedly sustain injuries. And then tackle hard but fair! Close the Vikings down quickly, which is easier said than done, and bring them to the floor the first time, something the Wolves struggled with against the Reapers.
IAFL-1
UCD vs. Mullingar Minotaurs
It’s been a good few weeks now since that impressive 8-0 win over the Meath Bulldogs for Mullingar so they’ve had time to prepare for a UCD side that lost to Cork last time out.
The Minotaurs have gone through somewhat of a transformation this year, going to a run heavy offence that is working wonders for the side. They are 2-1, which is already an improvement on last year and that is despite them not putting many points up on the board, showing that their defence is getting the job done when required to.
The only blip for the Minotaurs was the 26-0 shutout they suffered at the hands of this weekend’s opponents, UCD. The home side’s quarterback, Dave Murphy, managed to pick holes in the defence at will that day, and they’ll be keen to correct that this weekend.
UCD looked like they would rip the league apart in early season, with the 26-0 win before a 53-0 win against Cork, but a 2-0 defeat against Meath and the 8-6 loss against Cork has them at 3-2. However, their scoring says it all. They’ve put up 146 points in those five games and conceded just 10. Ridiculous numbers!