Trojans Topple The Knights & Admirals Claim A Victory – AFI Week 9
We’re back, baby! After a much needed bit of respite normal service resumed in the Irish American Football league over the weekend with 8 teams in action around the country. The battle of Belfast saw the Knights travelling across the city to Deramore Park to take on their NEIGHbouring (sorry!) Trojans in one of the most anticipated games of the season so far, while in nearby Newforge the Antrim Stags hosted the Giants. Now that I think of it, only one out of four fixtures was in the south of the country, as the Derry based Vipers were also playing host to the Mavericks. And last but not least the Panthers welcomed Cork to South Dublin. There, now everyone’s been mentioned! Our recap of the weekend’s games is below, so get to reading!
Belfast Trojans 44 – Belfast Knights 13
Yikes. We kinda expected the Knights to put up more of a fight here! I guess the Green Machine have finally found their groove. It was a beautiful evening in Belfast and the Trojans had scored 20 unanswered points by halftime, giving the Knights a lot to do if they wanted to claw their way back. Scores in the first half came courtesy of a Dom Lynn pass to Michael Ferris, a Rayshwan rush and another pass from Dom to his brother James.
Callum McCurry managed to pull one back for the Knights on the ground in the third quarter, but it was nowhere near enough to slow the onslaught from their hosts, as Dom Lynn went on a scoring streak with a rushing touchdown of his own and two further tosses to Michael Ferris and Maks Dimitrov. 38 – 7 was how things stood by the end of the 3rd quarter and the Trojans decided to take the foot of the gas a little, only scoring once more on a Dom Lynn pass to Noach Ben-Haim while the Knights claimed a few more consolation points in the form of a Liam Moores pass to Marty Caskey. Dom Lynn had 6 TD’s in total and has really emerged as one of the top signal callers in the country. Both defenses came to play as well, especially those dressed in green as Maks Dimitrov, Chris Hill and Thomas Boyd all came up with interceptions, while the visitors earned a sack from Conor Beckett and Robbie Alexander had a blocked field goal.
After a strong start to the season, this is a disappointing result for the Knights, while their counterparts have definitely put the league on notice with this statement result. I hate to say it, but unless we see something drastic happening in the back half of the season it could be a three horse race for the title in July. Things are about to get very interesting in the top tier!
Antrim Stags 16 – Causeway Giants 16
For the second time this season we had a draw match, as the Stags and Giants duked out a 16 all bout in Newforge Sports Complex. The visiting Giants drew first blood, before the hosts struck back with a Jay Burton score on a pass from Scott McClean to even things up. By half time it was 16 – 8 in favour of the Giants but the Stags were undeterred, and in the 3rd quarter Scott McClean dropped a 60 yard bomb to Eoin Delargy to pull level again. Antrim’s defense was feasting as well, with a total of 5 interceptions and a sack as well for good measure. We couldn’t get any details from the Giants, which does not bode well, but obviously they scored some points as well! 16 all is how things would end in Belfast in what sounds like a very tightly contested fixture between two sides who are making excellent progress this season!
South Dublin Panthers 06 – Cork Admirals 36
I really felt like this was a crucial contest for both sides, for very different reasons. Cork needed to prove that they could score multiple touchdowns and put up some points, while the Panthers needed to avoid another beating and slipping further down the standings. From early on it was evident that things were going to be one sided with Cork up by three scores at half time courtesy of touchdowns from Aaron Hogan, Michael Halliday and Marty Mulrey, the latter bulldozing a helpless defensive back on his way to the endzone. If there was ever a short yardage or goal line specialist – it’s Marty! Do not get in that man’s way!
The Panthers defense did offer some resistance in the form of a sack on Kennedy and a fumble recovery, but even with these big plays their offense was unable to produce the goods outside of some solid rushing from Conor Hoskins. Cork lengthened their lead in the third quarter on a Jake Kennedy pass to Adam Jere, who also had an INT on the day, and on the very next play Matthew Sibanyoni blasted through a beleaguered Panthers line for a huge sack that pushed the opposing offense back even further.
A second Cork interception from Liam O’Leary gave them the ball back shortly after, and Kennedy capitalised with a rushing touchdown of his own to put a cap on a very impressive performance. James O’Leary scored late in the game for the Panthers, but it was too little too late at that stage as the fat lady had already packed up and gone home. With this win, the Admirals can drag themselves off the bottom of the table, and hopefully start up some winning ways again. Things are not looking good for the Panthers however, who will need to find a little bit of magic – and more bodies – if they want to have any sort of success this season.
Northwest Viper 12 – Louth Mavericks 62
Out of all the teams in Division one, I really thought the Vipers would be one to slow down the raging bulls. Boy, was I wrong! For the second time this season the Mavericks put up 60+ points ( the first being THAT game in Castleknock) and are now heavy favourites to be in the final come July. The Vipers struck first on a 45 yard rushing touchdown from AJ Gous, but once Louth got a hold of the ball it became evident who was going to emerge victorious. Ty Henry did what he did best: distribute the ball and put up points including a hattrick passing to Grant Schutte (who also had a rushing touchdown for a grand total of 4) along with passes to Fin O’Donovan and Oisin Finn. Henry wasn’t done there though, also accounting for a rushing touchdown and an interception. What can’t this man do? Ty’s pick was one of three for the visitors along with Mark McCabe and Gerry Lawless while Alex Simms had a forced fumble and recovery for good measure.
Neil Murray of the Vipers did connect with Lewis Leckey for a second score, but it would not be enough to slow the relentless journey that these Mavericks seem to be on. I’m going to double down to finish up this roundup by stating the following: unless things go very, very wrong for this Louth side they should be favourites (along with Westmeath of course) to lift the Harp Bowl in a few months time. Let’s just see if they can keep it going!