Rory McCann and Caoimhe Quigley | Frisbee Correspondents
Trinity hosted Women’s Intervarsities and Developmentals (a tournament aimed at beginners in which only two experienced players are allowed play). These competitions were held side-by-side with a total of eighteen teams participating and with all four seasons making appearances in the form of wind, sun, rain, and hailstones, it was an action packed day out in Santry.
For the women’s first match against UCC2 the sun was shining, the wind was howling and Trinity women were excited to get started. Although Cork’s second team had some strong players, Trinity played a stormer. Some fantastic long throws from the Trinity side, both with and against the wind, saw Trinity clean up with a comprehensive 10-0 victory to start the day. Trinity continued their excellent form against Maynooth, who had seen DUUFC playing and were able to counter Trinity’s offence more effectively than UCC2. Despite this Trinity worked hard against Maynooth’s strong defence and despite Maynooth’s best efforts, the home women pulled off a 6-1 victory.
Photos: Lau Jiaying
Trinity were now only one game away from the final but to get there they would have to overcome rival Dublin college, UCD, a team that had beaten the Trinity ladies only the Tuesday before in a friendly. This was a close game with heavy wind affecting both teams, however, a few extra players joining the Trinity ranks who had been missing on Tuesday helped DUUFC take an early lead which UCD were unable to recover. Trinity fought the UCD girls off to secure a final score of 6-4 and a place in the final against UCC1.
Just as the final began the wind faded briefly. UCC took full advantage of this lull and put some early scores on the board before the tirade resumed. The wind suited the Trinity team and allowed them to get some scores of their own on the scoreboard, however Cork maintained their two point lead as the Trinity chased them on the scoreboard. It was a low scoring game thanks to the savage wind and hail and some very aggressive defence from both sides. Unfortunately, DUUFC were unable to recover from UCC’s early lead who won the game 5-3 leaving Trinity in second place.
Despite the end result the star player of the final was on the home team. Women’s captain Aideen Costello won MVP of the Final, a very well deserved award that reflected her amazing performance and intensity throughout the match.
In many of the women’s games, the wind was a deciding factor and for the developmental team this was very true as well, particularly in their first game against DCU. Trinity won 5-3 and it was the ability of players such as David Stokes and Dara O’ Halloran to throw the disc long against the wind that proved to be the deciding factor in this fiercely contested game.
Photos: Lau Jiaying
The next two games did not go quite as well for Trinity. In their match against Queens, DUUFC encountered different defensive tactics in the form of a zone, as well as a change in the weather; lashing rain added to the driving wind. The weather made Queens’ well drilled zone very hard to beat and they took an early lead which they maintained for the rest of the game. Trinity faced UCC X next, and although the sun came out, UCC took an early lead which their fast athletic side maintained for the rest of the game. Trinity’s defence improved significantly as the game went on and they made UCC work much harder for their scores in the closing stages.
Unfortunately these two losses meant that Trinity were now unable to win the competition and they would have to fight their way up through the lower tiers. Their next game against NUIG got off to a bad start as Trinity went down by two points after a few turnovers against NUIG’s zone defence. However, Trinity had learned from their mistakes against Queens and soon managed to work the disc up patiently through Galway’s zone and began putting scores on the board. Galway got to within one point of winning the game but a lovely hammer into the endzone by Conor de Barra was caught by Gavin Chandra to level the teams. Trinity played excellent defence on the next point to get the disc and then through more patient offence worked the disc into the endzone to get the winning score.
Photos: Lau Jiaying
In the final game, Trinity played DIT to see who would take seventh place out of the ten teams in the competition. DUUFC went up by three points early in the game but after a severe hailstorm, and a series of injuries on both sides, DIT caught up and got to within one point of Trinity. Thanks to some excellent defensive play, which included a remarkable interception by Will Armstrong on the edge of his endzone, Trinity managed to halt the DIT comeback and take seventh place.
Although the Developmentals result was somewhat disappointing, the runners-up finish for the women’s team is a very positive result for a team who have competed well all year.
