Following back-to-back trips to the championship Shamrock Bowl in 2014 and 2015, Trinity had been hoping that this season sees a return to form for the club. Despite the loss, the strong showing should give the team plenty of encouragement for the future this season.
The start to any American football year tends to come with a degree of sloppy play as both teams struggle to convert their practice walkthroughs into on-field cohesive success. Trinity managed to capitalise in this error-filled opening few minutes by scoring a touchdown on the first offensive play, a long pass to Conor O’Dwyer. Limerick managed to recover, responding with two touchdowns before halftime and going into the break up 14-6. A two-yard run up the gut from Running Back, Ola Bademosi, brought the Trinity side within two but failed to convert on the two-point conversion to tie the game. Limerick responded with another touchdown and carried a 21-12 lead into the fourth quarter. With the clock winding down, Trinity needed a big play to cue any sort of comeback and with just 90 seconds left, they got one. Following a key defensive stop, Pavel Rozman took a punt 81 yards to the house after duking three defenders to bring the hosts back within two following the point after. While Rozman showed off his searing pace, excellent blocking up the field provided him with the space to run into. Unfortunately, that is as close as Trinity would come as Limerick managed to recover the desperation onside kick and take a knee to wind down the clock, and hold out for a 21-19 win.
Despite the disappointment of an opening-day loss, Sunday’s defeat was not without several encouraging signs for the team. Strong safety, Kevin Fitzpatrick, pointed out several positives from the fixture, speaking to The University Times after the match: “We played well, Ola Bademosi, Dan Finnamore were outstanding, the defence as a unit were solid. We scored on our first play as well.” Rozman, coming off an excellent performance, commended their competition but maintained solidarity amongst the Trinity ranks: “It’s a tough loss – Limerick’s a very good team. They’re great men as well, we love playing them and it’s always competitive. Sometimes we’re on top, this time we lost. But we win as a family and we lose as a family. We’re heading back to the gym, heading back out to Santry for training, getting better and we’ll see Belfast next week.”
Quarterback Dan Finnamore added this after the game that “it was a good structure for the first game, for the new guys coming in. We have a lot of rookies coming in this year and the new O [Offensive] line really came together today. We put a lot of pressure on them to be the kind of driving force in the team and they really stood up and having that was fantastic and we can definitely build on that.”
“With the receivers, it took us a while to get going but it eventually got clicking, it was nice to score on the first play of the game but I think we just need to settle more into the game. Once we did that in the second half we ran the ball a lot more and we were definitely able to be more comfortable within the game”, Finnamore continued.
Finnamore was also positive about the team’s chances in the game against Belfast Trojans next time out: “We were strong on defense today, so we’re going to try and keep that momentum going. Offense-wise, we need to keep the guys going, keep the drills and work on hands with the receivers there were a couple of dropped balls today, receiver block needs to be improved. I think we’re definitely going to be a run team like we were a couple of years ago and we can definitely build on that, it’s a solid platform.”
The most telling praise came from Vikings coach Paul Gilhoole, when he spoke with The University Times after the match: “That was a much tougher game than I thought it would be. Not because we underestimated Trinity, but because the pitch was very difficult to deal with. The Trinity defense was very strong. They played really well, but our offense was very strong as well, it just had too much”.
The shot at redemption comes on March 26th as Trinity take on the traditional league heavyweights Belfast Trojans and look to return to winning ways.
Correction: March 15th, 2017
An earlier version of this post misspelled the name of Conor O’Dwyer. He is Conor O’Dwyer, not Conor Dwyer.
