Coming off their first loss of the season last weekend against University College Dublin (UCD), Trinity’s American footballers logged an impressive win against the Louth Mavericks in Santry on Sunday. A few star performances on Trinity’s side blatantly exposed the Mavericks’ flaws, despite the visitors’ numerical and physical supremacy.
Though the first half started with a relatively even show of play, it quickly became apparent that Trinity’s quarterback Ben Dowling could make incisive passes in pivotal moments. This could be due to the fact that he threw 34 passes, indicating the way they would play the game: aerially. With an impassable offensive line and excellent receivers in the form of brothers Conor and Rory O’Dwyer, Raphael Stark and team Captain Len van Dalsen, Dowling had no lack of options for the passing game.
The defence also showed no mercy, forcing a fumble twice and intercepting one of the only passes from the Mavericks’ quarterback, whose only gameplan seemed to be to give it to the running back and hope not to get sacked while doing so, which did happen on occasion. This gameplan suited Trinity’s cornerbacks and safety, who might otherwise have had a difficult time playing zone coverage on what can only be described as rapid receivers.
Trinity’s own performance, though, was not without flaws. For Trinity’s five touchdowns, they only managed to convert after the touchdown once, and that was an attempt at a two-point conversion to make up for previous misses. But it is hard to blame the kicker, Jordan Mulvaney, when his protection was severely lacking after the snap. His other efforts on field were, simply put, excellent. The field positioning he gave his team when kicking to the Mavericks was clinical and advantageous.
The most glaring mistakes made by Trinity could be seen by the snaps to Dowling and Mulvaney. A difficult action in the game, to be sure, but when the quarterback has to nearly scrape his knuckles against the ground, something needs to done to solidify the fundamentals of football.
The flaws, though technical and fixable, prevented this dominant game to turning into a rout. The Mavericks did score a touchdown in the last quarter, though this was more a show of life than anything that could qualify as being the beginning of a comeback. That being said, Trinity showed conviction and clinicality, a good sign for the rest of the season.
