Stephen Carton
Staff Writer
As current holders of the Irish American Football College Championship, Trinity Football secured a position in the finals of the annual Intervarsity competition. Travelling down to Limerick on a Saturday evening, Trinity would face the winner of the next morning’s game between The University of Limerick (UL) & UCD.
UL secured a comfortable win in the morning game over UCD, setting up a rematch of the previous College Bowl in which Trinity took the title from Limerick. The game was a solid outing for the Trinity outfit that shut out a physical Limerick side in a convincing win. A dynamic defense captained by Stephen Carton (Strong Safety) wreaked havoc on Limerick’s option run game. Linebacker Gareth O’Shea forced an early fumble against a Limerick running back, the first of the Trinity defense’s many turnovers. Limerick’s offensive line had no answer for former quarterback turned defensive end Alex Gurnee who forced two fumbles and recorded four sacks on top of numerous tackles for losses over the course of the game.
“Linebacker Gareth O’Shea forced an early fumble against a Limerick running back, the first of the Trinity defense’s many turnovers.”
Gurnee also started at Right Tackle on a young Trinity offense which was sharp and effective on the day. First year Quarterback Dan Finamore was composed in the face of a reputable Limerick defense and was able to connect with receivers Daniel Murphy and Craig Marron on both of Trinity’s scoring drives. Two 20 yard catches from notorious Tight End/ Free Safety Andrew Redmond brought Trinity into scoring position on both of these drives. The first drive was capped off with an impressive rushing touchdown by dynamic first year David Lunn who spearheaded Trinity’s rushing attack alongside third year Josh Megan. Megan later ran in Trinity’s second touchdown of the day to seal the win against Limerick.
To accommodate two games in one day, both were played with short quarters and a rolling clock. In the limited time afforded them, the Trinity side displayed the speed and aggression on both sides of the football which has made them one of the top teams in the IAFL.
