Ireland: Mavericks go Raging Bull & Eagles soar to 1st win

Week 7 Irish American football recap. How did we get here? Almost halfway through the season! And still so much football to be played! It was all go again around the league last weekend, with the Mavericks going full raging bull in a rout of the Rhinos while down in Gorey the Eagles finally got a W and in Cork the Boys from Belfield swept aside the Leesiders in their bid for back to back Shamrock Bowl titles. We’ll waste no more space here with teasers, because you can get all the details in our game round up below!

Louth Mavericks 68 –  Dublin Rhinos 22 

Despite high hopes that this rematch of last year’s thrilling Division One Semi Final would be one of the best games of the weekend, the final result was somewhat one sided. The new look Louth Mavericks (sporting some of the cleanest kits in the country) piled up the most points in club history in Castleknock on Saturday, avenging last year’s playoff defeat and putting the rest of the league on notice. Louth scored three consecutive unanswered touchdowns in the first quarter before the Rhinos could respond: two passing TD’s from Ty Henry to Nathan Hearty and a Grant Schutte rushing score. The Mavericks also recovered two of their own kick-offs, resulting in additional possessions and emphasizing the often overlooked importance of special teams.

An Ethan Foster passing touchdown to Davit Rubenia  on the next Rhinos possession somewhat slowed the onslaught, but when Brendan SImms housed the ensuing kick return and Grant Schutte dashed the length of the field to give the Mavericks a 40 – 6 advantage in the 2nd quarter, things were starting to get ugly. Rhinos running back Craig Usher pulled another score back before the break and added the 2 point conversion, but Hearty’s Hattrick and a walk-in touchdown from Fin O’Donovan right at the halftime whistle sent this game past the point of no return.

The scoring slowed somewhat in the 2nd half, as the Raging Bulls stepped off the gas; only adding one additional touchdown on an Alan Minto run. To the credit of their opponents, they never stopped fighting and were rewarded with some small solace on a Matt Mayes interception as well as a Carmen Bechanu floating fumble recovery for a TD late in the fourth quarter; the big defensive lineman plucking the ball out of the air as it tumbled out of Ty Henry’s hands and returning it for a score. While the Rhinos are terribly in need of some soul searching to try and reclaim their winning ways of 2024, the Mavericks are clearly on a mission and after 2 assertive back to back victories are well on their way to another playoff appearance.

Dublin Rebels 26 – Craigavon Cowboys 0 

You never like to hear about games being abandoned due to player injuries, and unfortunately this was the case in De La Salle on Saturday afternoon. Before the game was called off in the 3rd quarter, the Rebels were leading 26 zip on the back of a Tommy Breslin hattrick receiving from Sam Doran and another score from Jack Cronin. Breslin had a quiet enough game on his last outing, so it’s good to see him finally being utilised. Jack Cronin is also lowkey having himself a strong season while Sam Doran has clearly come into his own as a top QB.

The Rebels have shaken off the game one slump to UCD and are going about reestablishing themselves as one of the league’s best sides. This was never really in doubt, but back to back wins go a long way to letting the rest of the league know that the Rebels aren’t in as much of a rebuilding phase as we previously might have been led to believe. As for Craigavon, it’s extremely tough to travel that far, only to have the fixture fall incomplete. Especially when you’re already experiencing depleted numbers. At the end of the day, this is just a game and we wish the injured player a speedy recovery and all the best for the rest of the season.

Wexford Eagles 28 – Cill Dara Crusaders 22

Eagles win!!! We’ve genuinely been rooting for the Eagles this season and on Sunday they finally pulled a win out of the bag at home against a Crusaders side that have now dropped two games in a row. The Wexford outfit ran Westmeath close to start their campaign, and new head honcho Ross McCooey has to be thrilled and relieved in equal measures with this result.

Quarterback Doran Taylor got it done on the ground and through the air, with 2 rushing TDs and a passing TD to Luke Fitzpatrick on his stat sheet for the day, while Trevor Smith bagged a pick six for good measure.

For the visitors Nathan Purcell was under centre, accounting for 2 scores passing while the ever reliable Wello rushed for another. Defensively, Rob Greene nabbed an interception and Greg McNamara had a sack, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Eagles from soaring. Wexford now need to build on this momentum to save their season, while the Crusaders must find a way out of what could be a worrying slide after a strong start to the season.

Westmeath Minotaurs 16 – Causeway Giants 12   

Westmeath to Armoy must be a hell of a drive. Especially when you’re on your way to play such a physically demanding game like American football. But despite being 6-0 down to the Giants at halftime, the Minotaurs turned things around with a Rafa Monteiro 80 yard TD run coupled with a Cathal Dunne receiving score. The clincher came when the Giants attempted a 2 point conversion to tie things up after scoring again late, only for the pass to be picked off and returned for 2 points by Eoin Duffy. Nathan Chapman connected with Ben Smith for the Giants first score, while Jig McCoy had the second, again to Ben Smith as well as the ill fated 2 point conversion attempt that sealed victory for Westmeath.

What must be frustrating for the Giants is the lack of successful PAT’s, which if had been made would have at least forced a draw. But they can’t dwell on what could have been.

With the win Westmeath stays perfect at 4-0 and retain their spot at the top of the table. But for how long? Because there’s more than a few teams closing in on them quickly!

UCD 42 – Cork Admirals 6  

Well, there’s certainly no rust on the champs! After a ridiculously long layoff of 5 weeks, you wouldn’t have blamed UCD for being a little bit slow out of the gates. But that was most certainly not the case. Winning is a habit and the boys in blue wasted no time in picking right back up. Arun Mooney amassed four total touchdowns down in MTU stadium, connecting with favourite target Tom Donovan twice as well as Jefferson Freeman while adding another score with his legs. Tom McEniff also rushed for a score, while talented backup QB Tadgh O’Connor connected with Jack O’Riordan for 6 towards the game’s conclusion. O’Connor has been getting plenty of valuable game experience recently, a trend that should continue as long as UCD keep winning comfortably.

The home team did manage to muster a single score on a long passing touchdown from Jake Kennedy to Michael Halliday, but it would have been beyond hopeful to expect them to pull off an upset here against a team of UCD’s calibre. David Kinsella and Jahn Dasisni earned an interception each, which might not be of much solace in the grand scheme of things. It’s important that this young Cork squad keep fighting and don’t let their heads drop because I do think that the best is still yet to come for them. The real question now is, who can stop UCD? Personally I think it’s going to come down to when the Belfast Trojans visit Belfield on May 24th for a much anticipated showdown. Watch this space!

Belfast Knights 45 – UL Vikings 0

A shut out at home for the Knights keeps them in the hunt for the postseason as we approach the halfway point of the season, sitting pretty with a 2-1 record. A strong defensive performance  highlighted by sacks from Robbie Alexander and Blaine Early led the way for a powerful offensive display. Harry Salt rushed for a brace of touchdowns, while Marty Caskey and Daithi McShane had two receiving scores each, all thrown by Zac McDowell.

UL’s woes didn’t end there however, as they were also on the wrong end of a fumble recovery by Belfast’s Ben Smyth on a kickoff and two blocked punts courtesy of Matthew Moody and Conor Beckett.  With the win, the Knights establish themselves as a top team in this division and barring disaster should easily secure a semi final spot. Unfortunately for the Vikings however, it seems their longboat has sprung a leak and while it’s not time to panic quite yet they badly need a few wins if they want to avoid a relegation battle.

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