Irish annihilate Blues in season finale, 59-15

Despite missing six regulars, the Irish ran in nine tries to dispose of Bytown in the league finale for both teams.

With the absence of only two players from their epic upset of Crusaders, Bytowns' initial optimism went up in smoke after only three minutes as the Irish were up 12-0 before Bytown had a single touch of the ball.

Dale Burleigh with 3 (giving him 5 in 2 games v Blues), Oren Smith and Dave G. Bergeron with two each, Mark Thompson and Dean Maclean touched down for the Irish, while Gareth Pettigrew converted seven of nine.

Craig Workman and Brodie Diotte scored in the final minute of each halffor the Blues, who finished sixth in the league.

The win ensured a fourth place finish and an 8-6 record for the Irish, who were eighth at 1-4 at the July break.

"We have shown great perseverance in winning seven of our last nine," said coach Mark Winokur, "we made some adjustments to our attitude and our focus in mid-season, and we have gotten better. We have still some way to go, however, to be good enough to retain the Cup."

The development side, suffering from the six first team call-ups, rallied from a 26-5 halftime deficit, only to miss a last play touchlineconversion in a 31-30 loss to Markham.

McCormick Cup play begins on October 14, with the firsts away to Ottawa to take on the Scottish. The development side will compete in a four team, three week, round robin with York, Cru and Beach, also starting that day.

Squad:    Maclean, Burleigh (Whelan - 65 minutes), Ashley (Attaie - 60 minutes), Laing, Jon Carroll, Thompson (Berry - 70 minutes), Crocker, Jackson, Parker, Pettigrew, B. Maxwell, Greco, Smith, Mozes (Goudie - 60 minutes), Bergeron