OCTOBER 1988-IRISH STAY ALIVE IN "A" DIVISION

The Irish, in their first year back in the A division, struggled through a difficult league season early, going 0 for 5 in a seven game season. This being the final year of a mixed cup and league season, the Irish had already qualified for the semi-final by beating Kingston, Nomads, and the Welsh, but faced the unenviable task of having to beat Saracens on October 1 and Brampton on October 15 in order to stay up. Should they accomplish that mission, the greens would then host defending champion Balmy Beach in the semi on October 22...

Derek Bailey's try and two penalty goals from out half Chris Mann lifted Irish Canadians (1-5) past Saracens (1-5) at Fletchers on Saturday.   A windy gray day with off and on light rain kept both teams from moving the ball around, but the Irish took slightly better advantage of the wind to move to a 7-4 halftime advantage.  Late pressure by the Saracens saw tight head prop Tony Stea bundled into touch just short of the line on the games final play.

The Irish ran in two first half tries to defeat Brampton Beavers 19-10 on a sunny, cool day at Brampton to stay in the A division (where we have now resided for 14 going on 15 years!).  The Irish were paced by the fine play of halfback Peter Ameli and solid scrummaging from the Terrible Twosome of props Tom and Tim Kennelly.   The greens led at halftime by 11-0 to move past Brampton (1-6) in the ORU's final league day.

Before one of the largest crowds seen at Fletchers, Beach edged the Irish 15-12 on five Tony McGann kicks to retain their cup win streak. A bitterly cold, grey day with snow in the morning went unnoticed by the players as they battled evenly for 100 minutes.  Ironically, the Irish scored two converted tries in regulation, with McGann managing four kicks.  The five point try, introduced in 1992, would have given the Irish a win in regulation!  McGann struck his fifth goal in the 12th minute of a 20 minute OT and the Irish could not get close enough to tie at the end.

The game marked a curious sort of sea change for the Irish; seven members of Toronto Nomads joined the club over the winter, a few more came from New Zealand with new coach Dean Ross, and the Irish maintained their momentum to gain third place in the league in '89, then reached the final in '90....

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