Final League Table

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
Duke Premier Division
*Dublin Celts	8	8	0	0	242	43	1.000
*Belfast Spartans	8	4	4	0	113	202	.500
Craigavon Cowboys	8	3	5	0	127	160	.375
East Antrim Cougars	8	1	7	0	38	206	.125
Baron First Division
*Belfast A26 Bulldogs	8	7	1	0	88	28	.875
*NI Giants	8	5	3	0	123	84	.625
Dublin Tornadoes	8	0	8	0	0	8	.000

Playoff Results

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Playoffs
04.09.1989	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	7	Belfast Spartans	0
28.10.1989	Dublin Celts	19	NI Giants	6
	Shamrock Bowl IV
05.11.1989	Dublin Celts	7	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	6

Regular Season Results

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Week 1
07.05.89	Belfast Spartans	0	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	40
07.05.89	Dublin Tornadoes	0 #	NI Giants	1
	Week 2
13.05.89	East Antrim Cougars	14	Belfast Spartans	36
14.05 89	Dublin Celts	38	Craigavon Cowboys	0
14.05.89	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	6	NI Giants	0
	Week 3
20.05.89	East Antrim Cougars	0	Dublin Celts	51
20.05.89	Craigavon Cowboys	13	NI Giants	19
21.05.89	Dublin Tornadoes	0 #	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	1
	Week 4
28.05.89	NI Giants	19	Dublin Celts	43
28.05.89	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	1	East Antrim Cougars	0 #
	Week 5
03.06.89	Belfast Spartans	26	Craigavon Cowboys	21
04.06.89	Dublin Celts	1	East Antrim Cougars	0 #
04.06.89	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	1	Dublin Tornadoes	0 #
	Week 6
11.06.89	Dublin Celts	14	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	9
11.06.89	NI Giants	1	Dublin Tornadoes	0 #
	Week 7
17.06.89	East Antrim Cougars	6	NI Giants	46
18.06.89	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	17	Craigavon Cowboys	7
	Week 8
24.06.89	Belfast Spartans	35	East Antrim Cougars	3
25.06.89	Craigavon Cowboys	1	Dublin Tornadoes	0 #
	Week 9
02.07.89	Dublin Celts	1	Dublin Tornadoes	0 #
02.07.89	Craigavon Cowboys	36	East Antrim Cougars	14
02.07.89	NI Giants	30	Belfast Spartans	3
	Week 10
08.07.89	Belfast Spartans	12	Dublin Celts	48
09.07.89	NI Giants	7	Belfast A26 Bulldogs	13
09.07.89	Dublin Tornadoes	0 #	Belfast Spartans	1
	Week ??
??	Dublin Tornadoes	0 #	East Antrim Cougars	1
28.05. ??	Belfast Spartans	0	Craigavon Cowboys	46
??	Craigavon Cowboys	3	Dublin Celts	46

Shamrock Bowl IV Box-Score and Match Report

5 November 1991 – Musgrave Park, Belfast – A26 Bulldogs 6 Dublin Celts 7

The Dublin Celts survived a scare from the A26 Bulldogs, as a combination of wind, and poor snaps and kicking left the Antrim team a point adrift of the Celtsat the end of Shamrock Bowl IV, played in Musgrave Park, Belfast. The A26 Bulldogs took a 6-0 lead after Dave Elliott and William ‘Demo’ Beattie ran the ball down field after a Celt fumble. However, the Point After Touchdown was missed, which they were to rue at the end of the day. The Celts struck back through Quarterback John Donnelly connecting with Mark Rutherford in the second quarter, to leave them 7-6 ahead at the interval after Jimmie Kelly’s extra-point kick was good.

In the second half the ball changed hands regularly, and with 40 seconds to go, the Bulldogs defense, strong on the day, gave the offence which was out of sorts possession within field goal range, but the kick went wide, sending the Bowl back to Dublin. The Celts defensive unit played tough the entire game, holding the A26 Bulldogs to just 62 yards, including a total of minus-10 yards for the Belfast passing game.

At Musgrave Park, Belfast	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Belfast A26 Bulldogs	6	0	0	0	6
Dublin Celts	0	7	0	0	7

Team	Scorer	Score
	1st Quarter
A26	TD Run (XP Kick missed)	6-0
	2nd Quarter
DUB	Mark Rutherford TD Pass from John Donnelly (Jimmie Kelly 1xpt)	6-7
	3rd Quarter
	No Scoring	6-7
	4th Quarter
	No Scoring	6-7

Report

The Dublin Celts won their third Shamrock Bowl in a row, defeating the Belfast A26 Bulldogs 7-6. Both had convincingly won their respective divisions, with the Celts winning all eight matches and the Bulldogs only losing to the Celts. The Celts had won their playoff game with the Giants 19-6, despite reports of the Giants team being stocked with players from the other Northern Ireland teams [Reference: 3] In the Playoffs, the A26 Bulldogs beat the Belfast Spartans 7-0 and the Celts had defeated the NI Giants 19-6. Dublin Tornadoes forfeited all their matches, and the NI Giants, Belfast Spartans and Craigavon Cowboys finished mid-table, with wins over the East Antrim Cougars.

About

For the 1989 season (the fourth season of the IAFL) the Irish American Football League elected to play in the Combined Gridiron League, which was an attempt to unite the various Independent Leagues of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Teams were placed in an Irish conference in the Duke Premier Division (CGL 2nd Level – 3rd in the Atlantic Isles) and the Baron First Division (CGL 3rd Level – 4th in the Atlantic Isles).

There were Playoffs in each Division, with the two Irish conference winners also playing off in the Shamrock Bowl for the Irish title. Teams played a balanced schedule of two games against each division opponent and once against teams from the other division.

New Teams: Belfast A26 Bulldogs. Belfast Giants returned after a hiatus of one season as the NI Giants.

Non-Returning Teams: Coleraine Chieftains (sat out year – returned in 1990), Belfast Blitzers.

Name Changes: Carrickfergus Cougars moved to Newtownabbey, becoming the East Antrim Cougars.

Home Venues

Team	Home Ground
Belfast A26 Bulldogs	Allen Park, Antrim
Belfast Spartans	Musgrave Park, Belfast
Craigavon Cowboys
Dublin Celts	Old Belvedere RFC, Dublin / O’Rahilly Sports Stadium
Dublin Tornadoes	Tymon Park, Tallaght, Dublin 24
East Antrim Cougars	Valley Leisure Centre, Newtownabbey
NI Giants	Ormeau Park, Belfast

References

Websites

[1] Britball Now (2016) Historial League Tables [1989] [CGL] [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/history-index/historical-league-tables-in/ [Accessed 27 February 2017]

[2]Britball Now (2016) Results Section [1989] [CGL] [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/history-index/results-section.html [Accessed 27 February 2017]

[3] Irish American Football Association (2018) Shamrock Bowl History [Internet] Available from: hhttp://www.americanfootball.ie/american-football/shamrock-bowl-history/ [Accessed 23 March 2018]

Newspapers

[4] Anon. (1989) “Tornadoes Dublin” Public Service News. Summer 1989. Pg 14

[5] Anon. (1989) “Tymon Park Touchdown” Evening Herald. 1989

[6] Anon. (1989) “Giants make Celts cross” Evening Herald. Wednesday, November 1, 1989. [Pg. 56 Irish Newspaper Archive: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ [Accessed 29 January 2020]

[7] Anon. (1986) “Weekend Sport: American Football” Belfast Telegraph. Monday, September 4, 1991. pg. 23 [Internet] Available online at the Irish Newspaper Archive at: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ which is a subscription service.

[8] Anon. (1986) “Bulldog Blues” Belfast Telegraph. Monday, November 6, 1991. pg. 16 [Internet] Available online at the Irish Newspaper Archive at: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ which is a subscription service.

[9] Anon. (1989) “Team Profile: Dublin Celts” World American Football. Vol. 2 Issue 1. 30 November – 5 December 1989. pg. 14.

Images

[10] Anon. (1989) “Team Profile: Dublin Celts” World American Football. Vol. 2 Issue 1. 30 November – 5 December 1989. pg. 14.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to John Malone, Tony Meenaghan, Declan Mulvey and John O’Reilly.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 23 November 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Resereved.