Table

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
NIAFA Irish League
Craigavon Cowboys	4	3	0	0	54	6	3	1	0	66	32	1.000
Belfast Spartans	3	2	1	0	26	23	2	1	0	12	15	.667
Coleraine Chieftains	1	0	1	0	0	36	0	1	0	0	36	.000
A26 Bulldogs	3	0	3	0	29	44	0	3	0	29	44	.000
Carrickfergus Cougars	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
ICAF League of Ireland
Bray Seahawks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Dublin Tornadoes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Lee Valley Steelers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Independent
Dublin Celts	1	0	0	0	26	12	1	0	0	26	12	1.000

Note: NIAFA = Northern Ireland American Football Association / ICAF = Irish Council of American Football

Legend: left-to-right: W-L-T-PF-PA (League) W-L-T-PF-PA (All Games)

Playoff Results

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
22.07.1990	Belfast Spartans	6	A26 Bulldogs	0
22.07.1990	Craigavon Cowboys	1	Carrickfergus Cougars	0#
	Irish League Final
11.08.1990	Craigavon Cowboys	31	Belfast Spartans	6

Note: Craigavon defeated Belfast 54-3 in the 1990 Final according to the Lucky Show Website. First Down of 1 September 1990 has Craigavon defeating Belfast 31-6 in the Shamrock Bowl and meeting Dublin Celts on 1 September to decide who represented Ireland in the EuroBowl.

Craigavon Cowboys met Dublin Celts in Title Game to Decide All-Ireland Champions

Shamrock Bowl

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Shamrock Bowl V
1990	Dublin Celts	40	Craigavon Cowboys	0

Regular Season Results

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Week 1
06.05.1990	A26 Bulldogs	15	Belfast ECC Spartans	12 +
06.05.1990	Craigavon Cowboys	36	Coleraine Chieftains	0
	Week 2
12.05.1990	Craigavon Cowboys		Belfast Giants
13.05.1990	A26 Bulldogs	8	Belfast ECC Spartans	14
	Week 4
27.05.1900	Belfast ECC Spartans	L	Craigavon Cowboys	W
	Week 5
03.06.1990	A26 Bulldogs	6	Craigavon Cowboys	18
	Week 6
09.06.1990	A26 Bulldogs		Carrickfergus Cougars
10.06.1990	Craigavon Cowboys		Belfast Spartans
	Week 7
16.06.1990	Craigavon Cowboys		A26 Bulldogs

Note: + Counts as a Belfast Spartans win due to Antrim Bulldogs decision to play Junior (Under 18) players in the game. # Forfeit

Independent Results

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Week 3
20.05.1990	Dublin Celts	26	Craigavon Cowboys	12

Report

The 1990 Irish American Football League season saw 12 teams proposed for an All-Ireland League at the start of the year, however, the Dublin Celts chose to play in the NCMMA (British Second Division) while also playing matches against Irish teams. The Republic of Ireland teams (Dublin Tornadoes, Bray Seahawks, Lee Valley Steelers, as well as teams in Limerick and Waterford) then chose not to play in the League in the absence of the Celts, leaving a five team Irish League in Northern Ireland. Whether the Republic of Ireland teams had their own league remains unknown – there is currently no evidence of one.

In the Irish League, the Craigavon Cowboys beat the Belfast Spartans 31-6 in the Final, after receiving a walkover from the Carrickfergus Cougars in the Semi-Finals, while in the other Semi-Final, the Belfast Spartans beat the A26 Bulldogs, from Antrim, 6-0. The Cowboys then went on to play the Celts in the Shamrock Bowl, a match which the Celts won 40-0.

Home Venues

Team	Home Venue
Shamrock Bowl	Goodyear, Craigavon
A26 Bulldogs	Allen Park, Antrim
Belfast Spartans	Newtownards Rugby Club
Carrickfergus Cougars
Coleraine Chieftains
Craigavon Cowboys	Goodyear, Craigavon

References

Sources

[1] Anon. (1990) “American Football double-header” Sunday Life May 6, 1990. pg. 59

[2] Anon. (1990) “American Football Column: Spartans in revenge bid” Sunday Life May 13, 1990. pg. 46

[3] Anon. (1990) “American Football” Sunday Life May 20, 1990. pg. 56

[4] Anon. (1990) “American Football: Junior game is on the up!” Sunday Life May 27, 1990. pg. 58

[5] Anon. (1990) “American Football: off form Bulldogs lack any real bite” Sunday Life June 3, 1990. pg. 46

[6] Traynor, Jonathan (1990) “Local League action hots up” Sunday Life June 10, 1990. pg. 42

[7] Anon. (1990) “Cowboys off to a good start” Belfast Telegraph. Monday, May 7 1990. pg. 18 [Internet] Available online at the Irish Newspaper Archive at: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ which is a subscription service.

[8] Anon. (1990) “Spartans take revenge”Belfast Telegraph. Monday, May 14 1990 pg. 18 [Internet] Available online at the Irish Newspaper Archive at: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ which is a subscription service.

[8] Anon. (1990) “Celts side stampede Cowboys”Belfast Telegraph. Monday, May 21 1990 pg. 21 [Internet] Available online at the Irish Newspaper Archive at: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ which is a subscription service.

[9] Anon. (1990) “Cowboys take the bite out of Bulldogs” Belfast Telegraph. Monday, Monday, June 4 1990. pg. 18 [Internet] Available online at the Irish Newspaper Archive at: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ which is a subscription service.

[10] Anon. (1990) “American Football: Cowboys riding high..” Sunday Life August 5, 1990. pg. 43

[11] Anon. (1990) “Irish plan national squad for Euro bid” First Down. September 1, 1990. pg. 23. Published by Mediawatch, Charbury, Oxford.

Websites

[12] Lucky Show (2016) Irish American Football [Internet] Available from: http://www.luckyshow.org/football/Shamrock%20Bowl.htm [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[13] American Football Ireland (2020) Shamrock Bowl Champions [Internet] Available from: https://www.americanfootball.ie/home/american-football/shamrock-bowl-champions/ [Accessed 30 April 2020]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ronan O’Brien & Paul O’Reilly

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy

for the Eirball | Irish North American & World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 21 September 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy & Eirball 2020

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