The Following year, 1987, saw the first full season, 11 teams organised into two conferences, playing a 10 game season, with Semmi-Finals and the Shamrock Bowl. The Celts would go through the season undefeated, beating the Cowboys 39-26 in the Bowl. 1988 would see a drop in the number of teams to seven, and again the league would be divided into two conferences, with Semi-Finals and a Shamrock Bowl, which was won by the Celts again, 34-6 over the Belfast Blitzers.

In 1989 the teams would play in an Irish Conference in the Combined Gridiron League, which was a league set up to unite all the various competing leagues in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. At the end of the season, as well as competing in the CGL playoffs, the two division winners, the Dublin Celts and new team, the A26 Bulldogs, met in Shamrock Bowl IV, which the Celts again won by the slimmest of margins, 7-6.

[6] (1988) “Shamrock Bowl report” American Football News. 29 September 1988. pg. 22

[2] Britball Now (2016) Bangor Buccaneers [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/History/Britball%20Teams/BangorBuccaneers.htm [Accessed 23 March 2018]

[3] Britball Now (2016) Results Section [1987] [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/history-index/results-section.html [Accessed 23 March 2017]

[7] 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]

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

Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 6 June 2018

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and INAWSA 2018

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