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Second season comes to an end for the Irish

The Airdrie Irish wrapped up its second season in the Alberta Football League with a 77-10 loss to the Central Alberta Buccaneers. Although the team had just one win, it is looking at this season as another building block in the team’s foundation. Andrew Halipchuk/Rocky View Publishing

The Airdrie Irish wrapped up its second season in the Alberta Football League with a 77-10 loss to the Central Alberta Buccaneers. Although the team had just one win, it is looking at this season as another building block in the team’s foundation. Andrew Halipchuk/Rocky View Publishing

Andrew Halipchuk – Airdrie City View – Thursday, Jul 28, 2016

It’s another season of no-playoff football for the Airdrie Irish senior men’s football team.

The Irish concluded its regular season July 23 with a 77-10 loss to the Central Alberta Buccaneers in Lacombe.

With the loss the Irish finish the season with a 1-7 record, one less win than in the team’s first season, when it went 2-6.

Though some may view this season as a step back, Irish president Matt Squires said there were some positive takeaways.

“(The Buccaneers) was a really good team to play against. They are the number-one ranked team for a reason,” Squires said. “It was a frustrating game, but the guys did as best they could.

“In the win column this season was definitely a step back, but I see this as a building step in the foundation process.”

The Irish played in much tighter games in its second season in the Alberta Football League.

The Irish did have big losses to the top teams in the league – including the Fort McMurray Monarchs (44-0), Calgary Gators (44-0) and the Buccaneers – but the team had chances to win in each of its other five games in the regular season.

Three of the team’s losses were by less than 15-point deficits, including to the Lloydminster Vandals (15-1), Edmonton Raiders (30-17) and the Grand Prairie Drillers (16-10).

“There are a few things that we should have put ourselves in a better scenario for,” Squires said. “We needed to capitalize on that.

“There were a lot of missed opportunities that we could have been better on.”

The team hopes to build from its recent inclusion of University of Calgary Dinos players.

“Guys coming out of a Canadian Interuniversity School go and play where their buddies are at,” Squires said. “We’re hoping to build on that heading into next year.”

Squires said though it wasn’t expected the Irish would be a competitive force in the AFL in its first couple of seasons, those years are some of the most important for building team culture.

Coming into this season the Irish knew it would have to lean heavily on its defence – but the team now needs the unit to take the next step and become a dominant force.

“We were one of the least penalized teams in the league,” Squires said. “Our guys played with a lot of class and discipline.”