by Greg Barrett
The
Wolves V The Bulldogs, the game was made for clichés, “It was a dog fight”,
“battle of the bark” or “Clash of the Canines”, but there was only one cliché
that stood truest among all the rest – Defensive penalties cost games. This is
of course not to take anything away from both teams who, in horrendous
conditions went out and true to the games hype and clichés went for the
jugular.
Wolves Defence hit the back field
chasing down #7 Eddie McMahon
The
second quarter began with the Bulldogs fighting hard for yardage, only to be
stopped time again by Waterfords defensive line, #56 John McGrath breaking
through early on in the quarter to sack McMahon and to force a fumble. The
Wolves went four and out though on the next series. The Bulldogs restarted on
the 47yd line, and on second and ten quarterback #7 Eddie McMahon broke loose
and ran all the way to the end zone, the two point conversion attempt was
unsuccessful though, but, Bulldogs were up by 6. With the conditions worsening
both quarterbacks struggled to hold onto the ball from the snaps but to be fair
anytime they dropped it they recovered it just as quick. Meath led Waterford
into the halftime break 6 to 0.
The
second half began with a promise made to #52 Sean Fanning to win this game for
him as a present for his 21st birthday. The young centre probably
never truly realised how much this promise meant to his brothers in arms. But
to the Wolves it was a promise they could not break. He was soon to realise
though what it did mean. Halfway through the quarter Wolves half back #21 Kevin
Butler broke free after some brilliant blocking up front by his offensive line
to take the ball 47 yards all the way down to the two yard line. On the third
down after an offensive penalty, backing the Wolves up to the 7yard line, #37
Walsh, faked a handoff to the running back before wheeling out to the right on
a bootleg to take the rock in and tie the game up. The Bulldogs came out angry
but hit a brick wall with the Waterford defence standing tall and stopping them
again, #43 Tomas Kirik, a victim of the weather as he nearly had his fourth
pick in four games but the wet conditions caused the ball to slip through his
grasp on the third down play. As the
third quarter neared an end #37Walsh started a drive deep in his own half and
marched the Wolves down the pitch, the constant pounding from the running backs
#21 Kevin Butler, #22Ger O’Keeffe and #25 Brian Sullivan started to take its
toll on the defensive line of the Bulldogs, as the Wolves reached the Meath red
zone at the end of the quarter.
The
fourth quarter of the game started with the game tied at six a piece, but not
for long, #22 Ger O’Keeffe went straight up the middle through the heart of
Meaths defensive line on second and 2 to take the Wolves into a 12 – 6 lead.
Surely the Wolves were now home and free, the offense was working well and
there was no way through the defence. But as is typical in this game the
Bulldogs had other ideas. #26 Pete McMahon, brother of quarterback Eddie, who
was a constant threat all day long proved why he is one of the best running
backs in the league, breaking tackles time and again and even crossing the
halfway line with two Wolves dragging him back. The very next play saw #26
McMahon split the defence in two, only to be stopped by a brilliant last ditch
tackle from #6 Eoin Reinheardt, the Wolves usual quarterback had secured a
couple hours off work to stand by his brothers and although he couldn’t start
in his usual position, he filled in very competently at SS beside his brother
FS #26 Cian. The Bulldogs offence had
found some momentum. The two McMahons were moving the chains down the field and
on a great running play #26 Pete McMahon must have thought he was in for the
touchdown, but for a last ditch tackle from OLB #72 Micheál Ó Coinn that took out McMahon, half the chain gang and
indeed the marker itself. These heroics though couldn’t stop the Bulldogs from
levelling the game through a quarterback sneak from #7 Eddie McMahon.
Wolves quarterback #37 Aaron Walsh hands the ball off as Waterford
head for the end zone
After the two point conversion
failed due to a brilliant tackle #25 Brian Sullivan, now playing on the
defensive side of the ball, the Wolves offense took to the field again. The
offensive line led by birthday boy #52 Fanning created chance after chance for
the running game to push the Bulldog defence back, but as it started to stall
on third down, #22 Ger O’Keeffe broke to the outside only to be brought down by
his face mask by a Bulldog, then after the play was over was hit late. This is
not to say by any stretch of the imagination that Meath were a dirty team, the
play itself only lasted a couple of seconds, the incidents in question happened
within milliseconds of each other, but this double penalty on the defence cost
the Bulldogs thirty yards of field position and pinned them deep in their own
half as the ref called the two minute warning. The Wolves remained on offense
with 34 seconds left on the clock when #37 Walsh again ran a bootleg play from
the thirty yard line, into the end zone only to be brought back to the five
after stepping out of bounds. The Bulldog defence fought hard but a gruelling
game and cruel conditions were after taking their toll and Walsh took the ball
into the end zone for the second time with only 24 seconds left on the clock,
to send the crowd of over a hundred soaked Deise folk into pure nirvana. But
Walsh wasn’t finished yet, repeating the touchdown play cheekily to take the
ball back in for the two point conversion.
The Wolves saw out the remaining
seconds easily and as the full time whistle blew, the emotion of the day over
flowed, they had fulfilled their promise to their brother and had beaten some
of the stiffest opposition in the league on his 21st birthday but
also they had now regained the No.1 spot in the IAFL D1 and had done it as a
team. This in my mind was probably the best Wolves performance I have seen to
date in their short lifetime, with both offence & defence playing out of
their skin. Ultimately it was quarterback #37 Aaron Walsh that led the offence
down the field to get the game winning points but without the massive influence
of the offensive line in front of him, the hard running by all of the
Waterford running backs, to wear down
the defence, the touchdown saving tackles by the defence, the constant pressure
put on the Bulldogs quarterback by the defensive line, the fact that the
Waterford defence shut down one of the best running backs in the country, and
the fact that the Wolves offence beat down the third best defence in the
league, all his efforts would have been for naught. But no matter how much you
can talk about the team, in every Wolves mind there was only ever going to be
one MVP today, Centre #52 Sean Fanning.
Seanie #52 gets his birthday cake and gets to eat it at the end of
a hard earned win
Next for the Wolves is an away
trip to the Mullingar Minotaurs in four weeks’ time. With the Wolves now leading
IAFL D1, and riding the crest of a wave with their 4 and 1 record, doesn’t mean
they will be complacent. These guys are fired up now; head coach Steve Collins
embodied this today as he fired his team up before the start, Who Are We? Wolves
came the reply, Who Are We? He raised his voice ….. Wolves came the answer;
again he raised his voice roaring WHO ARE WE? WOLVES roared his team.
That’s what we are……. WE WOLVES
BABY …….. WE WOLVES
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