DCU Ultimate Men’s Frisbee team lost the Men’s Intervarsity final to Trinity in the Sports Centre, DCU.
The second seeds put on a powerful campaign to make the final, losing out to a Trinity team star studded with Ireland players.
“The Trinity first line on the team would have five players who have all played for Ireland,” said DCU Ultimate Chairman Dean Mc Creary.
“They beat (favourites) Cork by one point in their semi-final,” he added.
From their first-round encounter meeting, the Trinity side had been bolstered by two strong additions.
“Jack McNamara and Andrew Cleary, two absolute animals,” said Mc Creary.
The two U24 Ireland players added a class that the DCU side admitted they found hard to match at times.
“The way they played, it was incredible to watch how good they were,” said DCU Ultimate Secretary Mark Cunningham.
“It was a really good final because anytime we did score it was because we really had to play out of our skin,” said Mc Creary.
Club Treasurer Seán Fitzpatrick also acknowledged the step up in quality the two Ireland veterans brought.
“The team we played Saturday, we felt like we could beat in the final,” he said.
Even though the DCU side lost out they were given commendation by opposing teams for their side’s focused tactics.
“We were getting compliments like ‘oh you’re so well drilled’,” said Mc Creary.
The lads gave credit to their coach Fiona Mernagh for their astute tactical play.
“At the moment she’s coaching us to coach beginners,” said Fitzpatrick.
Reflecting on the tournament, the side were pleased with their run to the final, but also reflected on some personally satisfying moments like the win over UL in the semis.
“When we played UL, we dispatched them,” said Mc Creary.
“I’d never beaten UL before, Mark had never beaten UL before, so for a lot of us it was our first time,” said Fitzgerald.
“Even though we got to the final of mixed, I don’t think a lot of people were expecting us to be at the final of men’s because our girls did a lot for us,” he added.
The DCU Ultimate women’s team ranked third in their respective intervarsity.
“They didn’t expect to come third. They came out and lost to Trinty in their first game. It was a close game, they went a lot closer than they thought they would,” said Mc Creary.
“They came out of that game feeling like they should have won,” he added.
Fitzgerald commended the brilliant nature of the ladies’ tournament run given the fact that they only had one rolling substitute on their team.
“We’re always looking for more players and the ladies did great considering how few there were,” he said.
“In the rest on the tournament the only other team that beat them was Cork who are far in a way the best team in the country,” said Mc Creary.
“No one had any doubt in their minds that weekend that Cork were going to win.
“They have a really good youth programme down in Cork, so all the girls go to UCC,” he added.
Mc Creary highlighted the great effort given the blitz nature of the tournament and the relentless resolve on the girls with merely one roll on sub.
“The three girls Hellen, Áine and Alex. They really stepped up and other colleges were impressed by them,” he said.
“DCU don’t normally do that well, especially in women’s,” he added.
The DCU Ultimate club added that they are open to new beginners and have both mixed and men’s and women’s training, both in the sports hall and on the astro pitches throughout the semester.
John Morley
Image Credit: Daniel Tutty