It may not have gone the way they hoped but the Airdrie Irish are still grateful for the 2018 season.

The Irish finished the year with a 21-14 win over Lloydminster on August 11th but fell short of the playoffs with a 3-5 record.

Runningback Braxton Hyland of the Airdrie Irish (Photo Courtesy: Airdrie Irish Media)

Team Captain Gunnar Godhe says the season was tough for the team after having big expectations in the offseason.

“We had some pretty high expectations for this year with some of the new additions and the talent that we retained. It was a little disappointing to have the season end the way that it did, particularly the middle portion of the season was really tough.”

The Irish did battle some significant injuries in the middle part of the year. Which meant many players had to be on both sides of the field in the game.

Godhe says however that those moments were some of the best highlights of the season.

“It certainly was a gelling season for a lot of the guys, particularly to deal with some of the adversity with injuries, for the guys to step up and become more of a leader or more of a team player or do some things that normally they hadn’t done before. Those were definitely some highlights for us.”

Although the Irish season is over, the Alberta Football League still has their Championship Game to go this weekend.

Godhe says it’ll be good for the team to watch how that turns out between the Central Alberta Buccaneers and the Ft. McMurray Monarchs.

Godhe says the team is already preparing for the 2019 season.

“Definitely guys are starting to think about next year. We’re working on recruiting already some guys that we potentially could have had this year that looks like they’re coming to play next year. Talks of that are starting to begin.”

Godhe and the Irish are also hoping to continue to reach out and grow their fan base, to make their games a hot spot for football in the city.

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