The Donegal Derry Vipers are going from strength to strength this season and after their 35–0 hammering of The Galway Warriors in Letterkenny at the beginning of July they had already qualified for the end of season divisional IAFL2 Bowl Game against The Wexford Eagles.
Last Sunday’s game against The North Dublin Pirates saw, arguably, the best Vipers performance to date and solidified their position as contenders for the Bowl win and for promotion to IAFL1.
With The Vipers and The Eagles sitting 1 and 2 in the league (at 5-0) and matching each other blow for blow their respective games against The Pirates and The Razorbacks took on even more significance as both fight for that top spot in the division before matching up in The Bowl Game. A win was paramount for the Vipers and if they had a better result than The Eagles then they would extend their narrow lead over the Wexford men.
On Sunday both the Vipers and The Pirates defence were on top early on but once the deadlock was broken, the Vipers didn’t look back with Linebacker Niall Lyons striping the ball from the Pirates Running back before taking it to the house for the first ever Vipers defensive TD. Almost immediately The Pirates were punished again, with the Vipers forcing a fumble and QB Danny Mullan racing in for The Vipers 2nd TD. Although the kick for the point after kick was missed, the rebound was caught by Ray Dowd, who battled his way to two extra points for his team to make it 14-0.
With The Vipers defense swarming all over the men from Dublin, The Pirates fumbled again. The turnover was punished almost immediately again as on the next drive QB Mullan raced through for his 2nd and The Vipers 3rd TD of the game.
After a quick 3 and out for The Pirates, Mullan, in superb form, fired a superb 40yard pass to wide receiver Ryan Brolly who scored touchdown number four to put the game beyond the Pirates at 28-0.
Before half time, Wide Receiver Eugene McLaughlin grabbed 30-yard pass from Mullan to score his 1st ever touchdown for The Vipers and send them to the break at 34-0.
The second half saw a few personnel changes for the Vipers and the gamed slowed a little. But there was still time for club founder Cathal Curran to run in a 70-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter as the Vipers side-line went berserk.
In spite of friendly boo’s and hisses from The Pirates Side-line, Gary Melly completed the scoring with a huge field goal from just under 50 yards out, early in the fourth and The Vipers ended their home season with a 44-0 win.
In other match in the IAFL2 division finished Wexford Eagles 34 – 0 Razorbacks which means The Vipers remain in 1st spot, tied on wins with The Eagles but ahead on point’s difference by 14 in game points.
The results means that The Vipers finish out the season having conceded ZERO points at home all season with 3 shut-outs by their name.
The last game of the season will see them travel to The Razorbacks on 21st August, who they convincingly beat 27-0 in the season opener before travelling to Dublin 1 week later to meet The Eagles in The IAFL2 Bowl Game.
