This Sunday sees The Donegal Derry Vipers take on The West Dublin Rhinos which is being touted as the biggest game of the season for both teams as they push for Play-Off football.
The Vipers, now in IAFL1 after a championship winning unbeaten season in IAFL2 last year have continued their impressive form, starting their 1st season in IAFL1 with 4 wins and 1 loss. The Rhinos, founded in 2008 have 7 years experience on The Vipers and are the only team to beat The Red and Gold this year.
Both teams have had impressive season but this Sunday’s match has the potential to either make or break their season. The Vipers have beaten The South Kildare Soldiers (Home and Away) The Louth Mavericks and the West Meath Minotaurs on a run that sees them sit 2nd in the division.
The Rhinos sit 4th with 3 Wins 3 loses, having lost to the No1 team in the division, The Craigavon Cowboys both home and away and The Wexford Eagles, who The Vipers defeated last year to clinch the IAFL2 Title.
The Rhinos had Wins over The Soldiers, The Minotaurs AND The Vipers to leave themselves just off the pace.
The Rhinos win over The Vipers came on the 1st day of this season and seen the men from Dublin narrowly beating DDV 9-8 in incredibly difficult conditions in Dublin. The Vipers, who have remained unbeaten since that game will have a huge chip on their shoulder having won 12 of their last 13 league games in all divisions with The Rhinos as the only blemish on that record.
A local swell of support from both fans and local business such as Kernans EuroSpar, Nando’s Derry and Mintbet.com have seen this 2 1/2 year old team make huge steps forward both on and off the field.
Recently a short Vipers video promo documenting a world class catch from WR Ryan Brolly has gone Viral. With almost 70K views across all online channels ‘The Catch’ has been shared by Irish Sports site Balls.ie and many local papers. It’s been shared across the globe in The US, Germany, Slovakia, Greece, Portugal, Russia, Spain and even in Australia amongst many other countries.
The Vipers are on an upward trajectory and have had brilliant success in the last 2 years but in The Rhinos they face a formidable opponent. A win for the Vipers would see them clinch Play-Off football in their first season in IAFL1, a Win for the Rhinos will see them leapfrog The Vipers into 2nd place and put the entire Vipers season at risk with only 2 games left against 1st placed The Craigavon Cowboys.
This game can only he described as season defining and should not be missed.
The game takes place at The YMCA Rugby Pitches, Drumahoe at 2pm on Sunday 18th June. There will also be hot foot and a Bouncey Castle on site for the event.
