Impressive win for in-form Vipers in Galway

The dust is just settling and the Vipers are back home from a 10 hour round trip to the Galway Warriors.

Things started fast with the Vipers led again by Quarterback Nic Young taking the men 60 yards downfield only to be stopped on the five-yard line.

The Viper defence took over after and a quick 3 and out the Viper’s corner Eamon Quinn, burst into the warriors backfield to hit their Quarterback
for a loss and the games first score, a safety.

With the score at 2-0 it wasn’t long before Young had another chance to score, narrowly missing Offensive captain, fullback Dermot Brown on a quick throw out to the left,

Young did  manage to hook up with Tight End Cory McKenna for a 10 yard score shortly after, the Vipers went for two more points but were
unsuccessful.

The Vipers defence had another strong showing, impeding the Warrior onslaught for the next quarter.

The defensive linemen had lunch all day in the Warrior’s backfield, repeatedly hitting the Quarterback and running backs at will seemingly, Joe Doherty, the smallest (and possibly) meanest man on the Viper defence managed to get his first ever sack for a loss, and rookie safety Ronan Doherty made his first interception to boot.

The score at the half was 8-0. The third quarter started with the Warriors making a change at Quarterback, they set off down the field on what will go
down as the longest drive in IAFL history. The Derry and Donegal players made it extremely difficult for the Warriors to move the chains.

A full quarter of clock was eaten up and the men from Galway were gifted a score.

The Warriors gained some belief from scoring and started the fourth tenaciously, but that Galway score was quickly snuffed out and counted for
little after Young was able to hit wide receiver Ryan Brolly on a simple slant route to which he bolted seventy five yards for the Vipers second score.

Fullback Brown managed to punch in the two point conversion afterwards, score 16-6.

You could see the Warriors heads drop and the fight went out of them. The Vipers strong running game had them battered and bruised, the one two punch of Dermot Brown and Gary Melly took their runs well and each was handsomely rewarded with sizeable chunks of yards throughout the game.

With seven minutes of time remaining and after another failed drive from the Warriors, the aforementioned Viper running game was rewarded again, this time in the form of a trick play.

Brown and Melly faked the hand off to the left, tightend McKenna got in again from 18 yards and the two point score was pushed over the line by a Quarterback sneak from Young, this was to be the final score of the game and left it 24-6 to the Red and Gold.

The Vipers were on top in all three phases of the game, dominating at the line on both offense and defence, they would have had the chance to score at least three field goals but due to a field lining error, it was gauged the pitch was too big to kick on, a rare occurrence in this sport, but the boys did well to convert
on two out of three attempts.

Watching the Vipers defence in action this year is a sight indeed, another great game from linebacker and defensive captain Niall Lyons who had multiple tackles for a loss on the day.

Special mentions have to be given to defensive linemen Peter Farrell and Chris Moran who spent most the day harrassing and driving back the Warriors offense, and the Vipers ever improving offensive line who kept Young clean all afternoon, and the Vipers special teams core who stopped the ball dead on every kick-off and return.

Next up is the Dublin Pirates on May 29th, still an unknown at this early stage of the season, but they’ll be looking to put a dent in the Vipers now 2-0 record.