A DRAMATIC touchdown with just 26 seconds left by Ryan Brolly saw the Donegal Derry Vipers win the IAFL 2 Bowl game in Dublin this afternoon.
Donegal Derry Vipers 33 Wexford Eagles 29Â Â Â Â Â
In only their second ever season, the Vipers were already on their way up to IAFL 1 after an unbeaten campaign with a hat-trick of touchdowns by Brolly sealing the deal.
Both teams came into the Bowl game with unblemished 6-0 records, but it was the Vipers who took the dramatic win at Westmanstown Youth Rugby Club in Dublin.
They looked to be headed for a first defeat of 2016 when the Eages scored a toucdown with only two minutes remaining to take a 29-26 lead.
But the Vipers, as they have shown all through this year, refused to buckle and Brolly got over to seal a historic win. They were biting their fingernails until the conclusion with the Eagles camped in Vipers territory when the whistle blew.
The Vipers were 21-19 in arrears at half-time, but Danny Mullan ran in a touchdown to reclaim the lead again.
In a gripping tie, it went right to the wire where Brolly sealed the win for the Vipers.
The Vipers began the big day with a touchdown from Brolly, picked out in the end zone by Mullan’s arrow from their first drive.
But the Eagles took the lead, adding a converstion following their first touchdown of the game.
Mullan ran in a second Vipers touchdown and it was nip-and-tuck all the way through to the frenetic finish with Brolly also getting a touchdown late in the second quarter.
Just for good measure, Gary Melly added extra points on three of the Vipers touchdowns.
