Vipers aim to conquer the Land of Giants at Limepark

As the Vipers take their season on the road, this will not be the first meeting of the teams this season as back in February the two teams had a joint practice.

In terms of a competitive match, these teams are no strangers in that sense having met twice in 2021. When the league cancelled all games due to Covid, the Vipers organised the Donaghy Group Invitational cup with the Vipers winning all games and claiming the championship.

As American Football Ireland returns this week after a weekend off to enjoy the festivities of St. Patrick’s Day, there are a whopping SEVEN games this week.

In the Premier Division UCD take on the Cork Admirals. UCD started their season in week one of the AFI season, managing to overthrow the current Shamrock Bowl champions, the Dublin Rebels in what was an offensive battle for the ages.

Meanwhile Cork kicked off their season in a tie with the UL Vikings as quarterback Jake Kennedy made his first start for the side, throwing for two touchdowns.

With UCD being the clear favourites, is there a chance that the Admirals manage to scrape a win?

Also, in the Premier Division, the UL Vikings take on the Dublin Rebels. The Vikings enter this matchup as the underdogs in the opinions of league experts. Will the Rebels kickstart their season with a win and begin their climb towards another Shamrock Bowl or will the UL Vikings prove that they too can run with the ‘big dogs’?

This week also features several teams making their first appearance of the season. The Belfast Knights make their season debut against the South Dublin Panthers. The Panthers highlighted they were out for vengeance as they defeated the Westmeath Minotaurs in brutal fashion only two weeks ago. This matchup will be one to keep an eye on due to the extensive range of young players both teams have developed from their respective youth programmes.

Will Knights head coach, Adam Devenney rally his troops to start their season off in style or will the Panthers continue their vengeance tour,

proving all of the media outlets wrong once again?

As we turn our attention to the AFI Division One, there are four down for decision with one of those being the Donegal/Derry Vipers clash with the Causeway Giants. And the Cill Dara Crusaders make their season debut against the West Dublin Rhinos. Both teams had respectable records last year being situated in the middle of Division one. The Rhinos travel to Kildare which is where the Crusaders shine as the Vipers can attest to from their game last season.

Will Crusaders’ Jordan Farrell prove that he is the best QB in division one or will the Rhinos stomp on their hopes of starting their season off with a win.

Arguably, the most anticipated matchup of the week is between the Craigavon Cowboys and the Louth Mavericks. The Cowboys are coming off a strong win against the Vipers in Greysteel two weeks ago and are aiming to carry that momentum against their biggest challenge of the season in the Louth Mavericks. This game features the two most dominant quarterbacks in Division one in Peter Loughran of the Cowboys and Nathan Hearty of the Mavericks. Both are coming off wins to start their season. There is a strong likelihood of these two teams meeting in the post season again so whoever wins will be the “High King” of Division one.

Lastly, the NI razorbacks make a long trip to Gorey Town to face the Wexford Eagles. The Eagles are coming off a highly contested loss from the Mavericks but outfitted a great first game in Division one. Meanwhile the Razorbacks are strolling into this game with high hopes after conquering the Antrim Jets, easily winning 44-0 in which there was a strong performance on both sides of the ball.

Will coach Klatt’s Eagle fly high or will the ‘Hogs’ keep them grounded.

With the scene set for AFI Gameweek four, all that is left to do is buckle the chinstraps and get ready to play some American Football!