Ireland: Minotaurs, Admirals and Rhinos All Win Big: AFI Week 14

Gaelic Gridiron | American Football | 06/12/2025

Photo: Andrea Brady

By Jimmy English

The weeks left in the American Football Ireland regular season are dwindling, and to be honest so is my desire to continue writing these game round ups! But someone has to do it. A massive thank you to everyone who reads on a weekly basis, but please keep in mind that in most cases I am relying on details from teams and always try to be as balanced as I can. So before you message me on Instagram complaining that something isn’t 100 percent accurate, just remember that I probably wasn’t actually there and that I do this to grow the game we all love. Anyway, rant over! Here’s the week 14 round up…

Cork Admirals 55 – Craigavon Cowboys 12

The Leesiders left it very late in the season to find their groove on offense, but now that they have they are in the middle of a very impressive three game winning streak and are poised to seal a playoff spot. Brothers Jake and Ben Kennedy continue to be a potent pairing and combined for a total of 8 rushing touchdowns in People’s Park, including a 75 yard scamper by Ben on the first play from scrimmage. Defense wasn’t slouching either with Liam O’Leary nabbing an interception, three fumbles recovered and six separate sacks by Harris Monaghan, Matt Sibanyani, Timmy Peyton, Prezmenk Makal, Colin Wolf and Aaron Hogan.

Dublin Rhinos 59 – Causeway Giants 20

Another side who picked up a head of steam as the season progressed are the Dublin Rhinos. Ever since the Mavericks went medieval on them a few months back, they have been a different team (or maybe the same team that just woke up a bit) and have strung together a very solid streak of wins. Hosting the Giants seemed to be a very straightforward affair as they chase back to back Harp Bowl appearances, and after taking a 33 – nil lead at half time the rampage continued and they wound up putting up almost 60 points. Craig Usher continued his superb season with a hat-trick of scores on the ground along with two other rushing TD’s from Eoin O’Donoghue and Ethan Foster, while Kevin Kelly connected with Richard Grimes and Cillian Stynes hit 5 extra points. The Rhinos defense got in on the scoring act as well with a pair of pick sixes – one apiece for Valera Sidarchuck and Volodymyr Fedorov. Valera had a big day overall, adding another interception along with a blocked punt for a touchdown.

Despite being overwhelmed the Giants managed to put up some points in the form of two passing touchdowns from Kristyn White to Ruan Austin, while Kristyn added another score on the ground. Depending on how the last few weeks shake out the Rhinos could end up facing either the Minotaurs or Mavericks in the semi finals, both of whom they fell two earlier in the season, providing us with a very entertaining few weeks of Irish American football ahead!

Wexford Eagles 32 – Antrim Stags 14

If you could describe the 2025 Wexford Eagles in one sentence, it would have to be: True Grit. This side have shown incredible resilience against the odds and are now on the cusp of making a playoff appearance. A week after taking down the Vipers at home, they soared up the M1 to Belfast and secured another big win over the Antrim Stags, and with their defeat of Cill Dara earlier in the season giving them the head to head advantage, all they need to do to advance to the postseason is win out and hold on.

Terry Carey did the business as usual for the birds, scoring and converting two rushing touchdowns while adding an interception on defense. Trevor Smith also had an excellent game, putting up points on both sides of the ball with a rushing score on the ground and a pick six on defense for good measure. Smith had a pair of picks on Sunday afternoon and along with Carey has put this Eagles outfit on his back all season long.

After allowing 24 unanswered points, the home side did eventually pull a few back in the final period of play courtesy of an Eoin Delargy receiving touchdown on a scramble pass from Scott McClean, followed by another scoring reception from Joey Howe who beautifully toe dragged in the endzone to reel the ball in. Sadly though the Stags last gasp effort would not be enough to ruffle the Eagle’s feathers and after showing some promise with a win over the Vipers they now sit near the bottom of the table as they season approaches its conclusion. That being said, they can take plenty of lessons and learnings from their inaugural outing as a team and continue building for 2026.

Westmeath Minotaurs 42 – Northwest Vipers 0

The theme this week really does seem to be late season surges, and with their 40 point steamrolling of the Vipers, Westmeath have locked up a home semi final and secured their spot as the second overall seed for the 2025 Harp Bowl. Rafa Monteiro went OFF in Mullingar on Sunday afternoon and finished the game with 4 total touchdowns ( 2 on the ground and 2 through the air) while Jack Walsh and Domas Vilys added a receiving score each. Jay Bruton was solid with his extra points ( 6 in total) while defensively David Walsh nabbed an interception and Adam Corcoran recovered his own forced fumble. Peter Dempsey also had a key onside kick recovery to deny the Vipers any chance of a score in what was a complete team victory for the Minotaurs.

After showing some early season promise I’m not quite sure what went wrong for the Vipers but they are certain to be disappointed. Another theme emerging is taking whatever you can from the losses and using it to build for the future, and hopefully they can do just that and not get too down on themselves!

Dublin Rebels 22 – Belfast Knights 7

A week after losing in agonising fashion to the reigning champs, a much improved Rebel side bounced back in a big way against Belfast, and in doing so likely secured the final remaining playoff spot in the Premier Division. That being said, the Knights do have a head to head advantage over Cork from their win at the start of the season so there’s going to be some interesting permutations to play out in the next few weeks!

Sam Doran and Jack Cronin continued their strong connection in Malone Park on Sunday, hooking up for six points while Joe Krause added a pair of scores with his legs and both himself and Sam added 2 pointers. The Rebels defense put on an excellent performance as well with a pair of interceptions from Cathal Keane to go along with a fumble recovery, added to by Mike Massari who also came up with an interception.

The Knights on the other hand did all they could to throw the playoffs away on Sunday, and were mired all game long with penalties, dropped passes, poor tackles and the like in a truly self defeating performance. The lone bright spot came on a 90 ish yard touchdown pass from Liam Moores to Daithi McShane which Daithi converted for good measure to avoid the shutout. The Knights have shown fantastic potential all season long and are very very close to consistently being one of the top teams in the country, but are perhaps just missing a specific something to take the next step and compete for championships.