On a baking Sunday afternoon the West Dublin Rhinos made the short trip north to take on their cross town collegiate rivals Trinity College Dublin in a battle for for second place in the Dublin division.

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The Rhino’s knew going into the game a win against Trinity would give them hopes of reaching the play-offs for their first time. And win is exactly what they did. However, a poor start to the game led to Trinity taking advantage through their passing game. A number of big gains through the air and some costly missed tackles from the Rhinos defense ultimately led to Trinity taking an 8-0 lead.  Quarterback Stephen Macken and his offence attempted to even things up but they were shut down by Trinity and forced to punt the ball. Things looked bad for the Rhinos when the Trinity students punched in a second touchdown in the second quarter to give them a 14-0 lead.

A revival came immediately though when the Rhinos successfully stopped the two point conversion. Macken got into his usual form and connected with all of his receivers including two catches from stand in tight end Stevie Moon helping to move the ball down the field. However, Macken’s biggest pass came when he found Sean Power on a deep pass near the Trinity sideline. Power put his finishing touch to the play when he ran it in for a touchdown. The Rhino’s star quarterback then plunged the ball into the endzone himself  on the point after try to give his side the extra two points and put them within a score of Trinity at the break.

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At the beginning of the second half the score was 14-8 in the home sides favour but the Rhinos were not about to let go of this game yet, stepping it up a gear to open the second half and put their mark on the game. The Rhinos offence showed pure grit and determination when they started to run the ball successfully on their opponents. Running back Dan Breslin gained hard earned yards on consecutive carries before he eventually took the ball into the endzone to bring his side level. On the resulting two point conversion Sean Power gave a second and third effort to stretch the ball over the goalline to put the Rhino’s ahead for the first time in the game.

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On the ensuing drive, Trinity had the ball near the halfway line when a lateral from the Trinity running back to his quarterback led to Gary Cullen punching the ball loose where it was smothered by Rhinos defensive end Barry Bolton. This gave the Rhinos excellent field position and they stuck with what worked by giving Breslin the ball. And he duly obliged when he ran in his second touchdown of the day with Power again adding the two extra points. This gave the Rhinos the lead at 24-14 after putting up 24 unanswered points.

But the Trinity students didn’t lie down and they brought themselves back to within a score of the Rhinos in the fourth quarter when their quarterback found their tight end open in the middle of the field, the Rhinos once again stopped the 2 point attempt which left the score at 24-20. The Rhinos should have extended their lead when Breslin ran in what seemed to be his third touchdown of the day from 40 yards out. However, a dubious illegal block call not flagged by the closest official against Barry Bolton (be the judge yourself, see below) brought the ball back  and gave Trinity a breath of relief.

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Though a late defensive stand held out Trinity and the Rhinos rode out of the Trinity Sports Grounds with a 24-20 win over their hosts. The return fixture is now set to be a thriller as the Rhinos host Trinity in Castleknock College on the 6th of June.

See the Media section for more photos from the game.

The Rhinos hosted the Saints last Sunday for the second and final time of the 2010 IAFL regular season. Both teams defenses came out on top taking away a point each as the game ended a never before seen in the IAFL final score of 0-0.

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Both sides put in outstanding defensive efforts to keep the opposing teams offense out for the entire game. The Rhino’s linebackers gave DCU very little to cheer about as they put a stop to the run game and snuffed out any passes in the air. The Saints were dealt with a massive blow in the first quarter when star running back David McMahon was forced to leave the game early on picking up an injury fighting for extra yardage.

Throughout the game the Rhino’s D never looked under pressure, spectacular interceptions from John Keegan and Nick Newby slowed down the Saints offense while Barry Bolton picked one off (below) and returned it into the saints redzone, the Saints backup running back making the last ditch touchdown saving tackle.

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Stephen Macken and his offence took over and methodically drove the ball deep into Saints territory only to be stopped on third down from a fine Saints defensive performance. Sean Power attempted a field goal which was blocked by the Saints who gathered the ball and picked up some yards on the return much to Power’s dismay. Only for a penalty dragging them back the Saints would have started their next drive in the Rhinos half of the impressively marked pitch.

The game remained a stalemate and the closest either side came to scoring was when the Saints discipline let them down and a number of consecutive penalties coupled with big runs from Power and another big reception from Ross Carrick gave the Rhinos from Castleknock prime field position. However, the Saints D stood strong and held out Macken and Co who got to the one yard line but couldn’t pick up that elusive final yard due to an untimely fumble.

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This lead to the game ending in what resulted to be the first scoreless draw in IAFL history. While the scoreline suggests a boring game, many of the spectators were kept entertained by big play after big play (Nick Newby diving interception below) by both teams defenses.

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The Rhinos remain firmly in second place in the IAFL Central Division with their next two games up against divisional opponent TCD who will be fighting with the Rhinos for the wildcard playoff position.

Video highlights coming soon.