Cork Admirals took the long road north Sunday to take on Drogheda Lightning for the first time. Coming off the back of a good winning performance against Meath last time out Cork were in a buoyant mood. Drogheda were coming off a tough loss to UCD. However so far the league this season has been a case of any given Sunday.
Drogheda won the toss and elected to receive. At kickoff a light drizzle was falling but with light winds conditions were ok. Ads D started strong and held the Drogheda offense reasonable well. On the ensuing punt Nick Coffi made a great return to set up good starting field position. Two quick fire strikes to Coffi and Cullinan from QB Steve Hayes got the Ads into the redzone. However Ads became their own worst enemies with two false starts on offence. On two repeat third downs Admirals dropped balls in the end zone and going for it on 4th down hit the fingertips of Nick Coffi in corner of endzone but he could not haul it in.
Admirals defence held strong on next series and again pieced together a drive mostly through the air although one long carry by Coffi got Admirals into the endzone. Steve Hayes found Cullinan in the right corner to score. XP was missed to leave the score 6-0.
Over the next few series into the second both D’s controlled proceedings although both teams did threaten to break off some runs. Conditions were worsening with rain intensifying which made conditions greasy. Ads were able to string one drive together just before half time. Nick Coffi carried, fumbled, recovered the fumble and still broke off a 25 yard scramble to the 10. HT whistle went to leave it 6-0.
Admirals started quickly on opening of second half with quick outs to McAuliffe and Coffi. The drive ground to a half with a number of drops on catchable passes.
The rain was falling heavily at this stage and was to decide the rest of the proceedings. Both defenses were hitting hard as it turned into smashmouth football.
Harris Monagan was imperious at middle linebacker racking up nearly 20 tackles covering the proverbial every blade of grass. Admirals D-line were causing havoc also with a number of sacks and tackles for loss. Similarly Drogheda were also tackling in the back field and blunting Admirals running game. The collisions were ferocious with no quarter given by either team.
The teams swapped fumbles and interceptions and Drogheda nearly broke off a punt return to score save for a last ditch tackle from the ever present Monagan.
Into the fourth quarter Admirals started to get some success on the ground from Dowling and Donaldson and were able to move the chains. They saw out the last 5 minutes of the clock with hard direct carrying up the gut for an Admirals 6-0 victory.
Admirals now turn their attention to the return fixture against UCD next Sunday 25/05 at 2pm.
MVP on the Cork team without question goes to Harris Monagan.
Special mention to Coach Russell Kerley who was in the trenches all day for the Lightning.
Thanks to the Cork Admirals for submitting this game report