UL Vikings 45   -    Cork Admirals 0

Scoring (all Vikings)

1^st quarter: Liam Ryan 10yrd run, Garvey 1xpt. Adrian Garvey 24 yrd run, Garvey 1xpt. Liam Ryan 6yrd run, Garvey 1xpt. Safety.

2^nd quarter: Adrian Garvey 35 yrd fumble return, Garvey 1xpt. Colm Cronin 3 yrd run, Xpoint missed.

3^rd quarter: Safety

4^th quarter: 8 yrd pass Liam Ryan to JP Nerbun. Garvey 1xpt.

The Vikings travelled down to CIT for an all Munster showdown against the Cork Admirals on Sunday. Both squads know each other inside out and expected a close tough game. The Vikings were coming off the back of 4 games that had a score or less between the sides including a 3 point win at home to Cork. A lot of work had been done by the Vikings in the week building up to the game on offensive schemes and we were hoping for some more production than the last few games. The Admirals, missing a few key players including Linebacker Martin Mulrey, were looking to dig in and win a tight game at home.

The Vikings won the toss and chose to receive the ball. Brendan McCarthy returned the opening kickoff well bringing the Vikings out to the 30. The Vikings O started strongly with Adrian Garvey and Marc Ashworth picking up first downs before QB Liam Ryan scrambled and ran it in for the opening score. Adrian Garvey kicked the extra point. The Vikings defense then took the field and continued on their excellent performances this year with Brendan McCarthy picking the ball off from a Lomasney pass. The Vikings took the field again and took advantage of the shortened pitch doubling their lead through an Adrian Garvey run. Garvey kicked the extras as well making it 14-0 within a few minutes. The Admirals seemed shell-shocked by this quick start and the Vikings continued to pile on the pressure with another Ryan TD before the end of the first quarter and the quarters scoring was finished by a poor punt snap resulting in a safety for the Vikings.

The Viking defense benefited from a superb performance from their defensive line, particularly game MVP DT John Mullen who racked up a number of solo tackles, pressured the QB and was generally a thorn in Corks side. Cork did however begin to move the ball with strong runs from Alain Pezeron and smart passes from David Lomasney to his wideouts. On one such pass WR Dave Barry caught a slant between two Vikings defenders and continued upfield. Free Safety Seamus Hogan caught him and stripped the ball. Adrian Garvey, now at LB, picked the ball and followed the convoy of Viking blocks to the endzone for 6 and kicked the extra as well. On the following drive Cork were shut down again by strong play from Bill Parkinson, Dermot Moriarty and Darragh O’Callaghan. After a prolonged drive with great runs from James Twomey and Liam Ryan, rookie sensation Colm Cronin punched the ball in for another score as time expired in the half. The extra point was blocked by the Cork D-line.

The third quarter was a cagey affair with field position at a premium. Each team pinned each other deep with good special teams and defense throughout the quarter. Both punters had kicks downed within their opponents’ 5 yard line. The Vikings benefited from one such instance by recording a safety. In the fourth quarter the Vikings began to exert their dominance again with Twomey, Garvey and Cronin moving the ball well on the ground and Ryan picking out targets like Glen Carr, Brendan McCarthy and eventually hit JP Nerbun for a 12 yard score. Garvey added the extra to finish the game at 45-0 for the Vikings. It was an impressive display however we know it was against a weakened Cork team and we know we took the foot off the pedal in the third quarter. The focus is now on the three weeks training ahead of us and then the final regular season game against the West Dublin Rhinos. The game is a must win if we want to retain our 2^nd seed spot and a home semi final.