Ireland: Minotaurs go Eagle hunting & the Crusade continues

Gaelic Gridiron | American Football | 03/26/2025

Photo: Paul McIlwaine

By Jimmy English

Well, it was a tough choice this weekend on what game to cover but in the end our featured fixture of Westmeath Vs Wexford proved to be the right move! Especially when you consider the low scoring outcome of Craigavon/Limerick and the Knights V Cork! That being said, Cill Dara defeated the Giants 23-14 in Newbridge on Saturday and are looking impressive. All in all it was a great weekend of Irish American football action, so keep on reading for our full game recap!

Westmeath Minotaurs 28 – Wexford Eagles 20

A trip down the N51 was on the cards for Sunday, on the road to the newly revamped Mullingar RFC to watch the Minotaurs host the Eagles. As I was pulling into the carpark, the visitors were driving down the field to open their account with a Terry Carey touchdown. Getting an early score was absolutely crucial for Wexford, who looked outmatched numbers wise, something that would play a factor as the game wore on.

The hosts responded well by moving the ball down the field on their opening possession, and looked poised to score but for the ball being tipped and intercepted by big number 99 Paddy Bissett on the opposing defensive line. Wexford capitalised on the turnover with a big run from Terry Carey before QB Doran Taylor dove into the endzone on a keeper to double the points differential. Plenty of running by both offenses ensured a fast moving clock, much to everyone’s appreciation and before long it was the second quarter. Minotaurs signal caller Sean McCormack pulled one back for the home side on a QB keeper, with the extra point cutting the deficit to just 7 points. Their defense then stiffened and held the Eagles to a 3 and out, before handing them fantastic field position on a silly personal foul penalty. Fortunately for Westmeath, no harm was done. Westmeath were again positioned to strike right before the half, but instead McCormack threw a costly interception.

McCormack atoned for this transgression when play resumed in the 3rd, powering over the goalline for 6 points and drawing his team level. Jay Bruton nailed the extra point and the score was even. Westmeath drew blood again a few drives later, as the strong running of Chris Gilbert converted into a touchdown to put them ahead. Things started going badly for the Eagles at this point, as they were forced to throw the ball to conserve some clock. And when you start passing, interceptions tend to follow such as the one snagged by Peter Hynes in purple. Niall Corcoran capitalised a few plays later on a walk in TD to extend the lead to 28 – 14, likely putting the game out of reach for the Eagles. But not so fast my friend! The Minotaurs defense got sloppy and conceded consecutive personal foul penalties, allowing Wexford to pull a score back courtesy of a Doran Taylor pass to Luke Fitzpatrick. That was all she wrote though, as a Mark Hughes interception on their next drive snuffed out any chance of an exciting comeback and Westmeath knelt it out to go 2-0 on the season. The homeside did well to rely almost solely on the ground game to seal a win, but need to clean up mental mistakes on defense that could have ended up costing them very dearly!

Belfast Knights 11 – Cork Admirals 04

Now there’s a scoreline you don’t see every day! The Belfast Knights got one in the win column at home on Sunday, holding off a Cork side who had to travel up from the other end of the country! A strong defensive effort from the Knights held the visitors scoreless on offense in the first half, before Daithi McShane absolutely drained a 50 yard field goal to give the hosts 3 points to the Admirals 4 (scored defensively – yes you read that right).

The game stayed this way until late in the fourth quarter when Zac McDowell connected with Harry Salt and Isaac Searle, before ultimately finding Daithi McShane in the endzone for the game winner. Defensively the Knights held their guests scoreless on offense, forcing multiple turnovers in a massive effort. Instead, Cork had to find points elsewhere, and they came in the form of two safeties – the first credited to Owen Chandler, and the second shared by Ayo Mumuni and Timothy Peyton. Martin Mulrey also snagged an interception for good measure. The Knights will be pleased with this bounce back after their opening loss to UCD but will need a lot more firepower against future opponents, while for the Leesiders it’s a long bus drive home after taking a loss in their opening game. But there are still plenty to be played and this young side should find their way eventually!

Craigavon Cowboys 10 – UL Vikings 00

Two sides that should be close contenders this season had their first encounter in Portadown, in the second of two north v south clashes on this weekend’s slate of fixtures. The notable absence of Peter Loughran at QB led to a low scoring affair overall, with the teams level at 0-0 well into the second half. Eoin Hughes finally broke the deadlock on a long QB run for 6, while Mark McCauley added the extra point. McCauley added a field goal in the fourth quarter to extend the Cowboys lead to 10, and that’s how things would finish. The Cowboys are in a unique position this season in so far as no one really knows how they’ll do. They’ve been in the top flight before, but after dominating in division one last season can they carry that momentum back into big time football? Things certainly started well for them with a win in their opening fixture. As for UL, this is not how you want your first game to go after travelling the length of the country to play, but all you can do now is regroup and go again in the hope of a better outcome next time around.

Cill Dara Crusaders 23 – Causeway Giants 14

A week after hanging the Stags head on their mantle, the crusade continued for Cill Dara down in Newbridge as they slayed the Causeway Giants to claim a second victory and go 2-0 for the season. The Crusader offense was in fine form again, with scores coming from James Ahearne, Nathan Purcell and a Jordan Farrell keeper. TJ Culbert and Sam Krebs added extra points, while Kyle Dooley and Jeff Gunning had an interception each. The Giants didn’t go down easy though, scoring two TD’s of their own from Nathan Chapman to Tony McCloskey and Ben Smith. With this win, the Crusaders avenged their Plate playoff game loss to the Giants from last summer and are now perfect against teams from the Northern counties. They’ve also made a strong case to be considered one of the best teams in Division One and could well be on course for a place in the playoffs. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet because as I’ve mentioned a few times in this article: there’s still a lot of season left to play!