Tralee Warriors 90 (50)
Maigh Cuilinn 65 (30)
A new season but all too familiar issues for Maigh Cuilinn in the opener of the Basketball Ireland Men’s Superleague where they struggled to keep pace with the offensive firepower facing them, on this occasion a smooth shooting Tralee Warriors side playing at home.
The final score 90 to 65 in favour of the men from the kingdom was a fair reflection of the gap on the night. Maigh Cuilinn battled well but were simply out gunned by a Tralee team whose raucous home support had plenty to cheer about.
“They are so tough to play down here because when they get on a run, the crowd gets into it and unless you are very careful, the scoreline just balloons out before you have a chance to stem the tide,” said a disappointed Maigh Cuilinn head coach John Cunningham after the game.
“We have a fair amount of new faces in this season and I think at times you could tell that we are still getting used to playing with one another, on both sides of the ball. Against a team like Tralee, in that atmosphere, you simply cannot get away with being below your best and we certainly were tonight.”
The area in which the lack of cohesiveness hurt Maigh Cuilinn most visibly seemed to be the inability to quickly close out open Tralee shooters. Several potentially momentum generating Maigh Cuilinn defensive runs where they could have put together a series of stops, were flipped by momentarily open Tralee sharpshooters finding the bottom of the net for three pointers.
Maigh Cuilinn also gave up far too many offensive rebounds to go on the road to a place like Tralee and come away with a victory.
For coach Cunningham and the squad, it will be a case of hoping that the game will help them gel as a team and be ready for a huge home opener next week against Killorglin in the University of Galway Sports Arena (3pm Sunday 8 October).
“It won’t be hard to get the lads re-focused notwithstanding a loss like this. The first home game is always a really special one and I can tell you for sure we are excited to get back playing in front of the club and our own supporters. We’ll bring plenty of energy Sunday. Hopefully we can channel it correctly and be productive,” said Cunningham.
Things did not start poorly for Maigh Cuilinn who probably looked the better of the two sides in the early exchanges. A few difficult three pointers from Tralee kept them ticking over while Maigh Cuilinn were finding scores from a nice spread of players. The scoreboard showed little gap between the teams reading 17 to 14 after the first six minutes of play.
A strong finish to the period by the home outfit through scores by Jonathan WIlliams and Jarvis Doles powered them to a 27 to 17 lead at the first quarter break however.
Tralee took off right from where they left off in the second quarter, the evergreen Eoin Quigley showing all his class as the ten point lead became 17 midway through the second before settling at 50 points to 30 at halftime, Maigh Cuilinn’s offensive rhythm deserting them completely..
Few in the packed Tralee sports complex would have given the visitors much a chance of bridging the gap in the second half if for no other reason than it seemed difficult to see Maigh Cuilinn getting the scores that would be needed.
That said, Maigh Cuilinn would go on to win the third quarter and Grant Olsson, James Connaire and Kyle Cunningham would battle well throughout. The final result never looked seriously in jeopardy however and with the margin rarely getting below 15 points.
In the end, it was a sound beating to a superior team. The season is long and these two teams might well have progressed in different manners by the next time they meet and so Maigh Cuilinn must switch attention to a home opener against Killorglin next Sunday where they will be hoping home comforts provide the necessary remedy to what ails them.
Maigh Cuilinn Scorers: Grant Olsson (20), Ivan Basic (11), Aitor Perez (10), Antonio Molina (8), James Connaire (7), Kyle Cunningham (5), Josiah Laracey (4), Liam Moloney, Dylan Cunningham, Kevin Nugent, Joseph Tummon
U16s Play Curtain Raiser
Our U16 boys had a great day out when they played the St Brendan’s U16 team directly before the Superleague lads took on Tralee Warriors in front of a sold out Tralee Sports Centre. Hopefully we can deliver a win the next time the lads come to play as a curtain raiser on the road!
