Neptune 88 (58)
Maigh Cuilinn 80 (31)
Maigh Cuilinn came out just the wrong side of a thriller in Cork at the weekend after a rousing second half came back away to Neptune faltered at the last hurdle, Maigh Cuilinn closing to within five points with four minutes remaining but never managing to grab the lead and losing 88 to 80 by final whistle.
The omens looked bleak early in the contest for a Maigh Cuilinn side that had won their home season opener the weekend before against a tough Killorglin outfit and would have travelled to the rebel county with more hope than years past. After just ten minutes of play, they trailed a red hot Neptune 27 to 18 and then proceeded to have a second quarter from hell, scoring only 13 points and conceding a mammoth 31 to trail at the half 58 to 31.
Having been on the receiving end of some sizable beat downs in Cork in recent seasons, Maigh Cuilinn could well have been forgiven for allowing their collective minds to wander to the bus home. Testament to the travelling squad however, they came out of the dressing room a team possessed and immediately put the home team on notice that this was not going to be a casual stroll to a comfy finish.
Neptune head coach Colin O’Reilly summed matters up succinctly after the game when recapping the turn in fortunes when he said that Maigh Cuilinn simply “dominated the physical battle and took us out of our rhythm”.
A more selective and clinical offensive showing also allowed Maigh Cuilinn to find better balanced shots in attack, which in turn put the brakes to some extent on the potent Neptune fast break on the counter.
What had been a seemingly insurmountable 27 point gap at the half time break was whittled down to just five when Maigh Cuilinn’s AItor Perez, with four minutes remaining. connected on a three pointe. 5, 4, 3….Maigh Cuilinn were clearly hoping for the sequence to continue down to 2,1,0.
Neptune have class in their side however and the criminally underrated Nil Sabata was the man who found a steadying two pointer on a deft assist from Irish international guard Roy Downey. Maigh Cuilinn answered with a two from Ivan Basic to once again draw back to within five points a minute later but that was as close as Maigh Cuilinn would get again. Shortly after, a Downey three pointer was to prove the real dagger.
For Maigh Cuilinn, Grant Olsson was in sparkling form having had an uncharacteristically quiet game against Killorglin the weekend before. He hit 29 points and pulled down ten rebounds. There were good outings also from Josiah Laracey and Antonio Molina with Kevin Nugent showing his continued improvement too.
Next up for Maigh Cuilinn is a home encounter against Belfast Star this Sunday at 3pm in the University of Galway Sports Arena. The sole meeting between these teams last year was a cracker of a game in Belfast when Star recorded a nine point win after a game that was generally separated by no more than a single basket throughout. Let’s hope for another thriller of that nature on Sunday.
Maigh Cuilinn Scorers: Grant Olsson 29, , Josiah Laracey 12, Aitor Perez 11, Antonio Molina 7, Ivan Basic 7, James Connaire 6, Kevin Nugent 5, Kyle Cunningham 3, Dylan Cunningham, Liam Moloney,