Maigh Cuilinn 64 (25) v Belfast Star 74 (42)
A fantastic chance at a major upset slipped away at the weekend for Maigh Cuilinn when a spellbinding third quarter performance had the home faithful on their feet in the University of Galway Sports Arena and league leaders Belfast Star within sight.
A disappointing first half had left the Galway side with a small mountain to climb, trailing as they did 25 versus 42 but a fast start after the interval saw them quickly reel that deficit back to just one point, scoring sprees from Grant Olsson, Antonio Molina and James Connaire the basis.
As can so often be the case however, Maigh Cuilinn repeatedly got to just within touching distance but never managed to actually regain the lead and after having all the momentum they hovered at that one basket margin back for some time before a dagger three pointer from the impressive AIdan Quinn for Belfast at the death of the third quarter put Star back up by five.
In the early goings, DeOndre Jackson had been almost unstoppable for Belfast Star but in the fourth quarter it was his compatriot Tamyrik Fields from Arizona in the USA who showed real class to find a series of game clinching scores when the pressure mounted.
Maigh Cuilinn played well right to the end and still had a fighting chance going into the closing minutes but with Fields in spectacular form for the Belfast Star attack, Maigh Cuilinn had nobody hitting quite those heights to answer and it was Star who saw it out in the end on a 64 versus 74 final score.
Last season’s Superleague champions await for Maigh Cuilinn this weekend when they travel south to face Ballincollig on Saturday.
Maigh Cuilinn’s next home game is a National Cup first round encounter against University of Ulster which is being played in Leitir Móir’s excellent Spórtlann Mhichael Mhóir at 6pm on Saturday 4 November.
Maigh Cuilinn Scorers: Grant Olsson 17, James Connaire 13, Josiah Laracey 12, Ivan Basic 8, Antonio Molina 4, Kevin Nugent 3, Kyle Cunningham 3, Aitor Perez 2, Patrick Lyons 2, Dylan Cunningham, Joseph Tummon, Liam Moloney