Maigh Cuilinn 70 (35)
Killester 87 (45)
New venue, same issues for Maigh Cuilinn as they failed to fire at the Cappagh Sports Centre against the visiting Killester of Dublin in the Basketball Ireland Men’s Superleague on Sunday.
Shooting difficulties again for the home side, converting just 26 per cent for shots from three point range left them always struggling to keep pace with Killester and fall in the end to a scoreline of 70 to 87 which was ultimately a fair reflection on proceedings.
Part of the struggles from long distance may on this occasion at least be put down to the fractured nature of the game, with early foul trouble for both teams arising from the very tight brand of officiating from the referees.
Star players for Maigh Cuilinn such as Grant Olsson, James Connaire and Patrick Lyons all had to sit for large stretches of the first half after picking up three early personal fouls with Killester suffering the same fate as key American imports Kason Harrell and Kerry Richardson battled with similar foul trouble.
“It was a strange game without too much rhythm to it because of all the chopping and changing with line-ups we both had to do coming from the foul trouble players were in,” said Maigh Cuilinn guard James Connaire.
“Credit to Killester ultimately as they clearly handled it better as the game wore on but we probably didn’t get into a good flow on the offence until well into the fourth quarter and at that stage it was a huge gap to try and close down,” added Connaire.
The impact of foul trouble on the game as a spectacle was most acute in the frist quarter and the start of the second when both teams really struggled to establish offensive identities, resulting in the score being just 13 points apiece at the end of the first quarter.
While a repeated series of trips to the freethrow line followed in the second quarter, boosting the scoring returns, it came without the usual fast paced up and down action that typically comes with basketball at this level.
It was essentially neck and neck through all this time, a number of lead changes and ties resulting before the first real run of the game came to the visitors with three minutes remaining in the first half, Tomas Fernandez and Kason Harrell finding scores for the Dubliners.
It left the men from the capital suddenly with a ten point lead in a game that almost seemed like it had not started when the teams left for the halftime break.
The danger of that gap was ruthlessly exposed in the third quarter and Harrell in particular jolted to life on his way to a game high 25 points, scoring in a myriad of ways to blow the game wide open and establish a lead Killester would never again relinquish.
While a spirited late run from Maigh Cuilinn led by Ivan Basic and Patrick Lyons at the guard spots did briefly hold out some hope in the fourth quarter, it was ultimately too little too late and Maigh Cuilinn lost on a final scoreline of 70 to 87.
They must now look to their next home game back in the more familiar surroundings of the Kingfisher, when they take on UCC Demons, Sunday at 3pm.
Maigh Cuilinn Scorers: Grant Olsson 22, Ivan Basic 12, Aitor Perez 8, Patrick Lyons 5, Antonio Molina 5, Kevin Nugent 4, Josiah Laracey 4, Kyle Cunningham 3, James Connaire 3, Joseph Tummon 2, Dylan Cunningham 2, Liam Moloney