UCC Demons 79 (36)
Maigh Cuilinn 58 (24)
A season high 18 points from Josiah Laracey was not enough to earn Maigh Cuilinn a road win against UCC Demons in the Basketball Ireland Men’s Superleague.
The New Zealand native played a starring role off the bench but the visitors lacked scoring from other sources and trailed for the vast majority of the contest, their largest lead a slender three point advantage mid-way through the first quarter.
The two sides had met only one month earlier in Galway where Maigh Cuilinn pulled away to a well deserved win in front of their home crowd. It was a different tale Leeside however and in truth, Maigh Cuilinn never really threatened after a devastating 11 to zero run by Demons in the second quarter blew the game wide open.
That run gave Demons a ten point lead (22 to 12) and a double digit margin remained between the sides substantially unthreatened until the final buzzer save for a brief moment at the end of the third quarter when Maigh Cuilinn, through Laracey off the bench, looked like getting back into it.
The revival was ultimately short lived though. Demons’ star man, South Carolina sensation Seventh Woods, showed his class with 20 points as his fellow country man and new Demons signing Elijah Tilman netted 16 of his own to alway keep Demons in rude health.
The final score of 79 to 58 was, in the end, a fair reflection of the gap on the day between the teams. Maigh Cuilinn head coach John Cunningham will hope that the poor offensive display can be chalked up to rustiness, their previous game having been some 20 days earlier on the 9th of December (a win in Dublin versus St. Vincent’s).
“Having so few games in December really came back to haunt us,” said Cunningham.
“We were never at the level of sharpness required to break down Demons. Early turnovers and missed shots dented what confidence we had and that was reflected in only 12 points in each of the first two quarters.”
Maigh Cuilinn will need to be entirely back to full sharpness come this weekend in what is a huge home opener for 2024. They welcome Sligo All Stars to the Kingfisher in the University of Galway for a 7pm Saturday night tip off.
Sligo sit one game ahead of Maigh Cuilinn in the overall Superleague table on 4 wins and 6 losses.Long time rivals from the early 00s when Sligo and Maigh Cuilnin battled it out at the top of the National League, the promotion of Sligo in recent years to the Superleague has been a wonderful renewal of the rivalry. Last season saw them play out a thriller in Sligo decided only with the very final play.
Neutrals will be hopeful of similar excitement on Saturday. Maigh Cuilinn supporters hopeful no doubt just of another win.
All will be hoping for a large attendance with the receipt from the door all being donated to the Hope4Liam charity.
Maigh Cuilinn Scorers: Josiah Laracey 18, Grant Olsson 11, James Connaire 10, Ivan Basic 7, Patrick Lyons 5, Antonio Molina 3, Joseph Tummon 2, Kyle Cunningham 2, Dylan Cunningham, Kevin Nugent, Aitor Perez