Killorglin 83 (41)
Maigh Cuilinn 70 (37)
Maigh Cuilinn’s fight to avoid relegation was dealt a devastating blow at the weekend with an 81 to 70 loss in Kerry against a Killorglin team finding form at the right time.
The club from the Kingdom had trailed Maigh Cuilinn in the league standings for the vast majority of the season before their recent three game win streak has lifted them to almost certain safety in the Basketball Ireland Men’s Superleague.
While Maigh Cuilinn sit ahead of a couple of teams that are in the Northern Conference, they now occupy, alone, the bottom spot in the much more competitive Southern Conference. With one team from each conference to be relegated regardless of record, Maigh Cuilinn are now in a perilous position.
With only two games left of their schedule this season (away to Templeogue then home against Tralee) Maigh Cuilinn are two games behind Killorglin and one game behind Cork City clubs Demons and Neptune. Given head to heads, Maigh Cuilinn probably need either Demons or Neptune to lose their final set of games and for Maigh Cuilinn to win its last two.
For Maigh Cuilinn to do their part in that equation, the performance this coming weekend away to Templeogue in Dublin will simply need to be better than what was produced on the road in Kerry last Saturday.
Killorglin are undoubtedly a talented offensive side but with a short rotation of players used, Maigh Cuilinn had targeted an up-tempo game plan and to attack the basket with force.
There was little evidence of that plan in the actual game however as it was Killorglin, despite having four players who played over 37 of the 40 minutes, who ran the court better, got easy scores and drove to the basket more regularly.
Maigh Cuilinn relied on three pointers along with the excellent play of Grant Olsson (who finished with 31 points) to keep themselves in touch throughout and Killorglin’s 21 to 15 lead was a fair reflection of how the first quarter had played out.
The visitors from Galway did put together a strong second quarter, which they won by two points to leave a very manageable 41 to 37 half time gap to overcome in the second half.
Killorglin, playing in front of a big home crowd however, looked much more comfortable offensively. Maigh Cuilinn’s attack was quite stagnant and perimeter orientated while the Kerry side were regularly getting down the lane and putting greater pressure on their defenders.
There was no single run of momentum that secured the victory for Killorglin. Rather, they were, with all due respect to Maigh Cuilinn, just that little bit better on the day and continued in the second half to edge out in front.
Welcome for Maigh Cuilinn was the fine play of new recruit Conor Dickerson from the USA who joins the team for the final stretch. He netted 18 points on an impressive 67 percent shooting from two point range and 60 percent shooting from three.
It was not enough however and with a seven point lead entering the final period, Killorglin never showed signs of letting the visitors mount a final run to steal the game.
In the end, the 13 point margin of victory was a fair reflection of the contest and Killroglin can take a sigh of relief that they have secured Superleague basketball for themselves for another year after what was a somewhat turbulent season results wise.
If Maigh Cuilinn are to enjoy a fourteenth season at the top table of Irish basketball everything now needs to go right for them, beginning with a win in Dublin next Saturday.
Maigh Cuilinn Scorers: Grant Olsson 31, Conor Dickerson 18, Ivan Basic 10, James Connaire 6, Joseph Tummon 3, Kyle Cunningham 2, Antonio Molina, Kevin Nugent, Aitor Perez, Donogh McDonagh, Dylan Cunningham