2 weeks Ago By Irishexaminer.com
Demons’ double derby delight It was a brilliant week for Demons as they beat Ballincollig on Thursday before demolishing their fiercest rivals Neptune 106-76 on Sunday. The first half on Sunday was as good as Demons have been this year as they picked Neptune apart at will with David Lehane in particular shining. Demons were guilty in the second half of some sloppy play, but they had plenty of credit in the bank by that stage and were well worth their dominant win.
Neptune’s performance was another puzzling one from a team that continues to be inconsistent. Outside of Roy Downey and a short spell by Cian Heaphy the Neptune team were largely spectators as the game passed them by. Neptune on the break are an exciting team and look great but in the half court they can really struggle.
They are too reliant on the mid-range and can play with too many non-threats from long range which really limits their spacing. Missing Jaksa Sola on Sunday, they regularly drove lanes that Elijah Tillman happily clogged up and in truth Neptune looked very poor. Neptune ultimately never showed what they are capable of and there will be a tough week of soul-searching ahead for them.
Tralee destroy Maree Despite missing Gregario Odon, Tralee didn’t skip a beat as they cruised past Maree at home by 107-75. Before the start of the season this would have been pegged as two title contenders going head-to-head and yet Saturday couldn’t have been further from that. Tralee are unbeaten so far and are the early pacesetters in the league, but Maree currently look like a mid-table team at best.
This match was potentially a Cup game if Maree’s appeal to Basketball Ireland had been successful, but that wasn’t the case. All of the drama off the floor looks like it has really impacted the team so far as they look a shell of the team Maree have had for the past two seasons, despite having many familiar faces. Body language and shot selection were both issues on Saturday again but the bigger problem was their apathy to playing defence.
Maree have the raw materials to be a top-class side this year, but something significant has to change as they are trending in the wrong direction at the moment and outside of a good home win over Killester their notable performances have been few and far between. Ballincollig fight back for key win over Killorglin After losing the derby fixture with Demons on Thursday, Ballincollig were in desperate need of a big win as they welcomed Killorglin. Scoring just 31 points in the first half, Ballincollig’s woes looked like they were continuing as they struggled to put up consistent offence.
A change in American saw Jordan Rawls depart and Quashawn Lane arrive in this week but even with that Ballincollig looked in trouble as they trailed by nine going into the fourth quarter. Up to that point it was contributions from the veteran trio of Ciaran O’Sullivan, his brother Adrian and Keelan Cairns that kept Ballincollig alive but in the final ten minutes Jake Wolfe and Quashawn Lane combined for 23 of their 28 as they drove Ballincollig to a huge win by 84-79. Killorglin will have to feel that they let an opportunity slip as they lost the final ten minutes 31-17.
It’s the fourth loss in a row for Killorglin whose wins have come against Marian, Sligo and Templeogue, teams with a combined record of 5-13 so far. Next week’s visit of St Vincent’s will be a must-win or Killorglin will be another team facing tough questions. Vincent's get crucial 74-72 win over Templeogue Vincent's got a crucial home win on Saturday against Templeogue in a scrappy low-scoring game.
Templeogue remained reliant on their two Americans Fagan and Allen who combined for 55. Vincent’s had more contributors though as their supporting cast did a good job of coming up with scores, especially with Sam Henderson having a lower-than-normal scoring game. Templeogue will rue missing eight of their 22 free throws, and for a team who struggle to win games, leaving points behind just can’t happen.
Vincent’s have been very solid this season and will be disappointed overall in their performance on Saturday as they will feel they are better than they showed but wins and points on the board are all that matter at this stage. Eanna stun Sligo in double overtime Sligo were the better team for large parts of the game on Saturday but still came away empty handed as Eanna once again showed their grit to come from behind and win 100-99. Sligo are a nice team but can sometimes be overly reliant on hitting threes.
In the first three quarters on Saturday, they hit 15/29 from behind the arc as they led by ten, but then Eanna’s defence improved, and Sligo went cold hitting just one more three going 1/10 in the fourth quarter and two overtimes combined. Eanna were forced into a change of Americans this week and they will be delighted by new addition Tyland Crawford who hit 32 points and had the key assist to Sean Jenkins to get it into double overtime. Eanna know that they can go to the well and pick up gritty wins, but they will want a little bit more consistency, so they don’t need to use that ability so often.
Next weekend’s trip to Belfast will be a fun character test after the recent Cup battle between the two and will be one to watch. Ireland below the radar There were no Women’s Super League games this week as the Irish team were on international duty against both Latvia and Israel. Due to the controversy of playing Israel, Ireland were again missing many of their top players and the two games were hugely understated with little attention paid to them.
It’s a sad example of how external politics can impact sport. Ireland for so many years didn’t have an international team and now back on the biggest stage, the games happened without the attention they deserve. That’s absolutely not a criticism of Basketball Ireland, more just the nature of a tough situation for all involved.
What did happen away from the spotlight though was two tough losses but debuts for some exciting talent including Hazel Finn, Aisling Moran and Grace Prenter. Although the games themselves will likely be forgotten, hopefully they are important footnotes in an exciting future for Ireland..
