Conor Meany on basketball: Once Demons have the whiff of Cup knockouts in their nostrils....
STAR MAN: UCC Demon's J Elijah Tillman with a free throw. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Demons in the Cup! There’s no club in the country with a better cup record and Danny O’Mahony’s side showed that pedigree again as they try to defend their Cup title.
While every club in the country seemingly signed guards and athletic wings over the past two years, Danny went different by bringing in a traditional big man in Elijah Tillman.
That decision alone has given Demons a platform to compete as teams struggle to contain the big man on a weekly basis. Tralee prefer to play smaller, so Gregario Adon had the tough task of trying to contain Tillman.
In the first half, he got little help and Tillman had 20 of his 28 points. As Tralee tried to adjust, Patrick Robinson got more space and hit big shots to keep Demons ahead. Tralee have a very good team, but the cup came at the wrong time as they lost their third straight game.
They got excellent production from Ropolas Buivydas yet again and Marquavian Stephens was excellent at times but 0 points from Daniel Jokubaitis and yet another passenger performance from Brandon Mahon doomed the Kerry side.
Killester got revenge for last year’s cup defeat as they cruised for most of this game, using their defence to cause Neptune huge issues. Up 20 points, they then fell asleep and almost let Neptune back in the game.
The home side did brilliantly early in the fourth and had a huge opportunity as they stole the ball down just 82-78. They failed to convert the fast break and to make it worse Nils Sabata had an inexplicable unsportsmanlike out of frustration.
Killester never looked back scoring 25 in the last five minutes, and it was game over. Neptune’s inability to keep people in front of them was a major issue and no team competing for trophies can give up 107 on their home floor.
Killester do look the real deal though and if they stay healthy, they would be my current favourites for at least one piece of silverware.
Eanna’s first four scores of the game were three pointers, and that proved to be the tale of the game as Eanna scored 14/31 threes compared to Killorglin’s 6/25.
Killorglin have been better on the road this year, compared to previous seasons, but every team in the country will struggle with Eanna when they shoot like that. Sean Jenkins led the way with 23 but as we’ve come to be used to, Eanna did it by committee and contributions all over the floor.
An extra boost for Eanna was the return of Stefan Desnica, who was truthfully rusty, but still gives much needed depth and versatility. Killorglin tried in vain to get back in the game but Eanna are solid defensively and wouldn’t allow Killorglin to overpower them.
What was clear was that depth was an issue and when Eanna were able to rotate experienced role players, Killorglin had no spark to change the game.
Despite not having a great cup resume, Sligo put together an impressive performance beating Ballincollig 84-79. Robert Montgomery was excellent, as was Johnnie Brown who hit a critical late three to seal the game.
Ballincollig were good and right there for the duration of the game but just struggled to create good looks at the basket at critical stages. Sligo aren’t deep but they are capable and will be a dark horse in the semi-finals.
Fr Mathews gave Liffey Celtics a massive scare on Saturday before ultimately losing 83-73. New American Kyra White had 18 of her 31 in the first half as Mathews led 41-31 at the break.
Karl Kilbride’s message got through at the half though and a 30-15 third quarter fuelled by an improved defensive performance turned the game. Sorcha Tiernan was at her best scoring six threes on her way to 29 points.
Fr Mathews just didn’t have the legs to stay with the home side as they pushed on in the second half but with White, the Cork side will win a lot more games this season.
It was a gritty performance by Killester to ultimately put away UCC Glanmire in the Women's Cup quarter-finals. The Cork side battled throughout and led by as many as eight before Killester stormed back in the final quarter to win 65-57 in a low-scoring game.
Michele Clark helped turn that tide with 16 of her 19 in the second half, just as her side needed it. Glanmire will be disappointed with their 57 points, given they average 79 in the league, but Killester deserves credit for a portion of that.
A cup bye for Galway Mystics got them to the quarter-final but they weren’t able to challenge Wildcats at all, as they lost 113-60.
What will please Wildcats the most was their ability to give extended minutes to their squad who all delivered and got on the scoresheet. For Mystics, who had just six players play, it was a day to forget in a very challenging season to date.
St Paul’s and Meteors were two teams that came into the season with a lot of attention thanks to some exciting new signings. Both have struggled in the league with St. Paul’s only managing two wins so far this year and Meteors showing only a little bit more to date.
But St Paul’s came up with a big performance when needed in the cup, as they used a huge second quarter to build up a lead over Meteors. Lorraine Scanlon led the way scoring 14 of her 18 before half time as St Paul’s built up a big lead.
Despite trailing by as much as 17, meteors fought back late on and got the game back to a one-possession game multiple times but ultimately fell just short.
Despite the influx of Americans and Europeans, it’s reassuring that many of the top teams were reliant on top Irish talent when it mattered most.
Players like Sorcha Tiernan, Michelle Clark, Lorraine Scanlon on the women’s side turned games for their team, while big contributions from the likes of Paul Dick and Sean Jenkins led their teams while James Hannigan and John Carroll had big impacts on their team’s win.
It would be great to have two Irish on the floor at all times next season but for now it’s still good that we are getting big moments from Irish players.
