A trip to the rebel county and a meeting with UCC Demons in the Mardyke Arena awaits the Superleague basketballers of Maigh Cuilinn this Saturday at 4pm.
Still searching for their first win of the season after back to back losses to start, Maigh Cuilinn centre Joseph Tummon pulled no punches when talking about the reality of where his team are at presently.
“The league is just at such a high standard right now, playing hard simply isn’t enough. We need to find something fast to get to the pace because teams have such scoring power, they will blow you out of the gym before you catch a breath right now,” said Tummon.
“We need to be firing on all cylinders by this Saturday to get our first win and that is our focus, absolutely.”
Traditionally one of the powerhouses of Irish basketball, Demons (who in recent years have partnered with University College Cork ) spent the last couple of seasons in the lower national league before finally winning promotion back to the Superleague last season.
They suffered a cruel overtime loss to cross city rivals Neptune in the first weekend of games before a heavier defeat last weekend to Ballincollig so will be especially focused come Saturday in search of a first win of their own.
For Maigh Cuilinn, a win would jump start a season that has failed to take off so far, last weekend seeing them take a spirited but deserved beating at the hands of Neptune, 63 v 94 in the University of Galway Sports Arena.
A scintillating scoring display from the visitors ruined Maigh Culinn’s Superleague home opener and a 30 point first quarter from Neptune set the tone for what was to follow with the Jordans (Jordan Blount and Jordan Evans ) particularly impressive, combining for 42 points between them by final whistle.
Head coach John Cunningham will at least take some encouragement from the fine play of Grant Olsson who hit 25 points, as well as a good showing from youngsters Liam Maloney, Brian Gaffney and Rory O’Sullivan off the bench.
Moycullen Scores: Grant Olsson (26 ), Joseph Tummon (15 ), Kyle Cunningham (5 ), James Connaire (4 ), Brian Gaffney (3 ), Dylan Cunningham (3 ), Anze Kos (3 ), Dara Kenna, Rory O’Sullivan, Liam Maloney, James Lyons
