Moycullen men's basketball hope to follow up an encouraging opening day league display with a victory when they head to Cork to face cup champions Neptune on Sunday.
The young Moycullen outfit with four debutants began the new season in the revamped Premier League against the reigning league champions UL Eagles in Limerick last weekend, and although they lost 70-58, it was a tense and tight affair for most of the fixture.
An excellent first quarter by Dylan Cunningham and new signing Michael Callaghan from Wesleyan College had Moycullen up by five points, but the champions, with some excellent outside shooting, slowly gained the upper hand. Callaghan did a good job scoring, assisted by the returning Eoghan Maxwell, to cut the lead to six at the break.
However a poor start to the third quarter was punished by Eagles’ point guard Kinevane, stretching the lead to 16 points, although Moycullen's Ronan O’Sullivan stepped up and hit two big scores to steady the ship. Moycullen continued to battle hard and, with Darragh Mulkerrins showing a determination beyond his years, they chipped away at the lead. They reduced it to eight midway through the fourth, but a harsh offensive foul was called and Limerick went down the other end and hit a contested three to stretch the lead out once again. Despite Paul O’Brien hitting some excellent scores, UL closed out the win.
Moycullen: Michael Callaghan (17 ), Dylan Cunningham (14 ), Eoghan Maxwell (10 ), Paul O’Brien (7 ), Ronan O’Sullivan (5 ), Stephen O’Brien (3 ), Darragh Mulkerrins (1 ), Tomas Gilson, Gerald Lyons, Ian Burke, Nollaig Cunningham.
