Kieran Donaghy and the Tralee Warriors come to town on Sunday for the Basketball Ireland Superleague match with Moycullen, tipping off at 3pm in NUIG’s Kingfisher Arena.
The contest will present a real litmus test of where Moycullen stand this season since Tralee enter the campaign as one of the title favourites, having been crowned champions before finishing second in the most recent league.
Moycullen head coach John Cunningham says Tralee were within one game of being back-to-back Superleague champions coming into this season.
"We are under no illusions as to how difficult a challenge this is going to be," he says.
Moycullen, however, will be encouraged after a strong team display in their first outing against local rivals Maree on Saturday. While Moycullen fell just short, 70 to 68 in a thriller, they made only two shots from long range in the entire game, a measly return considering the talent within the squad and a statistic that must surely improve this weekend.
"While of course it was disappointing not to have won, we can take a lot of encouragement from the display last week,” said Cunningham. “We have a team that can play with anyone when things are right for us.
"Tralee's size is probably the biggest challenge, but they pose a lot more issues than just that. We will need to produce a top of the line performance to get a win, but there is no reason why we don't have that in us for this weekend."
After an enthralling back and forth encounter last weekend, the local derby and season opener came down to the final minutes when six straight Grant Olsson points for Moycullen had the nominal visitors trailing by one with 24 seconds left and possession.
It would be Olsson again who took on the responsibility and, having dragged his side within touching distance of the win, had to endure the heartache of seeing his three-point attempt narrowly miss.
The ensuing rebound found its way to Maree’s Deondre Jackson who was fouled, sending him to the free throw line with only three seconds remaining on the game clock. Jackson made the first, missed the second, and a desperate Moycullen half court heave which bounced off the ring put the full stop on what was a wonderful reminder to Galway sports fans of the best that basketball has to offer.
The break down of scores by quarter tells demonstrates just how tight this contest was. Moycullen were winners of quarters one and two by one point each, Maree the winners of the third quarter by four points, before the teams equalled each other in the fourth and final quarter with 16 points apiece.
Capacity for this Sunday’s game against Tralee is limited to 60 per cent and is a ticket only event. Tickets can be purchased via MoycullenBasketball.net
Women's League
NUIG Mystics made a strong start to the MissQuote.ie division one. They produced a dominant performance over Marble City Hawks to win 64-31, having held a 14-46 half-time lead. Top scorers for the NUIG women were Kara McCleane 17, Áine McDonagh 16, and Laura Lopez Morera 10. The Mystics are next at home where they face UL Huskies on Saturday at 3pm.
