Saturday night basketball is back for Maigh Cuilnn this weekend when Tralee Warriors roll into town for a 7pm tip off at the University of Galway Sports Arena.
In what has been a difficult and injury ravaged season to date, head coach John Cunningham will be glad for any change to routine as he seeks a spark to reignite their faltering season.
The return of star American Grant Olsson is sure to be central to any such revival.
“Getting through the last month or so with four of our starting five injured has been really hard but Grant being back now heading into a big Saturday night home game is brilliant,” said coach Cunningham.
“He is a real leader for us and a focal point of our offence, where we have struggled in recent games. It gives all the players a boost in confidence to have him out there on the court”.
Tralee, who are led by the ever young Kieran Donaghy and senior Irish international Eoin Quigley, will provide a stern test. They have however struggled themselves to reach the heights of last season when they won both the league and cup.
The men from the kingdom currently sit just one win ahead of Maigh Cuilinn in the league standings and while extremely unlucky to have lost some close contests, will not be traveling west brimming with confidence and may just be there for the taking.
For Maigh Cuilinn to have a fighting chance, they will need to find their shooting touch and fast. Last weekend saw them dumped out of the National Cup after they were outclassed by a powerful Ballincollig side in Cork, losing the first round match 98 to 52.
An excellent start from the home team in front of a packed supporting crowd set the tone with Ballincollig racing out to a commanding early lead and pouring in 24 first quarter points.
Maigh Cuilnn for their part had good contributions from brothers Dylan and Kyle Cunningham but a number of missed open chances from the team as a whole meant they could only register 8 points at the end of the period.
Facing a 16 point deficit at the end of the opener would not have been where head coach John Cunningham would have wanted to be and the second quarter provided little respite. A Ballincollig blitz to end the half really turned the screw when they scored 10 unanswered points in the final 90 seconds to take a 54 to 23 lead into the break.
Showing good spirit to battle on in what was increasingly looking like a lost cause, Maigh Cuilinn had one of their best scoring quarters of the season, netting 24 points as Joe Tummon and new signing Matteo Liberatore found their range.
The severe injury problems that have plagued Maigh Cuilinn this season were evident to see in the fourth quarter however as they well and truly ran out of steam in the final period, scoring only 5 points and falling victim to a crushing end of game scoreline of 98 to 52.
The absence of key starters James Loughnane, James Connaire and James Lyons continues to provide coach Cunningham with a problem yet to be solved and with none of the trio due back by this Saturday, one that he will need to examine again quickly.
