Maigh Cuilinn play host this Saturday at 7pm in University of Galway Sports Arena to one of the favourites for the Basketball Ireland men’s Superleague crown, Ballincollig from Cork.
The men from the rebel county have suffered three losses in league action this season, and with only 11 games played, they need to make their games in hand count if they are to catch those ahead of them in what is a crowded leaderboard summit.
This Saturday’s tie with a dangerous Maigh Cuilinn side is one of those games in hand, so they are sure to come to the city of the tribes with focused minds.
For Maigh Cuilinn, this contest marks their second to last outing at the University of Galway Sports Arena for the 2022/2023 season with only a tie versus St Vincents of Dublin coming up the following week on the college campus. Maigh Cuilinn has elected to play their final home game (February 25 against Templeogue ) in the Spórtlann Mhichael Mhóir in Leitir Móir.
“Saturday against Ballincollig is a big game for us in a number of ways,” said head coach John Cunningham.
“We do not have many home games left so we can’t afford to let them slip by without picking up wins as we want to give our great supporters wins to celebrate. We are also locked in a tight relegation battle so Saturday is a chance for us to get what would be a massive W to move us up the table.”
In their Ballincollig opponents, Maigh Cuilinn face an offensive juggernaut that is pouring in, on average, just over 87 points per game (compared with Maigh Cuilinn’s average of 59 per game ).
In Albuquerque, USA, native John Dawson, Ballincollig have a mobile 6’4” guard that can score in a variety of ways while local lad Adrian O’Sullivan has long been one of the best Irish attackers in the game for years and is having a fine season averaging 13 points per outing.
For Maigh Cuilinn to be in the game in the fourth quarter, the battle on Saturday cannot be turned into track meet as Ballincollig are arguably the best team in the league getting out and running and, if allowed, they can blow a game open in minutes.
Defensive intensity and shrewd offensive play have been the calling cards of Maigh Cuilinn in their wins this season and they will need those two traits in plentiful supply Saturday for what is a daunting but certainly not unwinnable game against one of the best teams in Ireland.
Coach Cunningham can point to a decent run of recent form for Maigh Cuilinn that, while reaping only two wins from six games also featured narrow losses to the recent National Cup finalist pairing and Superleague table toppers in DBS Eanna and University of Galway Maree.
The latter loss against University of Galway just last weekend in particular had lots of signs of encouragement as Maigh Cuilinn led by as many as 12 points in the second half before falling flat in the final quarter when the superior individual talent available to the University simply wore them down.
If Maigh Cuilinn can find some unexpected additional scoring from someone with a hot shooting hand on the day, Saturday could well be an upset and a major stepping stone to safety from relegation worries.
