Maigh Cuilnn hit the road for Kerry this weekend on the back of a dramatic home win, but the close of the Basketball Ireland Men’s Superleague and a relegation dogfight is starkly in view.
Their opponents on Saturday in the Kingdom are a formidable Tralee Warriors side - the reigning Superleague champions and a team rounding into form at just the right time for play-offs, having won their last three on the trot.
The sides have met once already in this campaign, back in November in Galway, when Tralee overpowered Maigh Cuilinn en route to a deserved 21 point victory.
Maigh Cuilinn head coach John Cunningham can justifiably feel his team has improved considerably since that date as players have adapted to new roles on the fly following some devastating early season injury disruptions.
Last weekend’s 70-67 win against St Vincent’s of Dublin, at home in the University of Galway Sports Arena will certainly give the Galway club confidence that they have the firepower to get some much-needed wins from this crucial final stretch to the season.
“We certainly had a rocky start to the season, with so many of our key starters going down to injury and that played havoc with our rotations, “ said coach John Cunningham.
“It changed what we as a coaching staff were asking of the guys remaining, but since December particularly, I think we have found some consistency and it will be a fair litmus test this time around against Tralee to see how much that has benefited us.”
One thing that is for sure is that Maigh Cuilinn will have to do a better job in curtailing Tralee dangerman Deondre Jackson who poured in 30 points on his trip to the City of the Tribes back in November.
Jackson, who hails from Ohio in the United States, is one of the smoothest scorers operating in the league this year and is averaging just shy of 26 points per contest, so holding him below that figure will surely be first and foremost in coach Cunningham’s mind for the game.
Last weekend, against St Vincent’s, Maigh Cuilinn did just enough against their dangerman Donovan Fields when it mattered most. While Fields left Galway with an impressive 30 point personal tally, Maigh Cuilinn put the shackles on him for the all-important final several possessions when he went scoreless on set offensive plays, and that sort of focus will be needed for 40 minutes and not just four minutes this Saturday in Kerry.
Paramount also will be keeping what is always a raucous home Tralee support subdued. The Tralee Sports Complex typically fills to capacity close to an hour before tip-off with a vocal and knowledgeable fan base making it one of the most enjoyable, but also the toughest to secure a win of all the venues in Irish sport.
Maigh Cuilinn’s trip to Tralee will definitely mark the beginning of the home stretch of the season as the following week will see the last home game in Galway, which Maigh Cuilinn has elected to host in Leitir Móir in conjunction with Cumann Cispheile na Gael, as part of a wider day of basketball in the area featuring a Maigh Cuilnn led training session for local underage players in the morning.
