Leitir Móir hosts ts first Basketball Ireland Superleague match in almost 15 years with Maigh Cuilinn to play their crucial final home game of the season in theSportlann Michael Mhóir.
The opponent for Saturday’s 5pm tip off will be a formidable Templeogue side from Dubin that has been perennial contenders and last lifted the ultimate trophy in 2017.
The Dubliners are led by Lorcan Murphy and Neil Randolph, two of the best Irish players in the league, both of whom are now mainstays on the Irish senior men’s team, and between them average more than 30 points per game in the Superleague (the top of any Irish duo in the league ).
Along with professional signing Francis Mulvihill from Australia (who is netting 18 points per game ), Templeogue have a potent offence and are typically scoring in excess of 80 points per game, a tally Maigh Cuilinn will aim to hold them well below if they are to register an upset win.
Registering a victory is vital for Maigh Cuilinn, however, who are fast running out of games to pull themselves free of relegation worries.
Maigh Cuilinn head coach John Cunningham, After Saturday's game, there are only have two road games left. with one in Sligo and the other in Killorglin.
"We probably need to win two of these final three to avoi the relegation playoff,” he says.
“It is a home game, even if not our usual venue in University of Galway, but there has been great work in the background between people in our club this year and the great work locals in Leitir Móir are doing to get Cumann Cispheile na Gael off the ground, so I am hoping those ties and old friendships will encourage a good local support to come out Saturday afternoon and cheer us on. It is still Galway against Dublin!”
Maigh Cuilinn can call on fond memories from their last Superleague outing in Leitir Móir, whe in December 2009 the winners over Hoops of Dublin with Dylan Cunningham now the sole Maigh Cuilinn survivor from that win.
Maigh Cuilinn will not however look back warmly at their most immediate recent contest, a loss last weekend in Kerry to a talent laden Tralee Warriors side when a third quarter slump by the visitors, scoring just 11 points to Tralee’s 19, doomed them after a competitive first half.
The final score, a 14 point loss by 82- 68, probably did not reflect what was a very close game, and Maigh Cuilinn will have regrets in failing to follow up their dramatic three-point win the weekend before against St Vincent’s.
A poor start and finish to the third quarter was once again the recipe for defeat for Maigh Cuilinn, as has so often been the case this season. After quelling the always raucous Tralee crowd to engineer a really tight competitive game and keep the margin to just five points at half time, Maigh Cuilinn came out lethargic to start the second half and a quick flurry of baskets by Tralee’s Deondre Jackson and Matija Jokic opened up the gap that would ultimately prove the difference.
Maigh Cuilinn battled back throughout the majority of the third quarter, getting the margin back to five again in the closing minutes of the period, but a cruel 8-0 run by Tralee to finish the period seemed to sap Maigh Cuilinn of energy.
The game was never out of reach in the final period, but it always seemed unlikely Maigh Cuilnn would turn the tide, and in the end Tralee were worthy winners.
