Moycullen are hoping for strong home support this weekend when they return to Superleague basketball action and face two big games in two days.
In what is expected to be tough weekend, Moycullen face play-off contenders DCU Saints from Dublin on Saturday, and then defending league champions UCC Demons from Cork on Sunday. NUIG will host Saturday’s game at 6pm, while the clash with Demons takes place the following day in Calasanctius College in Oranmore at 4pm. The game was to have taken place in Leitir Mor at 2pm, but due to a double-booking, Calasanctius has made its gym available at short notice.
Both sides present a huge challenge for Moycullen who, having managed to secure three wins to date, have not managed a win over one of the league’s “elite” sides.
Apart from a question mark over veteran John Cunningham, Moycullen enter the weekend with a fully fit team. However, having played just two games in six weeks, it is the lack of match fitness that concerns coach Enda Byrt.
“ The big challenge has been maintaing sharpness with such a lay-off,” he says. “ The Demons game should have been earlier in the season but its rescheduling has left us with only one game since the Christmas break.”
“Training has been going great, but it’s games you need. If we can play at game intensity at the weekend, I'm confident we can get two wins,” he says.
DCU, despite an erratic season, boast considerable depth of talent in their squad with multiple players averaging double figures in points. Any one of seven or eight players pose a scoring threat if Moycullen’s defence allows.
In their previous meeting DCU bossed the Galway side around the court and Moycullen cannot let that happen again. They will need to match DCU physically, and if they can manage that, they have the players to pick up the home win.
Champions UCC Demons are next up and this is a game Moycullen will face with a certain amount of optimism, having pushed them close in Cork earlier in the season. The home side will feel they have improved considerably since then, while also adding American Nate Fritsch to the team and Garnett Griffin, who has also returned to full fitness.
Moycullen will hope the home crowd, which has been inspiring this season, will help secure victories in what will be Moycullen’s second last home fixture of the Superleague season.
