After a two-week break for cup action, SSE Renewables Moycullen welcome Dublin Inter to the NUIG Kingfisher Gym on Saturday (6.30pm ).
Moycullen will be looking to take the positives from last weekend’s performance against cup champions Neptune as they enter this crucial phase of their National League first division campaign.
Having lost to the Cork side in the first leg of the cup quarter-final by 104 - 59, Moycullen had a big deficit to overcome in the second leg at home last weekend. Although they eventually lost by 92-80, Moycullen will have been boosted with their performance which they will now hope to take into the pre-Christmas fixtures.
The game started off well for Moycullen as they took an early lead, primarily through the efforts of Mike Callaghan, who once again was excellent throughout, and Dylan Cunningham. However the cup champions edged ahead by seven at the quarter’s end and were nine up at the interval after a high-scoring affair second quarter.
At that point the game was turning into a ding-dong battle with Moycullen producing a better scoring spread with six players getting on the scoring sheet. Darragh Mulkerrins put in a great stint on both ends of the court, as did his u-18 colleague Sean Candon. With Gerald Lyons hitting a huge three the home team was mounting a comeback, but crucially Neptune answered with Gary Walsh proving clinical from the free throw line.
Although SSE Renewables Moycullen struck first to start the third quarter, Neptune settled much better and, despite the best efforts of Eoghan Maxwell, they stretched out their lead. However with Paul O’Brien catching fire, helping Cunningham and Callaghan, Moycullen set about reeling in the Neptune lead in the final quarter.
Relentless defence led to some excellent fast-break scores for the home team and slowly they reduced the gap to just five with two minutes remaining. However, a missed goal-tending call coupled with a big three on the subsequent Neptune possession from Walsh settled the visitors and they saw the game out from the free-throw line.
SSE Renewables Moycullen: Mike Callaghan 33, Paul O’Brien 16, Dylan Cunningham 14, Darrag Mulkerrins 5, Eoghan Maxwell 4, Sean Candon 4, Gerald Lyons 3, Ian Burke 1, Stephen O’Brien 1, Tomas Gilson, Evan Costelloe, Ronan O’Sullivan.
