Moycullen Basketball Club is gearing up for another big outing on the calendar when the men's U20 side contests the Hula Hoops National Cup final later this month.
Moycullen will face KUBS in the U20 decider, which will take place on January 28 at 10am in the National Basketball Arena.
The west Galway youngsters overcame a highly fancied Neptune by 106-53 at the weekend, and hopes are now high Moycullen will capture a third U20 cup title in 10 years, exactly a decade after the club won its first in 2008.
KUBS will not make it easy. They overcame Killester 2 by 91-78 at the weekend to return to a second successive final, having lost the decider 12 months ago.
However Moycullen will look to build on their strong performance in the semi-final when they connected on 14 three-pointers to blow away 2017 champions, Neptune.
The Galway side’s produced a blistering start that left the home fans stunned. Baskets from John Hackett and Paul Kelly help Moycullen into a double-digit lead within minutes of tip off.
The ability of Moycullen players to drive to the basket before passing out to shooters on the move had the Neptune defence scrambling for the remainder of the first quarter and when the dust settled, the scoreboard read 14 to 33.
Options for Cunniningham
The game was all but over at half time, as Moycullen led by 19 and looked capable of scoring another 50 points in the second half.
Indeed, the Galway side put up a massive 106 points in the game, outscoring their rebel-county opposition by a margin of 53.
All of Moycullen’s 12 players saw court time during the game, and this will leave coach John Cunningham with a host of options for the National Cup final.
Moycullen scorers: Paul Kelly 25, John Hackett 21, Connor Curran 19, Patrick Lenihan 9, Mark Convery 9, Max Brennan 6, James Lyons 4, David Kelly 4, James Cummins 3, James Connaire 3, Dara Kenna 2, Aaron Kiernan, Kevyn Burke.
