Defending champions UL Eagles served notice at the weekend that they will not be handing over the Men’s Premier League title without a fight. Trailing both Killester and C&S UCC Demons in the league table, Eagles registered the most impressive win of the weekend with a convincing 17-point defeat of Belfast Star in Limerick.
“We just need to keep ourselves right there (chasing the undefeated Killester and Demons). We have 11 games yet to play so there is loads of basketball yet to go,” said Eagles coach Mark Keenan. Eagles currently sit third in the table on two losses.
Particularly impressive for Eagles in Saturday’s outing was the performance of American centre Delwan Graham who finished up with 36 points and terrorised the Belfast Star players with his shot-blocking potential.
“He is a great intimidator there under the basket and stars guys went down the lane a bit worried about where he was all the time,” said Keenan, who was also glad to see the return of point guard Scott Kinevane from injury. “Scott back playing gives us that energy and the pace of the game was quicker than it had been which gets us going. Eagles fellow two loss team, Bord Gais Neptune, also registered an important win Saturday as they overcame UCD Marian on the road.
With powerful displays from the inside pairing of Mattie Rudak and Paul Stapleton, Neptune proved too good for a Marian side continuing to battle with inconsistency. The tightest game of the weekend came in the form of Dublin Inter versus DCU Saints with the visiting Saints emerging victorious by just four points, leaving Inter the consolation of a losing bonus point.
Sunday meanwhile saw two somewhat predictable outcomes as first and second placed Killester and C&S UCC Demons held home court against last and second last placed SSE Renewables Moycullen and Templeogue respectively. In the Women’s Premier League, it was a busy weekend of action for Singleton SuperValu who bounced back from their loss to UL Huskies the previous Saturday to defeat Liffey Celtics before turning their attention on Sunday to their meeting with DCU Mercy.
Unfortunately from a Brunell perspective, it wasn’t to be two wins from two as a strong fourth quarter from DCU Mercy who rallied late to earn a ten point victory. In Limerick, defending champions UL Huskies reaffirmed that they remain the standard bearers in the league as they demolished a WIT Wildcats team that had entered the game in first place.
With Rachael Vanderwal in outstanding form, Huskies proved too good on their home-court and delivered an 84 to 65 victory where the result was never really in question from mid-way through the second quarter. Also in action during the weekend were Killester and Team Montenotte Hotel, who both showed their class with convincing wins over Ulster Rockets and Meteors respectively.
Basketball Ireland Weekend Results
Saturday, November 30th
Men’s Premier League
UCD Marian 77 (31) (T King 27, B Drumm 11, E Chubb 10) Bord Gais Neptune 91 (43) (D Townes 22, I McLaughlin 19, G Noonan 17)
Dublin Inter 64 (31) (M Tamusauskas 14, A Statkus 11, M Cepliauskas 10) DCU Saints 68 (41) (M Provizors 21, P Lynch 16, J Donnelly 15)
UL Eagles 74 (32) (D Graham 36, N Campbell 10,M Hall 9) Belfast Star 57 (19) (P Dick 20, D Moreira 13, F Otis 8)
Women’s Premier League
UL Huskies 84 (48) (R Vanderwal 24, A McDermott 21, R Clancy 14) WIT Wildcats 65 (23) (N Mullaly 20, R Roberts 17, S O Shea 6)
Liffey Celtics 43 (20) (S Smith 15, M Foley 7, A O Connor 7) Singleton SuperValu Brunell 64 (24) (C Mendendez 21, M O’Leary 11, D O’Leary 10)
Team Montenotte Hotel 80 (44) (N Dwyer 20, E Harmon 15, A McKenna 11) Meteors 64 (24) (J Daly 18, K Gander 13, B Meany 9)
Men’s Division One
Team Left Bank Kilkenny 79 (29) (P Summers 28, P Morrissey 13, B Hogan 13) C&S Blue Demons 69 (30) (C Cuff 18, R McGowan 14, S McCarthy 7)
Tolka Rovers 51 (33) ( F Flood 12, D O’Beirne 11, C Quinn 9) Dublin Thunder 74 (34) (K Lacey 25, KC Rodensberg 15, M Goj 11)
Portlaoise Panthers 36 (18) (P O’Sullivan 9, K O’Donoghue 6, G Simkus 5) Maree 91 (45) K Hansberry 15, C O’Hagan 13, C Finn 12)
Women’s Division One
NUIG Mystics 38 (23) (L Murray 19, M McCaughern 10, G Martin 4) Portlaoise Panthers 55 (26) (M O’Sullivan 17, C O’Sullivan 14, T Fallon 9)
Tralee Imperials 59 (35) (S Mackessy 16, E Sherwood 14, L Jones 13) Oblate Dynamos 48 (26) (S Behan 11, T Harrison 9, K Maloney 8)
Sunday, December 1st
Men’s Premier League
C&S UCC Demons 89 (48) (L Colbert 25, N O’Reilly 13, C O’Sullivan 12) Templeogue 59 (31) (S Homan 15, I Gordon 12, L Thompson 11)
Killester 72 (35) (M Bonaparte 19, M Gomez 14, J Behan 10) SSE Renewables Moycullen 57 (21) (M Callaghan 27, D Cunningham 19, P O’Brien 5)
Women’s Premier League
Killester 89 (51) (C Bond 20, A McGuire 18, M Clarke 16) Ulster Rockets 51 (27) (K Shields 14, M McNally 11, F Toner 9)
DCU Mercy 69 (34) (M Hoffman 30, S Woods 15, L Peat 12) Singleton SuperValu Brunell 59 (43) (E Thornton 21, C Menendez 12, M O’Leary 10)
Men’s Division One
JM&L Auctioneer’s Titans 75 (37) (J Galvin 22, D Wall 18, A Fitzgerald 13) Team Garvey’s St Mary’s 58 (36) (T Mitkus 11, C Coyne 10, T Fabriciuss 10)
