SSE Renewables Moycullen were back on the court on Saturday after a weekend off in the unique surroundings of Colaiste Iognaid where they hosted DCU Saints of Dublin. In what was a mixed performance by the young Moycullen team they came up short against a tough, physical and uncompromising DCU Satins team who used all their guile and experience to come away with the win. However, one of the highlights of the game from the home teams point of view was the return to the court of Rory Gilson in his long awaited season debut and he performed admirably in his first outing.

The scores were pretty much tit-for-tat in the first quarter with Dylan Cunningham & Mike Callaghan keeping the scoreboard ticking over for Moycullen while DCU Saints had a much more even spread with 6 players getting on the scoreboard. Offence was to the fore for the majority of the quarter and with the game being played at a high tempo, it was proving to be an entertaining game for the large home crowd. At the end of the first quarter the visitors were up by 2 points.

The 2^nd quarter was the Eoin Darling show for DCU Saints who hit shots from everywhere on the court despite the best efforts of the Moycullen defense. Despite this barrage of scores from DCU Saints, Moycullen limited the damage by getting some crucial stops toward the end of the quarter while getting some scores themselves.

The third quarter was a lower scoring affair than what had gone in the first half but crucially for SSE Renewables Moycullen some poor turnovers gave Saints some easy scores to push the gap out to a more comfortable margin.  In truth the visitors physically and sheer size was beginning to take its toll and they really turned the screw as the quarter went on.

Despite their best efforts, SSE Renewables just weren’t able to make any in-roads in the lead and Saints experience and size proved too much in the final 10 minutes. They were able to break the home teams full court pressure and pound the ball inside to the big men who did the lions share of the damage on the scoreboard in the second half.  A frustrating game for SSE Renewables Moycullen and it was certainly a case of what might have been.

Once again Mike Callaghan had another outstanding game finishing with 35 points & 13 rebounds and was easily the games standout performer. His displays this season have been a real treat for the home supporters and hopefully we’ll see more of the same in the second half of the season

SSE Renewables Moycullen have next weekend off and then face a trip to Cork to play the league leaders UCC Demons who are unbeaten so far this season. Certainly it is a tough game to play in the middle of the Christmas holidays but the team will be looking for a solid performance to lay the foundations for the second half of the season as the team continue to grow and learn on the job.

Mike Callaghan 35, Dylan Cunningham 15, Ronan O’Sullivan 4, Paul O’Brien 7, Eoghan Maxwell 2, Nollaig Cunningham  2, Rory Gilson, Sean Candon, Gerald Lyons , Ian Burke, Tomas Gilson, Darragh Mulkerrins, Evan Costelloe, Stephen O’Brien

Categories: Men's Superleague