Moycullen Superleague Match Report

Date: 20^th October 2018

Venue: Neptune Stadium

Neptune 90 (45)

Moycullen 111 (54)

A dazzling shooting display from Moycullen’s Superleague side saw them claim a rare win in Cork against the historic king-pins of Irish basketball, Neptune.

Dylan Cunningham (courtesy of Joe Shaughnessy)

After consecutive weeks in which Moycullen struggled to find their scoring touch, the floodgates opened Saturday night at Neptune Stadium as the men from the west poured in eighteen three pointers on 51 per cent shooting from beyond the arc.

It was enough to see them control the game on the road, leading start to finish and running out deserving 21-point winners by the final buzzer.

“I said last week that our problem was putting the ball in the basket and the guys certainly came up with the answer to that tonight,” remarked a delighted Moycullen head coach John Cunningham after the game.

“A win was important after feeling like we left last weekend behind us (home loss to UCC Demons).”

Moycullen were led early on by veteran Dylan Cunningham who connected on back to back three pointers to quickly dismantle a porous Neptune zone, forcing the home side to quickly rethink their defensive strategy.

As Neptune chopped and changed their defensive approach to try and stem a Moycullen offence that was growing in confidence, the Cork outfit kept themselves in the contest through some excellent fastbreaks and the deft touch of American Lehmon Colbert on the other side of the court.

With the game being played at a ferocious pace, scores came thick and fast for both teams and defence must have been the central topic of discussion in both dressing rooms at half time with the score reading Neptune 45 v Moycullen 54.

This was a night for offensive displays however and the second half picked up right where the first had left off. Moycullen would end the game with six players in double figures and managed to find easier scores on a more consistent basis than their opponents.

Moycullen also did a better job on the defensive end of preventing Colbert from catching the ball after he had terrorised the Moycullen defence in the first two quarters.

By the end of the third period, Moycullen had extended their lead to 17 points, a lead they never looked like surrendering and would in fact extend during the final quarter.

By the final whistle, all ten Moycullen players would contribute to the scoreboard including up and coming future star, Dara Kenna, who connected on his first ever Superleague basket in the closing minutes.

Attention now turns to Cup action as Moycullen travel to reigning Superleague champs UCD Marian on Saturday night. They then return to Galway and Superleague action on Monday afternoon when they play Swords Thunder at 3pm in NUIG Kingfisher.

Moycullen Scorers: Isaiah Harris Winn (24), Dylan Cunningham (16), Cian Nihill (14), Connor Curran (13), Joseph Tummon (10), Kyle Cunningham (10), Paul Kelly (8), James Lyons (7), Patrick Lyons(7), Dara Kenna (2)

Categories: News