Moycullen Men Knocked Out of National Cup

By moycullenbasketball on 28/10/2018

Moycullen Men’s National Cup Match Report

Date: 27th October 2018

Venue: UCD Sports Centre

UCD Marian 89 (48)

Moycullen 76 (39)

A gutsy performance by Moycullen fell short Saturday night on the road against UCD Marian, whose impressive strength in depth helped the defending Superleague champions win out 89 to 76 in the first round of the Men’s National Cup.

A quick start for the home team saw them jump out to an early ten point advantage as they capitalised on their greater athleticism to convert several fast break scores and second chance opportunities following offensive rebounds.

In a Belfield Sports Centre where Moycullen have suffered a number of difficult defeats in recent years, the men from Galway responded to the challenge well and sparked by an inspired performance by Josh Marvesley off the bench, rallied to keep the game within single digits for the remainder of the first half.

Some excellent shooting by an in-form Joseph Tummon also helped and the visitors would have been quietly confident going into the half time break trailing by just nine on a score of 48 to 39.

While Moycullen repeatedly got the margin down to four points, they were never able to turn the corner into an actual lead and with a spread of UCD Marian players contributing to the scoreboard UCD held on for what was, in the end, a deserved 13 point win.

While head coach John Cunningham will be frustrated by his side’s cup run being cut off before it had an opportunity to get started, he was impressed with the fighting spirit this young Moycullen outfit showed against what is possibly the most talented team in Irish basketball.

“We are disappointed to go out of the cup but I felt like it was a very positive performance,” said Cunningham after the final whistle on Saturday night.

“To be within 5 mid way through the fourth has to be positive against a team of their stature in their home gym in a cup game that everyone is always focused on. Turnovers costs us as did some spells where they got second attempts.”

Moycullen can now exclusively focus on Superleague action and won’t have long to wait to get back to winning ways as they take on Swords Thunder in NUIG’s Kingfisher Arena on Bank Holiday Monday at 3pm.