UCC Demons 95 (57) Moycullen 82 (34)

Mardyke Arena Cork

If the first five minutes of the game could be scrubbed from history, this would have been a great result for Moycullen in Cork.

Unfortunately, sport and life do not work like that and a disastrous opening spell, which left them trailing by 15 points doomed Moycullen to a loss in Cork against UCC Demons.

An admirable come-back from the Westerners, that saw them pull close in the final quarter before eventually losing by 13, will nonetheless go down as another L in a season where relegation is proving a real threat.

As has happened too often this season, it was the opposing side’s professional American that caused much of Moycullen’s problems with Demons’ Brandon Watts finishing the game on 35 points.

Moycullen were led by fine performances from two of the their younger stars as Joseph Tummon and Kyle Cunningham combined for 32 points in what turned out to be a high scoring contest.

Despite the high score, the game was an extremely physical one with both teams in foul trouble throughout. There is little love lost between these two who have had some cracking battles in recent seasons.

After Demons early onslaught, the game was at risk of slipping out of control before Moycullen steadied the ship and found some offence to stem the tide.

The damage had been done however and the best Moycullen could do was enter the half time break trailing by 23 and hoping for a big momentum swing in the third quarter.

While this did not come on the score-board, it was clearly evident on the court that it was Moycullen who were more up for the battle in the early goings of the second half.

The Galway lads only managed to chip one point off the deficit in the third but laid the ground work for a possible come-back by finding some rhythm on offence and putting several of Demons’ key players into foul trouble.

It allowed them make a great push in the fourth, which culminated in the lead being brought back to ten with four minutes remaining.

Some key scores from Watts and Demons’ Kyle Hosford and a few unlucky Moycullen turnovers popped the bubble however and it was to be as close as the visitors could get.

The contest ended on a sour note when Moycullen’s Dylan Cunningham was ejected from the gym after the talented but ill-tempered Watts took offence to a foul by Moycullen’s Connor Curran in the final seconds before Cunningham interjected to protect Curran from what looked like possibly boiling over into a fight between Watts and Curran. Watts was also ejected from the game.

Moycullen now have a nervy wait to see if Cunningham is allowed play in Saturday’s crucial clash with Neptune, which tips off at 7.30 pm in NUIG Kingfisher Arena.

Moycullen scorers: Joseph Tummon 16, Kyle Cunningham 16, Paul Kelly 14, Dylan Cunningham 10, Connor Curran 9, Isaiah Harris Winn 7, Patrick Lyons 3, Josh Marvesley 3, Cian Nihill 2, James Lyons 2, Stephen Tummon

Categories: Men's Superleague, News