Superleague Season Preview

By moycullenbasketball on 01/08/2021 • ( 0 )

It has been a long wait but the elite of Irish basketball, Moycullen amongst them, are once again preparing to take the court for the start of a new InsureMyVan.ie Super League season.

The team enter the season full of hope and enthusiasm powered by a young squad built around homegrown talent ready to battle against the best basketballers in the country.

There has been an increasing feeling of optimism and excitement
John Cunningham, Moycullen Superleague Head Coach

“Like every sports club over the course of the pandemic, it has been incredibly difficult to plan and get a sense for what a season might look like, but with every week as the start date rolled closer, there has been an increasing feeling of optimism and excitement,” said Moycullen’s returning head coach John Cunningham.

“As has been the case often before, we are going to be one of the younger teams in the league but I think we have a nice mix in the group. Without a doubt there’s great energy with the lads to get going and compete again”.

John Cunningham (coach) with Conor Curran, Eoghan Kelly and Cormac Croke

For the twelfth time in the last thirteen years, Moycullen will be in the very top league against the truly historic clubs in Irish basketball such as Neptune, Marian, Killester and defending champions Belfast Star. They kick off proceedings with a match in NUI Galway against local rivals Maree on 9 October at 7pm, with Maree the nominal home team for the encounter, before Moycullen host their own official first home game the following weekend at 3pm on Sunday 17 October against Kieran Donaghy and the Tralee Warriors.

Moycullen will field an interesting mix of experience and youth this season with returning stalwarts like Joe Tummon, Josh Marvesley, Conor Curran, James Lyons, Kyle and Dylan Cunningham and Paul O’Brien at hand to steer the group through the inevitable ups and downs that come with a Superleague season. Up and coming youth club stars like Rory O’Sullivan, Cormac Croke and Liam Maloney will be looking to these veterans to guide them as their Superleague careers get underway.

Hopeful we will be competitive and represent the club the way it deserves to be represented
Joe Tummon, Moycullen Superleague Centre

“We have a good mix I think and everyone is honestly just excited to get back out and be part of a team again,” said Tummon, who returns for his sixth season with the seniors.

“It is so hard to know what way the league is going to shake out as we have seen so little of the other clubs since Covid hit. We’ve been able to get a good number of pre-season games under our belt in recent weeks and training has been great so we are hopeful we will be competitive and represent the club the way it deserves to be represented.”

Welcome Boosts

Moycullen received a number of welcome boosts over the extended off-season with confirmation that professional American Grant Olsson, a fan favourite for his tireless work ethic and scoring prowess, has agreed terms with the club and is returning for another year. Also, the addition of former underage star Eoghan Kelly, back from his time in the United States, gives the squad a real leader at the point guard position after the departure of Patrick Lyons, who is currently playing professionally in German.

Moycullen have also engineered a structured link that has seen talented Athenry players Niall Bree and Joe Morrison the Superleague squad for the season. The final signing, late this summer, of Serbian swingman, Marko Babic further provides Coach Cunningham with some intriguing playing combinations that may not have been available in recent years past.

It all adds up to point to what should be a fascinating season ahead.

Whatever way it pans out, supporters will undoubtedly just be glad to be able to get back into the Kingfisher Sports Centre and cheer on the team as they duel it out with the best of the best from across Ireland right on our doorstep in NUI Galway.

A reminder that Moycullen are trialing Sunday home games this season at 3pm which the club hopes will assist in having more of our underage members able to attend than the late Saturday night fixtures used in seasons past.

The first game is in NUI Galway but is being hosted by Maree as the home team and so you can buy your tickets for the game via the following link – Follow this link to purchase tickets.

We will have details on our Season Tickets shortly.

Due to Covid restrictions, capacity for the first two weeks of the season (games the weekends of 9 and 16 October) is limited to 60 per cent capacity (Covid Certs required for adults).