Basketball: Conor Meany's whistle-stop tour of the weekend's Super League action
DRIVE: Edel Thornton scores for Brunell against University Ulster in the MissQuote.ie Women's Superleague at Gurranbraher Credit Union Arena. Pic: Larry Cummins
Defending champions Ballincollig have gotten their title defence off to the perfect start with a 3-0 start, including two Cork derby wins. They were full value for this Friday night victory and will be disappointed they didn’t win by more. Sean McManus has announced his arrival in style at Super League level with another big game with 15 points. With Keelan Cairns still to return there will be optimism within Ballincollig that they can put together a run in both competitions this year, The champions' only concern will be how poorly they dealt with Demons late pressure defence. They don’t have a natural point guard on the team and when Adrian O’Sullivan fouled out, Ballincollig struggled to get into their offence and had multiple careless turnovers that gave Demons a lifeline.
UCC Demons suffered their first loss of the season in the Cork derby, and despite a strong fourth-quarter fightback Danny O’Mahony will be concerned by his side's 19 turnovers. Seventh Woods looks to be an excellent player although he may be more effective in higher-quality leagues than Ireland. He regularly made the right plays but if Demons needs one of their Americans to go find them a basket, it’s not as easy for Woods as it would be for bigger guards who can find mismatches and post up too. Ballincollig’s two Americans thrived in the mid-range and so often in Ireland that is where success lies. The other thing on Demons mind will be how to unlock Tala Fam, their influential Spaniard. Fam and new American, Zo Tyson, are potentially too similar and like to operate in the same spaces. Demons didn’t play last weekend so these may just be early season kinks that will settle down in the next few weeks. Despite any concerns they still were only a play or two away from beating the defending Champions.
Belfast Star got an important home win against Killester courtesy of a 23-12 fourth quarter. Conor Quinn’s 31 points including 7 threes did the heavy lifting for Star, until their American duo of Fields and Jackson helped take them home in the fourth. Home court advantage in the playoffs is possibly the most valuable to Belfast Star of all the Northern Conference teams so expect to see them push to maintain there lead atop of the standings. With a kind schedule coming up, we could see Star build a cushion before Christmas. Killester on the other hand are still finding their way, but an early concern is the lack of physical inside presence to balance out their star guards, Dick and Harrell. With Harrell added to last year’s team, Gregario Adon has moved into a third option role which on paper looked to suit him a lot more. He hasn’t looked comfortable yet and is capable of more than he’s shown.
After starting 0-2, Sligo desperately needed a win and it looked unlikely going into the final 10 minutes until they finally shut down St Vincent’s offence. Jamie Hayes had the best shooting night of the season and that 28-10 final quarter has ignited the All Stars season. Coming into the campaign, Sligo were hoping to improve on last year’s playoff spot and to try push into contention. They’ve had a tough start though and with Maree, Demons and Killester on the way, Sligo need to try and pick up at least one win out of the next three to keep in contention as their schedule gets easier. Special mention also to Kevin Anyanwu, the young guard moved across from Dublin Lions and had an incredible 39 points on Saturday.
With the Women's Super League title decided by best record this year, Mark Grennell would have appreciated an easier schedule as his new-look Killester team try to gel.
Instead he got the other three contenders in the first four weeks and Killester have dropped two away games now to Glanmire and Liffey. Glanmire played a much deeper rotation playing 11 players to Killester’s six and that depth of contribution was ultimately the telling factor as Glanmire narrowly won 77-71 behind Amaya West’s 25 points. Four losses could win the league this year, Glanmire’s trip to Liffey Celtics could have a huge impact on that number.
Liffey Celtics and Brunell remain the only unbeaten teams after Liffey beat DCU Mercy 84-75 despite Brynley Fitzgerald’s brilliant 39 points. Brunell’s unbeaten start has been easier thanks to a kind schedule but they were dominant once again as they dismantled Ulster. The first true test of Brunell will be DCU’s visit to Cork next weekend
Wildcats got an important bounce back win against Fr Mathews at home. What was most important though was Jazmine Massengill coming alive with a season-high 34 pts. Massengill has one of the bigger reputations to come into Irish basketball. The 6’0 guard has played for top NCAA teams including Tennessee and expectations are high for her. If she can consistently give big performances alongside Sarah Hickey, Wildcats have a real chance to claim silverware.
Ulster University have lost their first game as their offence ground to a halt in the fourth quarter, scoring just five points, while shooting 1/10 from three. Star guard Jalen Hodge had 35 for the northerners but Eanna’s depth of scoring talent was too much. Eanna will be delighted to have Sean Jenkins back and American Matt McClain is settling into a better player than first expected.
Tralee got back to winning ways with a narrow win over Templeogue. The Dubliners are likely going to be battling for a playoff spot so Tralee would have expected to be more dominant at home. Jonathan Williams had his best scoring night of the year with 24, but Tralee’s American pairing don’t look like one of the best five or six duos in the league which is a concern for John Dowling. For Templeogue this was a game they weren’t expected to win. A bright spot was the performance of Stephen Safo, who joined this season from Drogheda Wolves. The big man had 18 points including some big plays in the fourth to keep them in contention.
In a big women's Super League match that could impact relegation, Trinity Meteors had a huge win at home against Portlaoise Panthers. Meteors hit 13 threes and were led by new American signing Morgan Lenahan’s 23 points. Portlaoise’s ability to score is likely going to doom them this season as they are averaging just 46 points after four games.
