Moycullen suffer double Bank Holiday defeat

MOYCULLEN’S difficult start to the season continued with a double defeat over the bank holiday weekend when two good halves of basketball wasn’t enough for a win as they came in two separate games.

Coach Byrt will be particularly frustrated by the teams continuing inability to protect the ball (averaging over 20 turnovers a game) and failure to provide a consistent effort over the four quarters of the game.

Youth and inexperience at the level is certainly a factor, as are the injury woes that have deprived them of two starters from last season, James Loughnane and Garnett Griffin. However, these excuses are starting to wear thin and the team need to find a way to solve these problems.

On Saturday, they travelled to Dublin to face a UCD Marian side much improved from last season. They blitzed Moycullen in the first quarter with a superb display of outside shooting, powering to a 37-18 lead.

The game was tit-for-tat after that with Moycullen edging the second half and at one stage even hinting at an improbable comeback. However, the deficit was too big and Moycullen’s continuing tendency to turn over the ball at a high rate saw UCD ease to victory.

Mason Ambler top scored for Moycullen with 28 and also pulled down an impressive 24 rebounds while Cian Nihill hit 19. Barry Glover led the way for Marian hitting 27 in a superb all round display that saw him find the gaps in the Moycullen defence and exploit them to massive effect.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.