Tough lesson for Moycullen in big time debut

ON Saturday evening, Moycullen discovered – as most teams who move up a division do – that honest effort is not enough to bridge the gap between Division 1 and Superleague. Experience at the level is a vital ingredient and the only way to gain this is to play the games.Everything happens a step quicker and where one good individual effort on offence or defence generally bore fruit in Div 1, in the top flight a second and often third good effort is generally required in any play to get results.Moycullen failed to piece together enough of those second and third efforts and UL Eagles were that bit more clinical as they eased to an 88-73 victory. The Galway men must now regroup thisweek before facing the momentous challenge of a trip to last year’s double winners, Blue Demons from Cork, on Sunday.Moycullen began the game confidently with John Cunningham having the honour of scoring their first Superleague points off a fine assist from Mike Dowd. However, from the beginning they struggled to deal with UL Eagles’ giant Welsh centre, 6’ 11’’ Stu Robbins. Despite a solid game plan prepared for him, the practical proved more difficult than the theory as the sheer size of Robbins and his solid post moves saw him deliver ten first quarter points. Limerick’s experienced guards, Scotty Kinevane and Matt Hall exploited Robbins’ physical advantages to good effect, feeding him regularly and moving the ball to create clear passing lanes.Moycullen dug in and five points from Cian Nihill and four from American, Simon Harris, kept them in touch. The...