Moycullen basketballers fall to heavy defeat

Date Published: 17-Nov-2010

Killester 107

Moycullen 71

WHEN Moycullen basketballers entered the Superleague for the first time 14 months ago, they knew there would be days where they'd be outclassed by teams of Killester's quality.

However, knowing the reality is a lot easier than living the reality and, when the day comes to play the best, the hope is still there that the team will play above themselves, that Killester will have an off day, or that fate will in some way conspire to make a victory possible . . . that’s the nature of sport.

The reality is usually different and when the inevitable happens, all you can hope is that the lessons dished out are taken on board and the 'crash course' that can't be replicated in training is fully absorbed. Saturday night was once again a 'crash course' as Killester's all round quality saw them begin their National Cup defence in style, scoring at will despite a well organised defensive effort from the home team and easing to victory.

Despite the scoreline, Moycullen can take a number of positives from the performance. Unlike the previous league encounter, there was never a period in the game where the team dropped their heads.

Even in the third quarter, when Killester dominated the most on the scoreboard, Moycullen kept trying to do the right things and continued to play to their structure. Despite American, Mason Ambler, having an off night and leading scorer, Cian Nihill, retiring with an ankle injury in the third quarter, the team stuck to their guns and at times forced Killester coach, Mark Keenan, into making defensive changes rather than picking and choosing who needed playing time off the bench.

Mike Dowd continued his excellent recent form, adding a scoring touch to his proven game management skills at the point while Stephen Tummon added a more clinical level of shot selection to his productive start to the season.