Sport

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors league fate firmly in their own hands

Injury-hit Kerry side see instrumental American Kendal Williams taken off injured

Tralee face a huge concluding weekend next weekend when they face off against fellow title contenders and reigning champions UCD Marian. Photograph: Inpho

Mon Mar 18 2019 - 18:32

Monday's Men's Super League results have ensured the three top teams are firmly in the race for league honours ahead of next weekend's concluding fixtures to tee up a dramatic finale to the season.

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors completed a tough weekend of fixtures Monday afternoon, running out winners over Moycullen in Galway to follow on from their win against C and S Neptune at home on Friday evening. This leaves their fate in this year’s league firmly in their own hands now, as they remain the only team who can win the league outright as they currently hold the best loss record, with just four losses this season in comparison to Templeogue’s and UCD Marian’s five losses apiece.

Tralee face a huge concluding weekend next weekend though, when they face off against fellow title contenders, and reigning champions UCD Marian not once, but twice – home and away. The injury-laden Kerry side were dealt a further blow to their roster this afternoon though when instrumental American, Kendal Williams was taken off the court injured.

Speaking after the win, head coach Pat Price reflected: "My first thoughts are with Kendal Williams, it's way more important than any game, it was a terrible injury. Our guys have really adopted the idea of next man up though and guys took on roles today that maybe they're not accustomed to. Not only that, but Keith Jumper played injured, Dusan Bogdanovic played injured, Paul Dick played very injured today – they just want to be successful and they've all showed they'll put their body on the line to do that."

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Fellow title chasers, Templeogue, were also in action on Monday and faced off a determined C and S Neptune side in Cork who were battling for survival in the Men’s Super League. A tough and scrappy affair saw Templeogue begin to assert their dominance at half time, opening up a 39-53 point cushion, and they drove on from there to win out 77-95 in the end.

“It was a scrappy game,” admitted player and assistant coach, Puff Summers. “We knew we were going to get Neptune’s best shot as this was their last game and they were trying to fight relegation, so we’re just happy to get the win. We take nothing for granted now, we face Moycullen next week in our last game and we have to win that. Moycullen have a fighting spirit so we expect another tough game there.”

Elsewhere around Monday's fixtures, a big fourth-quarter push from Maree saw them run out 79-83 point winners over Keane's SuperValu Killorglin in Kerry, with Seán Sellers, Niels Bunschoten and Paul Freeman leading the way for the Galway men on the scoreboard. DCU Saints meanwhile overcame near neighbours Pyrobel Killester in a cracking derby game in Dublin, winning out 92-74 in the end behind a 22-point game from Eoin Darling.

Basketball Ireland – March 15th-19th

Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:

UCC Demons 102-93 Keane's Supervalu Killorglin

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 87-82 CandS Neptune

Maree 98-77 DCU Saints

Pyrobel Killester 82-70 Belfast Star

Moycullen 56-87 UCD Marian

Belfast Star 96-81 UCC Demons

Keanes Supervalu Killorglin 79-83 Maree

DCU Saints 92-74 Pyrobel Killester

Moycullen 82-93 Garvey’s Tralee Warriors

CandS Neptune 77-95 Templeogue

Basketball Ireland Women’s Super League:

IT Carlow Basketball 68-82 Maxol WIT Wildcats

NUIG Mystics 46-63 Courtyard Liffey Celtics

Pyrobel Killester 93-87 Ambassador UCC Glanmire

DCU Mercy 77-70 Fr Mathews

Singleton SuperValu Brunell 67-55 Marble City Hawks

Basketball Ireland Men’s Division One:

IT Carlow Basketball 77-70 KUBS

Tradehouse Central Ballincollig 100-61 Bad Bobs Tolka Rovers

Limerick Celtics 52-80 Abbey Seals Dublin Lions

UL Sports Eagles 74-83 DBS Eanna

Waterford Vikings 83-70 GameFootage.net Titans

Fr Mathews 90-73 LYIT Donegal

Scotts Lakers St Paul’s Killarney 79-81 EJ Sligo All-Stars

Portlaoise Panthers 87-75 Ulster University Elks

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