Dominos Mens Super League R22
Griffith College Éanna 92
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 66
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors face a return trip to Colaiste Éanna to take on Griffith College Éanna on Saturday night with tip off at 7pm in the Domino’s Mens Super League quarter final play off as the standings on the League table were confirmed following the final rounds of action in the regulation season. The Warriors’ hopes of improving their position in the final standings fell well short of expectations as they tamely surrendered away to the Dublin outfit on Saturday night. Wishing to bring some of the momentum of their dramatic midweek win over Flexachem KCYMS, their chances to improve their standing in the final reckoning were dashed by a confident display by Éanna as they outscored and outclassed the Warriors by 92-66 in the end. UCC Demons win over St. Vincent’s on Sunday cemented Warriors 5th place finish in the final reckoning to set up the return trip to Dublin on Saturday night.
The Warriors got off to the better start and led 9-4 early on with baskets from Iggy Hunte, Steven Bowler and a three from Eoin Quigley giving the visitors the early edge. Éanna’s American Jaylyn Richardson did not take long to show his class by shooting 8 of the first 9 points for his side as they bridged the gap. Olaf Michalczuk was sprung from the bench to strike twice from distance and Quigley was on the mark again for Warriors but a basket from Richardson and a 7 point haul from Adam Charles squared the game at 20-20 at quarter time.
Éanna blasted out of the traps early in the second and by the midway point they had spread the game completely by posting 18 unanswered points. The Warriors could not get close enough to deny Kristjan Andabaka, Stefan Desnica and Neil Lynch twice the time and space to shoot major scores to build a lead they would not surrender. Daniel Jokubaitis only three pointer of the game stemmed the tide and Iggy Hunte began to find the Éanna basket adding 12 points in a row but at the other end Richardson continued to torment the Warriors defence adding a quickfire 8 after Charles hit a major and Lynch did likewise to finish the first half with Éanna leading 53-37.
The Warriors did shore up their defensive lanes somewhat early in the third after Richardson arced in his second major score with Hunte and Jordan Perkins combining to keep Warriors in touch. A double from distance from Perkins brought the gap down to 10 but Charles with a three and two more from close range from Richardson kept Éanna in the driving seat up 71-56 going into the final quarter.
Desnica with scores from inside and outside and a double from Richardson had 22 between the teams midway through the final quarter. Warriors were limited to
In the offensive battle Éanna completely dominated particularly from distance with Warriors shooting 6 from 33 from outside while Eanna hit 12 from 27. Those eighteen points were largely the difference between the sides with Richardson adding another late volley of 7 points to complete his and Éanna’s impressive display to see out the 92-66 win in the end.
Scorers:
Griffith College Éanna: Jaylyn Richardson 28, Stefan Desnica 17, Adam Charles 17
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Iggy Hunte 22, Jordan Perkins 15, Cian Sullivan and Eoin Quigley 7
The Warriors now need to dust themselves down again to take on Éanna again just seven days after such a defeat and following the Dublin outfit overpowering Energywise Ireland Neptune by 117-72 in a back game on Monday night. The sides met at the same stage of the competition two seasons ago and the Warriors led with seconds remaining on the clock before James Gormley rose highest to score the winning basket as the final buzzer sounded. John Dowling’s side will have plenty to work on this week as they need to curtail the Éanna offensive threat, particularly from distance, while vastly improving their own accuracy in attack to have any chance of turning the tables on their hosts and securing a semi final date away to either Ballincollig or Limerick Celtics.