Dominos Mens U20s Round 4
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 65
St. Mary’s 57
Following their defeat to Neptune last week, Garvey’s Tralee Warriors got back to winning ways with a 65-57 win over local rivals St. Mary’s at Moyderwell Gym yesterday afternoon. Despite always controlling the contest, a late St. Mary’s rally kept the Warriors honest right down to the final buzzer.
An impressive display of shooting from Dave Lucid gave Warriors the ideal start as he helped himself to 11 points by the midway point of the first quarter and with Liam O’Rahilly and Ryan Sheehy also on the mark the Warriors led 20-11. St. Mary’s response came from Naglis Vaivada, Owen O’Connor and Chris Devane but the hosts finished the quarter in style with Jamie Burke in range and a double from Ryan Sheehy giving the Warriors a 26-13 lead at quarter time.
St. Mary’s cut the Warriors advantage early in the second through Devane, Vaivada and Larry Nolan but Dave Lucid sparked up again to add an unanswered 8 points to restore Warriors double digit lead. Conor Martin and Vaivada hit back for St. Mary’s but a cracking three pointer from Rahilly saw Warriors go to the half time break 41-27 up.
Samson Abubakar and Paddy Lucid both struck for majors early in the third to extend the Warriors advantage but Devane, O’Connor and Cathal White were all in range to keep the Castleisland side in touch but 0 from 6 from the free throw line halted any St. Mary’s momentum. Vaivada did land scores from inside and outside to keep St. Mary’s hopes alive but baskets from Sheehy and Paddy Lucid kept the Warriors 52-41 ahead at three quarter time.
A three pointer each from Jamie Burke and Seán Cantwell looked like sealing the deal for Warriors early in the final quarter as they increased their advantage to 15. However, St. Mary’s launched a defiant assault on the Warriors board yielding 10 points without reply to leave just 5 between the sides with 2 minutes on the clock. O’Connor, White, Vaivada and Nolan all joined in to leave the scoreline reading 60-55 with time running out. That was as good as it got for the visitors as a Jamie Burke basket settled the Warriors nerves and Fionan Brosnan swished two free throws with the final action of the game to seal the win that puts Warriors on three wins from four games played.
Scorers:
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: David Lucid 20, Ryan Sheehy 12, Jamie Burke 8
St. Mary’s: Naglis Vaivada 20, Chris Devane 9, Owen O’Connor 9
Next up for Warriors is another local derby when they host St. Paul’s Killarney in Moyderwell Gym on Sunday 11th January with tip off at 3.00pm.
Thanks to Liam Ryan for the images.