Mens U20s League R1
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 83 Rathmore Ravens 79
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors U20s produced a memorable comeback to completely turn around their first round contest against the fancied Rathmore Ravens side in a pulsating encounter at Moyderwell Gym last night. Trailing by no fewer than 23 nearing the halftime buzzer, the Warriors young guns drew on all their resolve and spirit to mount a stunning 39 point volley to lead by 16 and kept their composure late on to see out the 83-79 in the end.
The Ravens started with real intent and built an unanswered 11 point early lead with Conor Moynihan, John Hughes, Shane Daly and Damien Moynihan combining before a Ryan Sheehy hat trick got Warriors in gear. Damien Moynihan, Daly and Ezekiel Mobolagi restore the Rathmore 11 point gap and despite a Sheehy major and a score from Liam Rahilly for Warriors, Tadgh Jack O’Leary added from either side of the three point line to see the Ravens 27-14 up at quarter time.
The Warriors had little answer to the Ravens second quarter start and by the time David Darmody, Daly, Conor Moynihan and Dylan Bowler combined the Rathmore advantage was out to 37-14. Samson Abubakar, Kiefer Yiadom, Dave Lucid and Brayden Pierce were all in range to cut the gap to 15 and despite another Ryan Sheehy three, Darmody, Hughes and O’Leary helped put 20 between the sides before Jamie Burke knocked in a much needed score to cut the Ravens lead 45-29 at half time.
Front row L to R: Brayden Pierce, Liam Rahilly, Fionan Brosnan, Samson Abubakar, Ryan Sheehy
Halftime team talks can work wonders but what exactly Essence Sumner and Fergal O’Sullivan said to their troops at the long break may never fully explain what followed. The Warriors simply exploded into action and blitzed the Ravens with 28 of the next 37 points scored. A hat trick of threes from Sheehy, Pierce and Burke was followed by another hat trick from inside from Abubakar and with Pierce again in range from distance, the sizable half time lead was down to a single score. Conor Moynihan led the resistance for the East Kerry side with a 7 point haul but when Sheehy again found the Ravens basket, Dave Lucid followed up with a three to level the contest and Jamie Burke added to put Warriors in front for the first time on the night. Darmody and O’Leary tried to wrest the lead back but a basket each from Burke and Lucid ensured the Warriors would take a 59-58 lead into the final quarter.
The momentum was now all with Warriors and Conor Moynihan’s two baskets were the only punctuation to Warriors continued onslaught that saw Lucid, and Burke gain in range and Sheehy from inside and out before a statement 6 from 6 from free throws from Pierce fired the Warriors into a commanding 16 point lead of their own. Rathmore responded with major scores from Conor Moynihan and Hughes to pare the lead back to 6. Another Darmody double and major from Hughes hinted at a Ravens late smash and grab but Ryan Sheehy was cool from the line to nail 5 clutch free throws to seal a memorable win in what was a cracking contest.
Scorers:
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Ryan Sheehy 28, Brayden Pierce 15, Jamie Burke 14
Rathmore Ravens: Conor Moynihan 21, David Darmody 14, John Hughes 11
Credit to Alan Cantwell for the images.