ESB Men's League
ESB Women's League
Britball.com
Front |
Saints falter as
Towers break duck
ESB Men’s League
| O’Hagan
Saints |
70 (36) |
|
73 (38) |
Frosties
Tigers |
| M Tittman |
22 |
18 |
R Turner |
| K Donnelly |
20 |
17 |
J Teahan |
| D Donnelly |
10 |
17 |
R Leonard |
| |
| Neptune |
78 (46) |
|
75 (38) |
Big Al’s
Notre Dame |
| C Watson |
28 |
32 |
B Hughes |
| S McCarthy |
22 |
24 |
A Jenkins |
| In the first
televised game of the season, it was a close and exciting encounter between
the 2000 League and Cup champions. The first quarter was basket for basket.
It was in the second quarter that Neptune pulled ahead, leaving Big Al’s
trailing by 8points going into half time. Stephen McCarthy had one of his
best games of the season and was justly rewarded by being nominated MVP
of the game. The beginning of the third quarter saw Neptune stretch their
lead even further, up 16 points going into the last quarter. Neptune’s
defence concentrated on Anthony Jenkins and managed to control the game
up until the final quarter. Big Al’s came into the final quarter fighting
and three minutes later had reduced their deficit to ten points. With a
little over seven minutes to go, a power failure blackened Neptune Stadium
and put the game out of play for a few minutes. With 4minutes left on the
clock Jenkins scored a 3-pointer to bring Big Al’s within 3 points of Neptune.
With 3 minutes remaining, Brandon Hughes missed a vital basket and Charron
Watson took the rebound. Lenny McMillan picked up his fourth foul to send
Stephen McCarthy to the line, to increase the Neptune lead, 76-70.
With two minutes on the clock, Jenkins
put away another 3 pointer for a nail biting 76-75 scoreline.
Following a Neptune time-out with a
minute and a half to go, Hughes was back on the line, and missed both shots,
to give Big Al’s what would have been their first lead of the game. Eight
seconds left on the clock and Jenkins missed a vital opportunity. Neptune
took the rebound and Stephen McCarthy put the ball in the net to give Neptune
a 78-75 victory. |
| BurgerKing
Limerick |
104 (54) |
|
78 (33) |
Tolka Rovers |
| C Brown |
52 |
24 |
P Boylan |
| S Kelly |
15 |
10 |
J Fazande |
| R Lynch |
10 |
9 |
H Ituralde |
| Close game
in the first quarter until BurgerKing Limerick pulled away and retained
control for the remainder of the game. Tolka’s Randall Mounts returned
form injury, but had a poor performance and was taken out by the stronger
Limerick side.
Limerick’s Tliotis Brown was on 40
points with 8 minutes to go and went back on court for the last four minutes
to achieve a season high of 52 points. Limerick’s second American Lance
Barnes, never got into the game and managed a meager 9 points and played
for half of the game. |
| Waterford
Crystal |
83 (41) |
|
77 (35) |
Hibernian
UCD Marian |
| E Blair |
29 |
26 |
K Ward |
| D Kavanagh |
22 |
12 |
C Akers |
| M Norris |
17 |
10 |
A Fearnon |
| Close game
throughout with never much between the two sides. The first quarter ended
with UCD Marian down by three points. Waterford Crystal controlled the
game throughout. By half-time Waterford had increased their lead to six
points. Stacey Massiah got into foul trouble picking up his third foul
in the second quarter. Massiah sat out most of the third quarter, but Waterford
held the lead to finish that quarter 58-50. The last five minutes saw Waterford
stretch the lead for a 6 point victory. |
| THORN Killester |
62 (31) |
|
65 (36) |
Esat Telecom
Demons |
| E Jackson |
18 |
14 |
S Coughlan |
| J Leahy |
17 |
12 |
S McCarthy |
| J Westbrooks |
8 |
10 |
T Carberre |
| |
| Abbey Foods
Sligo |
77 (40) |
|
79 (43) |
Tyrone Towers |
| C Holmes |
32 |
25 |
J Turner |
| P Bree |
17 |
25 |
C Mason |
| D Halbauer |
12 |
19 |
J Supervia |
| Abbey Foods
Sligo came out on the wrong side of the scoreline, when they were defeated
at home by Tyrone Towers, to give the Dungannon side their first victory
of the season.
The game could have been either teams
victory right the way through, with both sides making some costly mistakes.
Sligo were without Shane O’Meara, and
Pascal Bree came off three minutes before the end with an ankle injury. |
| O’Hagan
Saints |
88 (44) |
|
100 (50) |
Star of
the Sea |
| K Donnelly |
28 |
26 |
S Somersgill |
| P Shuttlesworth |
27 |
21 |
K McFarland |
| D Donnelly |
10 |
19 |
Trevor Smullen |
| O’Hagan Saints
got off to a poor start to give Star of the Sea a 28-18 lead at the end
of the first quarter. Star’s Scott Somersgill scored 12 points in the first
10 minutes while his team-mate Kenny McFarland managed 10 points. In the
second quarter, the Saints managed to get into the game and had a good
run to bring the game back to 6 points mid-way through the second quarter.
The third quarter was basket for basket finishing 69-62 to Star. The final
quarter saw the Saints bring the game within three points with five minutes
to go but Star were too strong and the Dublin side couldn’t sustain the
pressure. Karl Donnelly scored three 3 pointers in the last quarter, which
wasn’t enough to give them a home victory.
O’Hagan Saints were without Stephen
McGuirk and Gerry Noone due to injury, and their absence on the court cost
Vincent’s two home victories this weekend. |
ESB Women’s League
| Bausch &
Lomb Wildcats |
80 (46) |
|
41 (17) |
University
of Limerick |
| K White |
33 |
10 |
J Murphy |
| J Hayes |
13 |
9 |
J Aherne |
| O Dempsey |
12 |
6 |
D Breen |
| Wildcats start
off well and lead for the full 40 minutes of the game which was a very
much one sided encounter. Wildcats finished 34-7 ahead of Limerick after
the first quarter and one every other quarter afterwards. Sinead Leahy
was missing for University of Limerick and they had no real threat inside
to give Waterford a run for their money. |
| Thorn Killester |
74 (37) |
|
67 (33) |
Sasha Meteors |
| E Pearse |
19 |
17 |
C O’Sullivan |
| S Caughlan |
15 |
11 |
K Hennessy |
| E Brophy |
12 |
11 |
N O’Keeffe |
| In an entertaining
and skilful game Thorn Killester edged the visitors from the Southside.
The home team held a slender 4 point lead at half time but in the final
quarter Killester pulled away for their first victory of the season. Killester’s
offence showed a better balance than Meteors with the guards combining
for 31 points and the inside players on 35 points. Meteors reliance on
the three point shot cost them their game in the end. |
|
