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Interactive Hang-Time News by Email Hoopchat Frequently Asked Questions Ballina upset odds to reach Cup last four
The quarter-finals of the ESB Cup proved a bad weekend for Cork fans, with both Neptune and Demons knocked out , making it the second year in a row there was no Cork representative in the cup weekend.
The Friday night semi-final in late January will now be a contest between two of the best sets of supporters in the country. Waterford’s fans filled the arena for their semi-final against Saints last year – this year they will be fighting to be heard above the famous Ballina drummer – as Ballina booked their place in the first cup semi-final since 1996.
It’s an all Dublin affair on the Saturday between Notre Dame, who bounced back to beat Limerick, and THORN Killester who easily saw off Neptune, after the 1998 runners-up lost Andy Meyers in the opening quarter.
There were no surprises in the Women’s cup, with all the ESB League sides cruising through to the semi-finals. The all Dublin clash between Killester and Tolka Rovers ended in a 63-68 win for Tolka who now take on Meteors.
ESB Senior Men’s Cup
Burger King Limerick 87 (48) 96 (45) Big Al’s Notre Dame C Brown 38 33 A Jenkins L Barnes 14 29 B Hughes M Hall 15 L McMillan Big Al’s Notre Dame proved yet again why no-one should bet against them in a cup clash when they fought back from 14pts down to beat Burger King Limerick 87-96 in the new University Arena and book a place in their 6th consecutive Cup semi-final. And it was veteran player/coach Anthony Jenkins that was Big Al’s hero on the night as his 32pts (including 8 three-pointers) killed off the Brown led Limerick challenge.
Matthew Hall opened the scoring with a big three pointer for the home side; Cleotis Brown doubling their score seconds later with his first three of the night. But Jenks, who was in awesome form, put Big Al’s up for the first time in the game, the visitors 8-6 in front with four minutes gone in the game.
It was a low scoring first half as both sides played tight defence and forced the opposition into offensive errors. With 4.21 on the clock, Limerick felt Brandon Hughes should have been called for a barge on Hall, but the referee said play on and Hughes shot was rebounded by Ciaran McEvilly, who was fouled and coolly slotted home the two free throws to put Big Al’s 14-8 in front.
Robert Lynch got the home side back in touch with a lovely inside fake and jump shot right in the face of Hughes. He was to the fore straight away in defence with a superb block on Hughes, but unluckily for Limerick the rebound fell wide to Jenks on the three point line and he hit his first of the night to put Big Al’s 19-10 in front with 1.59 on the clock.
It could have gone on to be a whitewash for Big Al’s, but Limerick composed themselves and a Stephen Kelly three pointer spearheaded their fight back. They went on to hit 10 unanswered points in the final 2 minutes, ESB Player of the Month for November, Cleotis Brown grabbing a basket and the bonus with 3.6 seconds on the clock to give his side the 20-19 lead at the end of the quarter.
The second quarter was pretty much basket for basket, Brown was on form for the home side and Hughes and Lennie combined well for Big Al’s. Brown hit 6 unanswered points, including 2/ 2 at the line to put Limerick 45-39 in front at the half time break, Jenks uncharacteristically missing 2 free throws to tie the game with 1.22 on the clock.
The third quarter was all Limerick as the home side came out with all cylinders blaring. Brown hit two quick three’s to give his side a 10 pt lead 60-50 with 6 minutes left in the quarter. Limerick outscored Big Al’s 15-4 in the next 4 minutes to lead 75-64 with 1.19 on the clock. But Big Al’s fought back with baskets from Hughes and Lennie cutting the deficit to just 7pts at the end of the quarter, Limerick still leading 77-70 going into the final ten minutes.
Big Al’s confidence was back and they took the lead again with 2 minutes gone in the final quarter with a great end to end move by Hughes. The sides were back trading baskets again. Then with 5.46 on the clock Jenks scored a massive basket– at least four steps outside the three-point line, with Brown stuck to him like glue, and 1 second on the shot clock, he sank the three-pointer, and with that sank Limericks hopes of a cup semi-final spot.
Big Al’s confidence just grew after that and with Limerick not boxing out in defence, Big Al’s were allowed two and three attempts every offence. With 2.52 on the clock Big Al’s were 90-82 in front and in control and despite good efforts from Lynch and Brown, they ran out comfortable winners in the end by a 96-87 margin. Jenks was the TG4 Man of the Match.
Longnecks Ballina 84 77 Esat Business Demons C Doyal 33 28 J Wiley D Marsh 17 17 H Iturralde L McHale 16 14 T Carberre Ballina are on course for an historic appearance in another cup final – which means that three of their starting five will have appeared in semi-final’s in three decades – the ‘80’s, ‘90’s and the ‘00’s! – After they fought back from a 16pt deficit to see off Esat Business Demons in Killala. It was pretty much basket for basket in the first quarter, Ballina’s returning hero Chris Doyal had a great firs quarter – he hit 16pts, while Shane Coughlan, who was supposed to be out with an injury until Christmas, was in form for the visitors.
It continued pretty much basket for basket for most of the first half, and it wasn’t until late in the 2nd quarter late that Demons opened up their lead. Shane Coughlan stepped up the pace in offence and had some excellent fast breaking lay-ups to open up a lead for the Cork team. He scored off a fast break, then intercepted the inbounded ball to score again – his two quick buckets boosting Demons and further baseline baskets from Hugo Iturralde – who had just flown in from Spain – ensured Demons a comfortable 10pt vantage going in at the break. Iturralde had 14pts in the first half.
Demons opened the 3rd quarter as they had finished the 2nd, and extended their lead to 16pts. They Ballina started to rally. Chris Doyal hit a big 3-pointer to boost the home side, and Liam McHale got a few crucial baskets from drives to bring Ballina back in touch. Ballina really stepped up their defence – Paul McStay came back on – and his aggressive D on the point grabbed a few big steals for the home side. Just before the third quarter, Paul Barrett stepped back into the game, looked to be fouled going in for a shot, nothing was called, but he threw up the shot – and it went in. The crowd were on their feet and Ballina had cut Demons lead to 6pts at the end of the third.
Chris Doyal had 29pts going into the fourth quarter and continued to play a big role for the home side in the final run-up. Shane McCarthy came in for Demons – and scored from a baseline shot and followed that up with a reverse lay up to keep Demons in front. But crucially, Toby Carberry hardly got a shot off in the second half. Demons shots began not to fall for them and with the Ballina now enjoying the psychological advantage, with five minutes to go they took the lead for the first time since mid-way through the second quarter through Liam McHale
84-77. Demons went to the line twice in the last 2 minutes, with only 4pts between the sides, but crucially, they only made 1 / 4 at the line. Deora Marsh scored the last points of the game from the line to give Ballina the vital win and a semi-final spot against Waterford Crystal.
Tolka Rovers 89(41) 94(44) Waterford Crystal Donald Edge 17 26 Lester Hunt Paddy Boylan 16 21 Mike Norris Eoin Quill 16 16 Dean Kavanagh/David Cunningham These two sides went head to head for the second time this season – but this time it was Waterford who came out victors to earn a place in their second consecutive Cup final. There was little between the sides until the final few minutes of the game. Good work from Dean Kavanagh and Lester Hunt saw Waterford lead by 7pts, 27-20 at the end of the first quarter, but the in-form Paddy Boylan and new signing Donald Edge reduced their lead to just 3pts, as Waterford went in 44-41 in front at the break. Tolka Rovers had a very strong third quarter, taking the lead mid-way through the half through Paddy Boylan and they held on to their lead to hold a narrow 1pt vantage going into the final quarter. The fourth quarter was still basket for basket, Jay Fazandes, who had not scored for the first three quarters, hit three big three-pointers, but Waterford still led by 5pts with 2 ½ on the clock. Then Eric Blair was fouled out and Tolka cut the lead to 2pts with just under 2 minutes remaining, but baskets from Hunt and Norris put Waterford 6pts in front and Tolka were forced to foul to stop the clock, and Waterford held on to take the win and a place in the semi-finals.
Thorn Killester 89(44) 67(38) Neptune Eric Jackson 26 14 Charron Watson John Leahy 17 11 Stephen McCarthy Adrian Fulton/Damien Sealy 12 10 Nick Chatzinokilis Neptune were reduced to one American just minutes into the start of this game when Andy Meyers went over on his ankle. Meyers was introduced to the game again before half time, but was unable to run on his ankle and had to be taken out of the game. Without Meyers, and with Watson also off form, the Cork side were always going to struggle. They stayed in touch for most of the first half, with McCarthy, Fitzgerald and co working hard to keep in touch, but Killester cruised in front in the third quarter, and despite a valiant effort from the 1998 runners-up, they were always going to be up against it and Killester ran out easy winners to set up an all Dublin semi-final on Saturday 27th January.
ESB Senior Women’s Cup
Bausch & Lomb Wildcats 84 (36) 51 (24) Notre Dame C Whyte 21 13 M Candon O Dempsey 12 10 S O’Connor K Fitzpatrick 12 10 S Kelly
Drimnagh Dynamoes 49 (21) 68 (41) University of Limerick L Coffey 16 13 M Guiney L Kenna 10 13 S Leahy J Black 9 12 J Murphy Drimnagh Dyanmoes suffered their first defeat of the season to the taller and stronger University of Limerick, to put them out of the Cup. In a very much one sided affair, Drimnagh trailed from the very beginning. Midway through the first quarter, UL took the lead 8-2, and went on to take an 18-13 lead. The second quarter saw Limerick stretch their lead to leave Drimnagh struggling for the remainder of the game. The limerick side were far superior both offensively and defensively, keeping Drimnagh scoreless for the first 6 minutes of the second quarter. Maire Guiney worked hard grabbing rebounds to take Limerick into the second half leading 41-21.
Drimnagh came back fighting in the third quarter but Limerick’s height advantage kept the Dublin team in control. Ger Tarrant played the bench, while Drimnagh’s Lisa Kenna took every opportunity to revive the defeated side.
The tired Drimnagh side didn’t feature much in the final quarter and Limerick finished 68-49 to put them forward to the semi-finals of the ESB Cup.
Glanmire 45(25) 81(40) Sasha Meteors D Buckley 12 18 K Hennessy L Fitzpatrick 8 14 N O’Keeffe 12 A Timmons
Thorn Killester Tolka Rovers The Result on this game won’t be available until 8pm as it was an 18.30 tipp-off. Results will be provided by Killester PRO Declan King on 086 2559456.
ESB Men’s League
Hibernian UCD Marian 109 (56) 96 (43) Abbey Foods Silgo C Akers 21 33 P Bree K Ward 20 16 D Halbauer N Charles 14 14 I McMorrow
Tyrone Towers 77 (38) 84 (39) 24 Connect Star of the Sea C Mason 25 33 G Jackson JL Supervia 20 26 K McFarland J Turner 16 12 G Connolly The First and second quarters were basket for basket. The turning point in the Northern derby came early in the fourth quarter when Tyrone’s influential American, Jermaine Turner picked up his fourth foul. Turner sat out the rest of the third quarter and most of the fourth. Star of the Sea took the opportunity and stretched ahead with the help of Gary Connolly. Although Jose Luis Supervia dominated the boards, Connolly managed to swing the game in Star’s favour.
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