In a tense and heated atmosphere,
defending champions, Longnecks of
Ballina defeated their younger
hometown rivals, Lundy Foods in
an entertaining match in Gortnor
Abbey Gym. The game got off to a
very slow sluggish first quarter
seeing both teams make poor shot
selections and bad movement by
Lundy Foods. The crowd finally
got into the game when a long
range three from the hot hand of
Padraic Roche sizzled through the
net. The roar was deafening. This
seemed to wake both teams up and
at the end of the first quarter
Longnecks were ahead 20 - 10.At
the start of the second quarter
the two teams came out with all
guns blazing. Longneck's Liam Mc
Hale started getting a bit more
physical as he used his strength
more than his skill to get to
loose balls. Finally after 3 mins
of the quarter he and Lundy's
Aidan Tighe were ejected from the
game for a fracas on the ground
after a loose ball from a rebound.
This rather harsh decision
angered Longnecks and team coach
and bench were awarded technicals
for comments to the referee.
However the incident was put
aside by both teams and on a more
sporting note Deora Marsh tore
the Lundy defence apart, grabbing
rebound after rebound and sinking
every turn around jumpshot
scoring 8 of their 24 point in
the second quarter. Lundys were
rattled and at the end of the
half Lundy Foods were down 26-44.
In
the third, Lundy Foods' new
Spanish player, Miguel A. Munez
wouldn't give up. He drove to the
basket time and time again
weaving his way through the
Longnecks defense scoring 10 of
Lundy Foods 19 points of the
quarter. Still there in force was
Deora Marsh; grabbing huge
rebounds, both offensive and
defensive and sending some Lundy
Foods drives to the basket back
in their faces. Down 45-66 at the
start of the final quarter, Lundy
Foods ran the fast break and shot
the ball to perfection drawing to
within 10 points of Longnecks.
But the seemingly unstoppable
Longnecks team kept their lead.
Miguel A. Munez was shooting the
lights out scoring some
impossible three point shots,
coming off screens and turnaround
shots when being closely guarded.
Longnecks got into team foul
trouble but Lundy Foods failed to
capitalise on this. Although they
won the second half, Lundy Foods
lost 81-66 in a thrilling local
derby.
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