Without any training sessions to prepare, the Moycullen U16 boys acquitted themselves extremely well at the weekend in Limerick against some of the tops team in the country. The lads managed to make it out of their tough group and through to the semi final stage, knocking out Blue Demons from Cork and Sligo All-Stars on the way. Falling in their first game to a talented Neptune side, Moycullen were quickly put in a position of ‘win or go home’ and came up with back to back victories to earn second place in pool A. They will look back at the Neptune game as one they could have won had it not been for a sluggish start, meaning they would have avoided a very polished Father Matthews outfit from Cork in the semi final.

In that first game, Moycullen’s lack of cohesion on both sides of the floor told as Neptune proffered from the disjointed Moycullen play. Moycullen were fortunate that captain Darragh Mulkerrins was in top form and his general presence around the court combined with a deft scoring touch kept his side within touch for the entire game. Eventually Neptune’s class showed and they were able to expose the fact that Moycullen had no work done as a team since last season, running out winners by a deserved 14 points in the end. The team left disappointed as only Mulkerrins and a hard-working Seadhna O’Duirbhir were honestly able to say they had been mentally ready for the early game.

Credit to the team, they realised their lacklustre preparation was not good enough and they came out ready to repent in their second encounter, this time against Blue Demons. The game was never really close as Sean Candon spearheaded a number of Moycullen fast breaks letting them cruise to a 24 point win.

The last game in the pool saw the lads face a well coached and skilful Sligo All-Stars team that had also put Blue Demons to the sword. A once again inspired Darragh Mulkerrins was joined by Peter Cooke in pushing the Moycullen fast break, making Sligo pay for any casualness in their transition defence. Good interior defence by Sean Candon and some clever offensive movement by Darren O’Donnell meant that Moycullen triumphed in the end on a score-line of 44 points to 34.

Unfortunately, the semi final was a step too far on this occasion as the team fell short against an excellent Father Matthews side led by Jack O’Mahony and Liam Harris, two names to watch out for in the future. The game itself was by no means one sided however as Moycullen gave as good as they got, trailing by only a single point after the first quarter. Ciaran Barber gave a clinic in using screens effectively while Lairgnen McDermott proved un-guardable at times early on, providing some much needing scores as well as his usual high-tempo defence. Meanwhile Peter Cooke did a fine job in guarding Matthew’s star forward O’Mahony, who was made to work for all he got. On the offensive front, Kyle Cunningham and Darragh Mulkerrins were a real threat every time they touched the ball and connected on a number of fine baskets which drew appreciative applause from all in the gym. In the end though, Matthews pulled away with a 48 to 29 victory, somewhat flattering considering the number of fast break lay-ups missed by the Galway lads.

Despite being disappointed about failing to capture more silverware for the club, the Moycullen team can be happy about how the matched up against top players given the lack of any team practices prior to the tournament. With a good season of training a number of these players should have genuine chances of being selected on Irish panels. Their attention must first turn to battling for the Galway League crown with their main challengers probably being a talented Titans side who also reached the semi-finals of the Limerick tournament at the weekend.

Coach Cian Nihill      Manager Andrew Barber

         
Darren O'Donnell                   Kieran  Barber                    Lairenen  McDermott             Kyle Cunningham

Darragh Mulkerrins


Sean Candon

Peter Cooke


Seadhna O’Duirbhir