The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Donaghy’s late cameo rescues Warriors
A LATE show from Kieran Donaghy edged Tralee Warriors over the line in a pretty pulsating finale in round seven of the Men’s Superleague in the Tralee Sports Complex last Saturday. Pushed all the way by a resolute Eanna outfit, Warriors dug deep to fashion a last gasp win and thereby ensure their fifth win in the competition and kept intact their unbeaten home record this season.
Without the services of Dusan Bogdanovic and Darragh O’Hanlon, and with Donaghy forced to sit out three quarters of the tie with an injury picked up in a football game earlier that afternoon, Warriors playing resources were stretched to the limit, but they started quite brightly with Ryan Leonard and Fergal O’Sullivan shooting threes to give them a 10-4 lead after four minutes. However, their shooting averages, especially from the perimeter, were somewhat below par, and with Luke Thompson and Neil Lynch netting threes the visitors from Dublin were level. And with Diego Salazar imposing his presence in a post up position and scoring successive baskets, Eanna opened up a 23-19 lead by the end of the opening quarter.
Darren O’Sullivan’s input energised Warriors at the outset of the second quarter, and with the O’Sullivans both shooting threes Warriors were back in front, 33-30, with just over three minutes left in the opening half. The prolific Fergal O’Sullivan, Warriors scorer in chief during that half, added another three to consolidate their lead, but a needless technical foul call against Warriors was punished by a five-point return from Eanna who finished the half strongly to leave just the bare minimum, 40-39, between the teams at the interval with Fergal O’Sullivan on 18 points at this stage.
Warriors restarted with a scoring flourish, which included threes from Darren O’Sullivan and Trae Pemberton, to increase their advantage to nine, and with Ryan Leonard’s resourceful play being a feature they dictated the trend and pace of proceedings for a period. However, a ten-point contribution from the outstanding Aidan Dunne meant that Eanna overhauled the deficit and led 61-59 going into the fourth quarter, increased to five by another three from Neil Lynch.
Struggling to find a strategy that might unlock Eanna’s zone defence, Warriors needed a spark to ignite their challenge with only Goran Pantovic offering a return scoring wise, and generally keeping Warriors challenge afloat at both ends of the court. Donaghy provided the necessary lift, and his entry had a huge effect on and off the court with the capacity crowd reacting in vociferous fashion. Four steals, three baskets and a rejection from Donaghy brought Warriors back from the brink and with Leonard also stepping up a gear Warriors were 73-71 in front with 1.37 left.
Eanna were just three adrift with 35 seconds remaining and still had a chance to salvage the situation, but Warriors denied Eanna the equalising score and the opportunity to bring the tie into overtime.
This was a win that was extremely hard earned, with the difference throughout being marginal on the scoreboard. It was encouraging that Warriors displayed a lot of character when the issue was delicately poised down the stretch, but overall it was a performance that at times was somewhat indifferent, but also enterprising and industrious with different players enjoying periods of productive play at varying intervals. In this respect Donaghy’s contribution was notable given that it impacted at the most opportune time. The win leaves Warriors joint third on the League ladder.
Coach Mark Bernsen was just relieved to get the win, given the unavailability of some key players, but was only too well aware that testing times lie ahead, starting this weekend with the visit of second placed UCD Marian to Tralee.
“This is the first time we have ever seen a zone, and with a different line up we were not good against it, so you learn from that. We need obviously to change some things defensively, but to be fair I would take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day of the week. They are shooters, we knew that. They played one big post, and then they have a bunch of shooters around the perimeter, and I thought (Aidan) Dunne did a good job. They found ways to stay in and take the lead, they’re a good squad.
“(Kieran Donaghy) gave us a great boost. We needed a boost, he gave it to us. That was what we needed at that time, and we got it. I thought Goran (Pantovic) did a great job defensively. I don’t know how many blocks he had, but he did a nice job of deterring them from getting to the rim. You never want to lose at home. I mean, that’s easier said than done, you want to protect your home court. You have got your fans on your side, their support is massive, so the idea is to win your home games and steal a couple on the road.
“Our next three games are against people above us in the table, so we are going upstairs instead of downstairs so we had better be ready to play. It’s going to be one of those things where it could tell a lot. These games, even in late November, are going to have an impact on what happens in March.” TOP SCORERS Warriors: F O’Sullivan (20), G Pantovic (19) R Leonard (14) Eanna: A Dunne (19) L Thompson (18) N Lynch (11) Warriors play UCD Marian in the Tralee Sports Complex next Saturday at 8pm.