Killorglin suffer first defeat of their season

KEANES Supervalu Killorglin had a very early start last Saturday morning, as they made the long journey up to Carlow to take on IT Carlow in the latest round of the National League Division 1.

This game had a 12.30 tip off which meant hitting the road at 7am start for Killorglin. Killorglin are having a fantastic season and were 16 and 0 including the cup going into this game, while Carlow had won 9 out of their 13 league games.

The early start didn’t seem to effect Killorglin though as they were out of the blocks straight from the tip off. Coach Ignas Sijanus made his intentions clear with a very strong starting five of Ivan Bogdanovic, Darragh Jones, Captain Ian McLaughlin, Kevin Grey and Daniel Jackubitus and it was Jackubitus who made the first score of the game with a three pointer from way out and this set the tone for the first quarter.

Killorglin kept the intensity high all this quarter and IT Carlow were struggling to stay with them. Ian McLaughlin, who formerly attending IT Carlow, carried on from his fantastic display in last week’s sup semi-final, was causing Carlow all sorts of bothers with his fast breaks. The first quarter score was IT Carlow 14 Killorglin 23.

The second quarter went score for score, with both teams cancelling each other out. Killorglins Croatian giant Ivan Bogdanovic was finding himself in trouble with the referees and with 4:22 left on the clock, he found himself on four fouls. Coach Sijanus was forced to get him off the floor and this gave Carlow a boost under the boards. When half time arrived, they had reduced the deficit to 5 points, 40-45 in Killorglin’s favour.

Carlow continue in the third quarter where they left off in the second, and Killorglin were immediately under pressure. With Bogdanovic in foul trouble, Killorglin were struggling to win the battle of the bigs, with Darragh Jones often jumping in his own against 2 or 3 Carlow players. At this stage, Carlow knew this game was there to be won and a dramatic improvement was needed from Killorglin to maintain their unbeaten record.

With 4:32 left, Carlow went into the lead for the first time after a three form Jimmy Gordon left the score at 51 to 50 in their favour. However, this seemed to spur Killorglin on and two minutes later, the lead was reversed again, 5553 to Killorglin. It went bucket for bucket after that and at the end of third the score was IT Carlow 58 Killorglin 45

A huge last quarter was needed from Killorglin but Carlow weren’t going to go away without a fight – They made a couple of scores and in the same period, Killorglin missed two three point attempts, from Wall and Grey. Suddenly, with 6.39 left on the clock, it was a 5 point game in Carlow’s favour 66-61. They then increased this to 9 when a drive resulted in a score and a made free throw.

Killorglin were missing easy baskets, and were very poor from outside, and you just can’t do that at this level. Kevin Grey made a great steal and was fouled on the way, and from the possession Bogdanovic made the basket. However, Carlow replied with a basket of their own to maintain their lead.

With two minutes to go, ITC held an eight-point lead, which they increased that to 11 with 1:17 left. Unfortunately, there was too many mistakes by Killorglin, particularly there outside shooting, which is normally on the money.

TOP SCORERS

IT CARLOW: Jimmy Gordon 27 pts, Dan Debosz 13 pts, Ian Lynch 12 pts

KEANES SUPERVALU KILLORGLIN: Daniel Jackubitus 19 pts, Ivan Bogdanovic 16 pts, Kevin Grey 14 pts