Basketball/ Glanmire 89 UL Aughinish 75: Glanmire confirmed the suspicion they are the best team in Ireland with a remarkable response to a third-quarter blitz from UL Aughinish yesterday.
Topsy-turvy is the best way to describe this affair. It started with Glanmire easing into a 20-point lead, largely due to the outside shooting of Donna Buckley and a fit-again Michelle Fahy. All this before the best player in the country, Marie Breen, sparked into life.
The defending champions were staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat. But UL sparked into life with important baskets from Dearbhla Breen and Lisa Palmer to reduce arrears to 11 points by half-time, 44-33. The third quarter is known as the moving quarter as the better team normally exert their superiority. UL were relentless in registering a 14-point turnaround to lead 57-54 with impressive contributions from Dearbhla Breen and Fiona Scally and Palmer.
"But we never panicked," said Glanmire coach Mark Scannell. "Remember, this is an unbelievable basketball team. They are too good a team to be kept at bay.
"I was delighted they got the run on us in the third quarter because at least it left some time to deal with it. To regroup. If they produced that in the fourth quarter it may not have been possible to turn it around."
One problem was UL's American Courtney McDaniel was teetering on the brink of being fouled out throughout the fourth quarter. UL coach Jim Nugent called a crucial timeout with 4.02 remaining in the fourth. They trailed 68-61. "All we need is two baskets and we're back in this game. Let's be smart. Let's not let it drift away again," he said.
In the other huddle, Scannell was also laying down the law. "If they're going to beat us, they'll have to do it from the three-point line. Get in their faces. We give nothing up easy here." And so it proved. There was no way through. Marie Breen, who remarkably failed to score in the first quarter, hit an unstoppable rhythm to finish with 29 points.
"Maire Breen won the MVP but there were some serious performances elsewhere," continued Scannell. "Denise Walsh coming off a cruciate knee injury. Michelle Fahy is only just back with one game under her belt. Nollaig Cleary was playing football and winning an All-Ireland with Cork and then she comes back in for us and plays like that.
"We didn't have to change our plan after UL went on a run. We knew if we put pressure on their inside players and get them into foul trouble that we could win here. That's what happened."
