This weekend saw three of the four Hula Hoops Men’s Pat Duffy National Cup quarter-finals take place across the country, with some interesting battles in store.
Last year’s Cup finalists Pyrobel Killester have just booked their spot in January’s semi-finals with a thrilling 82-60 point win over Moycullen this afternoon in a game that has just finished at The Jes in Galway.
“It’s never easy coming down to play Moycullen, they’re extremely talented and well-coached,” said Killester’s Brian O’Malley. “We had to fight for everything. We had to match their ferocious intensity, it was nip and tuck, we didn’t start very well, but we came into it more in the second quarter. These are the type of games that are easy to go the wrong way, they beat us in the League already so we knew it would be tough. We’re delighted to be looking forward to a Cup semi-final in January.”
Meanwhile Black Amber Templeogue are back in the semi-final stages this year, having missed out last year thanks to a defeat at the hands of Griffith College Swords Thunder in the quarter-finals. Templeogue, who won the Cup in 2016, played out a thrilling quarter final game against near neighbours, Éanna, at Oblate Hall on Saturday night. A nail-biting end to the game saw brilliant scoring from Lawrence (Puff) Summers, Mike Bonaparte and Neil Randolph see Templeogue home to an 81-76 point win.
“It was absolutely a tough game, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, we knew it was going to be a dog fight,” said coach Mark Keenan. “They’ve a lot of size, we looked great at times, and then we let them back in. I’m delighted to get out and get a win and move on to the semi-finals. We had happy times two years ago, then we missed out last year, so it was a goal to get back there again.”
The other quarter-final pairing saw table toppers UCD Marian secure a big 87-53 point win over DCU Saints.
“We are delighted to be in the semi-finals, but I’m more delighted about the performance we had tonight,” said Marian head coach, Ioannis Liapakis. “I know most people will say that Conor Meany and Mike Garrow had an amazing offensive game, which is true, but for me, tonight was all about defence. We have the best defence in the league and that’s what we proved tonight.”
It was regular Super League action for Maree and Belfast Star meanwhile who went head-to-head in Oranmore on Saturday night. Top scoring from Star’s Quinn twin duo of Aidan and Conor saw them overcome the Galway side by 14 points in the end.
In the Women’s Super League meanwhile, IT Carlow Basketball were on hand to cause a major upset in Leixlip on Saturday evening as they won out 68-65 against Courtyard Liffey Celtics.
“We played some of the best basketball I’ve seen from my team in the first half tonight,” admitted head coach, Martin Conroy, afterwards. “We put up 49 points in a half against a team of the quality of Liffey Celtics – which was awesome for us. We knew that they would come back in the second half, but we were ready for it. Even when we went behind late in the fourth, we believed we could win it. We made some huge shots down the stretch and that, along with a strong defensive stance, gave us what we needed to win. We showed immense character out there.”
DCU Mercy meanwhile remain top of the table this week after a comprehensive win over NUIG Mystics in Galway - in a game that will be repeated in just a few weeks’ time when the sides go head-to-head in the Hula Hoops Women’s National Cup semi-finals in Cork in January.
Elsewhere, Ambassador UCC Glanmire secured a win over Maxol WIT Wildcats, while Singleton SuperValu Brunell won out in a thriller against Pyrobel Killester at the IWA in Clontarf.
In the Men’s Division One, Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin remain unbeaten at the top of the table, following three games in five days which saw them overcome Neptune, Gamefootage.net Titans and fellow table toppers, Ballincollig.
In the Women’s Division One meanwhile, Fr Mathews’ unbeaten run came to an end this week as they lost out in overtime to Meteors on Saturday before losing out to Fabplus North West at home on Sunday.
Hula Hoops Senior Cup line-ups: (to be played in Cork the weekend of Jan 5/6/7th)
Hula Hoops Men’s Pat Duffy National Cup semi-finals:
UCD Marian v Pyrobel Killester
Black Amber Templeogue v UCC Demons/Garvey’s Tralee Warriors
Hula Hoops Women’s National Cup semi-finals:
NUIG Mystics v DCU Mercy
Singelton SuperValu Brunell v Pyrobel Killester/Ambassador UCC Glanmire
Hula Hoops President’s Cup semi-finals:
Neptune v Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin
Scotts Lakers St Paul’s Killarney v Ballincollig
Hula Hoops Senior Women’s National Cup semi-finals:
Griffith College Swords Thunder v Fr Mathews
Meteors v Fabplus North West
Basketball Ireland Results: December 6-10th
Hula Hoops Men’s Pat Duffy National Cup Quarter Final:
DCU Saints 53-87 UCD Marian
Black Amber Templeogue 81-76 Eanna
Moycullen 60-82 Pyrobel Killester
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
Maree 60-74 Belfast Star
Basketball Ireland Women’s Super League:
NUIG Mystics 46-74 DCU Mercy
Ambassador UCC Glanmire 71-45 Maxol WIT Wildcats
Pyrobel Killester 82-85 Singleton SuperValu Brunell
Courtyard Liffey Celtics 65-68 IT Carlow Basketball
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division One
Neptune 71-75 Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin
IT Carlow Basketball 88-77 Scotts Lakers St Paul's Killarney
Ballincollig 95-67 Portlaoise Panthers
Neptune 117-83 Ulster University Elks
Paris Texas Kilkenny 99-83 LIT Celtics
Titans 70-82 Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin
Fr Mathews 90-69 Dublin Lions
LIT Celtics 97-102 Fr Mathews
Keane’s Supervalu Killorglin 91-74 Ballincollig
Scotts Lakers St Paul’s Killarney v EJ Sligo All-Stars **POSTPONED**
Portlaoise Panthers v Ulster University Elks **POSTPONED**
Dublin Lions v IT Carlow Basketball **POSTPONED**
Basketball Ireland Women’s Division One
Marble City Hawks 65-47 Fabplus North West
Fr Mathews 70-72 Meteors (after overtime)
Fr Mathews 78-82 Fabplus North West
Basketball Ireland Fixtures: December 13-17th 2017
Wednesday, 13th December
Hula Hoops Men’s Pat Duffy National Cup Quarter Final:
UCC Demons v Garvey’s Tralee Warriors, Parochial Hall, 20:00;
Saturday 16th December
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
Griffith College Swords Thunder v UCC Demons, ALSAA-Dublin, 18:00;
Moycullen v Pyrobel Killester, The Jes, 19:00;
UCD Marian v KUBS BC, UCD, 19:00;
Belfast Star v DCU Saints, Methodist College, 19:00;
Black Amber Templeogue v Éanna, Oblate Hall Inchicore, 20:00;
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors v Maree, Tralee Sports Complex, 20:00;
Basketball Ireland Women’s Super League:
Ambassador UCC Glanmire v DCU Mercy, Upper Glanmire Sports Centre, 17:00;
Maxol WIT Wildcats v Pyrobel Killester, Mercy Gym, 19:00;
Courtyard Liffey Celtics v Portlaoise Panthers, Leixlip Amenities Centre, 19:30;
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division One:
Ulster University Elks v Keane’s Supervalu Killorglin, UUJ, 15:00;
Paris Texas Kilkenny v Portlaoise Panthers, O Loughlins GAA, 19:00;
Fr Mathews v Neptune, Colaiste Chriost Ri, 19:15;
EJ Sligo All-Stars v Dublin Lions, Mercy College, 19:30;
WNLC Championship Trophy semi-final:
Fr Mathews v Marble City Hawks, Colaiste Chriost Ri Cork, 16:30;
Sunday 17th December
Basketball Ireland Women’s Super League:
IT Carlow Basketball v Singleton SuperValu Brunell, Barrow Centre-IT Carlow, 15:30;
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division One:
IT Carlow Basketball v LIT Celtics, Barrow Centre-IT Carlow, 12:30;
GameFootage.net Titans v LYIT Donegal, The Jes, 15:30;
Fr Mathews v Paris Texas Kilkenny, Colaiste Chriost Ri Cork, 15:45;
Basketball Ireland Women’s Division One:
UL Huskies v Griffith College Swords Thunder , Ref: , Venue: UL Arena-Limerick, 15:00;
