St Paul’s break Tralee hearts

Scruffy’s St Paul’s claimed the Basketball Ireland Senior Women’s Cup to end a miserable day for rivals Tralee Imperials at the National Basketball Arena on Saturday.

Earlier in the day the Tralee outfit’s U18 and U20 sides fell short in their deciders and hopes were high that the senior side could ease the pain by collecting the day’s top prize against their Kingdom rivals. But it was not to be.

Tralee Imperials coach Liam Culloty admitted: “In hindsight it was too much for the girls to handle and after losing the U20 final (having led by 14 points entering the final) the hurt was very much in the senior team going into their final. But good luck to St Paul’s they took their chance.”

In the opening quarter Imperials looked the better side, with Sinead Mackessy hitting consecutive baskets.

The pressure continued to mount on the Killarney side and when Emma Gallagher added a deft three-pointer in the fourth minute, St Paul’s coach James Fleming called a time out to switch his defence from man to man to a two-three zone. It was one way traffic with Tralee causing problems inside and outside the key as they led 16-5 at the end of the first quarter.

On the restart Catriona O’Connell hit five unanswered points to settle the Killarney girls who began to eat into the Tralee lead. With O’Connell and Mairead Finnegan picking off baskets the deficit was 24-21 by the interval.

In the third quarter both sides struggled on the scoring front before Marisa Galwey began finding her range and edged St Paul’s ahead. In a low scoring quarter, Maeve Barry was successful from the free throw line to keep Tralee in close pursuit, while further conversion from the free throw line saw the sides finish the third quarter level. (34-34)

The Tralee players tired in the final quarter while St Paul’s took control with MVP Finnegan and O’Connell picking off baskets at will.

St Paul’s coach James Fleming had sympathy for the runners up after a devastating run of defeats.

“It was difficult for them and I thought the heartbreak of them losing the U20 final in the manner they did was a hammer blow. We started badly as our defence simply was not working and when I changed it to zone the whole game changed. This win was down to the players who have put in savage work at training over the past two months and now we have to take that form to our league campaign.”

Tralee Imperials (Kerry): 36 (24) (A Campbell 10, E Sherwood 9, S Mackessy 7)

Scruffys St Paul’s (Kerry): 51 (21) (M Finnegan 20, C O’Connell 10, M Galwey 9)

MVP: Mairead Finnegan (St Paul’s).