Brunell to face old rivals Glanmire
The Singleton’s Supervalu-sponsored outfit, playing on their home court, were simply in another league and the game looked as good as over when they commanded a healthy 82-40 interval lead.
In the second half, little changed for the Kildare side as they found the pace of Edel Thornton and Megan O’Leary too hot to handle.
Coach Danielle O’Leary praised her troops for the manner they approached the game.
“Many people will think playing on your home court is a big advantage in the cup and although I agree with the sentiment it also brings its own pressures on players to do well in front of your fans.
“We are trying to win this championship for the third consecutive season and it would be a huge achievement if we manage to pull it off.
“You cannot beat a weekend in Dublin on National Cup final weekend and thankfully we are back there again but it certainly will be a huge task for us to complete the hat-trick.”
It will be an all-Cork final as Glanmire dug deep in the fourth quarter against DCU to win 68-57.
This game was competitive from the early exchanges and with Lauren Falvey and Hayley Lenihan showing nice shooting touches the Cork side led 33-25 at the interval.
However, Glanmire will be annoyed with their third quarter display as DCU — with Erica Kennedy Smith superb at post — reduced the deficit to the minimum 46-45.
The large attendance were treated to some quality Glanmire basketball coming down the stretch as they punished their opponents at will to book a final date against their great rivals.
Naturally coach Mark Scannell was delighted with his team’s performance as the Glanmire coach spoke of his players response to his wake-up call.
“We played poorly in the third quarter but credit to the girls they went out in the last and produced magical basketball that sealed a famous win,” Scannell said.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
