Daniel Jokubaitis the hero as Tralee Warriors reach Pat Duffy Men’s National Cup final
Garvey's Tralee Warriors' Daniel Jokubaitis celebrates winning. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher
Tralee Warriors booked their place in the Pat Duffy Men’s National Cup final with an impressive 86-74 win over UCD Marian at Neptune Stadium on Saturday.
The Kerry side displayed admirable composure, for a young team, coming down the stretch, before wearing down a brave UCD Marian side.
In veteran Daniel Jokubaitis, the Warriors had a hero at both ends of the court and he finished as his side’s leading scorer, on 27 points.
“Our big guy Irshaad (Hunte) probably had four or five points at half time, but the job he did with his effort — rebounds, blocks — it was unbelievable. With those four points he was probably the best player in our team by half time.”
The Lithuanian added: “It means everything to me, at this stage of my career, at the age of 31.
“I might not get many more opportunities to win cup medals. We have five or six guys from 2022 who have experience of playing in a cup final and that should help us.”
The opening exchanges were explosive, with both sides executing with precision and with the teams level at four points each in the second minute.
It was evident the Warriors were intent on playing a high-tempo game and with Jokubaitis showing nice touches, they led by the minimum, 10-9, in the fourth minute.
The students were battling to stay in contention, but following a Cian Sullivan basket and bonus, the Warriors commanded a 23-21 lead with 1.58 remaining in this period.
The closing two minutes were enthralling, but the Warriors had a five-point cushion, 28-23, entering the second quarter.
On the restart, the Kerry side increased the tempo again as an understrength UCD Marian struggled to stay the pace.
The return of American Bruce Saintilus paid dividends for UCD. He nailed a three-pointer, but midway through the quarter, they still trailed by six points.
Despite the Warriors’ dominance, UCD refused to lie down, but that was due to poor defending from the Kerry outfit in allowing their opponents unchallenged lay-ups.
In the closing minutes, both teams made unforced errors as the Warriors led 44-36 with 26 seconds remaining, before calling a timeout.
From the resultant possession, the Warriors came up short, missing two opportunities and, despite having an eight-point cushion at the break, they will feel that with their dominance they should have gone in with a bigger lead.
The Warriors got off to a flying start with a superb assist from Jordan Perkins to Jokubaitis, who was left with a simple lay-up.
On each occasion the Warriors threatened to take control, UCD, inspired by the former UCC Demons American, Zach Hinton, responded in style and the sides were level, at 55 points each, with three minutes remaining.
Hinton, shown the door by Demons, was truly outstanding and he looked a player with a point to prove in the manner he performed in this game.
In the closing two minutes, UCD had no professionals on court.
Their coach, Ioannis Liapakis, seemed insistent on resting his key players.
However, American Saintilus returned for the closing 11 seconds and immediately picked up a charging foul, following superb defending by Jokubaitis.
Heading in to the final quarter, the Warriors commanded a 60-55 lead and three minutes in to this crucial period they extended their lead to nine points.
There is little doubt, when Tralee needed inspiration Jokubaitis gave it to them and with six minutes remaining a monstrous three-pointer from the Lithuanian increased the lead to 12 points with UCD firmly on the ropes.
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