PHOTOS: No Joy For Warriors As Killester Advance To Cup Final

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Alan Cantwell was at the Hula Hoops National Cup Semi Final where Garvey’s Tralee Warriors went down to Pyrobel Killester…

Pyrobel Killester 76

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 70

Keith Jumper rises high to score. Photo by Liam Ryan

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors hopes of making it through to this year’s Hula Hoops National Cup final ended in disappointment on Saturday night as they were outpointed and for large parts of the game outplayed by Pyrobel Killester in front of a capacity crowd at the Mardyke Arena in Cork.

Despite a spirited comeback, a combination of a slow start and Pyrobel Killester’s Ciaran Roe producing an outstanding display from point guard with a marquee MVP performance to end the game with 34 points, means that the Warriors bid for National Cup glory will have to wait another year.

Killester will now face UCD Marian in the National Cup final in Tallaght in two weeks time. UCD saw off the challenge of Belfast Star by 91-67 to set up an all Dublin final.

Killester raced out of the blocks dominating the opening exchanges with Royce Williams and Luis Garcia Hoyos firing in early scores.

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Dusan Bogdanovic found the target twice for the Warriors before Williams and Kieran Donaghy traded big three pointers.

Ciaran Roe then landed his first score of the night and when Williams and Hoyos followed suit Killester led by 17-7.

Eoin Quigley with two from the line and Paul Dick’s first of the night cut the gap. But Roe’s ability to drive at the heart of the Warriors defence was causing major problems for the Warriors.

The Killester point guard was getting to the board with relative ease and he fired in another three first quarter scores. On the buzzer Kieran O’Brien laid up under the board to give Killester a 29-13 lead.

Kieran Donaghy takes on the entire Killester team to score. Photo by Liam Ryan

Keith Jumper lifted the Warriors spirits with a spectacular effort early in the second but Ciaran Roe picked up where he left off in the first to fire in another score for Killester.

He followed that up with two from the line before assisting Andy McGeever to knock down a huge three and suddenly the lead was out to 21.

The Warriors needed to react and Paul Dick kickstarted their response with a three and when Jumper hit back-to-back baskets and Jordan Evans opened his account the gap was cut to 12.

A lay up from Quigley and a three from Evans reduced the deficit to 7 and it looked like the momentum had had shifted towards the Tralee side.

However Roe and Hoyos gave Killester some extra breathing space at the half time break as they pushed the advantage back out to 43-32.

Jordan Evans shoots a big three for the Warriors. Photo by Liam Ryan

Dusan Bogdanovic got the Warriors off the mark with an inspirational effort early in the third but Alan Casey cancelled that out in the next play.

With Ciaran Roe rested Paddy Sullivan took over ball carrying duties and he made a huge impression with a three and two from the line to see Killester hit the 50 point mark and lead by 16.

The Warriors needed another rapid response and had their fanatic supporters on their feet as Quigley and Fergal O’Sullivan drilled back to back threes and when Jumper added two from the line and O’Sullivan got to the board with a show and go the lead was down to a manageable 6.

But everytime it looked like the Warriors had reeled the Killester in, Brian O’Malley’s charges found a crucial response, invariably from the peerless Roe and when he assisted Hoyos and Casey to score the advantage was kept intact at 56-48 as the sides turned down the stretch.

The final chapter opened dramatically with the heroic Kieran Donaghy taking flight to spectacularly reject Williams at board and the when O’Sullivan and Evans both laid up and Donaghy himself added the Warriors had cut the gap to 4.

But just when it looked like the Warriors comeback was gaining momentum a number of chances failed to drop and Hoyos and the relentless Roe push the Killester lead back out to 9.

The Tralee side were also in foul trouble so despite two big threes from Paul Dick and Evans giving the Warriors every chance to conjure up an unlikely win, Roe and O’Brien were unerring from the free throw line as the Tralee side desperately tried to halt the Killester offence.

Eoin Quigley bravely got to the Killester board to leave just a single score between the sides. However it might have been fitting that the outstanding MVP Roe took full value for two trips to the line hitting four from four to see Killester through to the decider in two weeks time by 76-70.

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Paul Dick 15, Jordan Evans 12, Eoin Quigley 11

Pyrobel Killester: Ciaran Roe 34, Luis Filiberto Garcia Hoyos 13, Royce Williams 11

The Warriors get back to regular League duty next weekend when they welcome UCC Demons to the Complex for the second time this season.

They will need to dust themselves down and refocus on the face that they are still in serious contention for League honours with seven home games and four road trips left in the campaign.

• Next Saturday night its Garvey’s Tralee Warriors v UCC Demons in the Tralee Sports Complex – tip off is 7.30pm.

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