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Alan Cantwell reports on a defeat on the road for Tralee Warriors at the weekend…
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors suffered their second defeat of the Super League season going down by 87-70 to DBS Éanna in Colaiste Éanna on Saturday night.
DBS Éanna were simply the better team on the night, maintaining their unbeaten record in some style as they remain on top of the Super League table with three games played.
The absence of playmaker Paul Dick and Rap Buivydas did not help the Warriors cause from the outset but their overall shooting performance, where just one from three shots from the field found the mark, was a key factor in their defeat.
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The game opened brightly for both sides with early scores from Joshua Wilson, Mark Reynolds, Daniel Heaney and Stefan Zecevic for the hosts matched with efforts from Jonathan Lawton and Eoin Quigley.
Two scores from Kieran Donaghy in his first game this season saw the sides level at 10-10 at the midway point.
Éanna then hit the Warriors with a scoring blitz firing in scores from both inside and out from Zecevic, Marco Tomic, Neil Lynch and Maxine Zefron to lead by 18. Daniel Jokubaitis opened his account a late three for the Warriors but Éanna led 28-13 at the end of the first.
The Warriors upped the ante in early in the second and Lawton and Ivan Bogdanovic combined for 9 early points for the visitors.
However Paris Ballinger, Tomic and Zecevic continued to find gaps in the Warriors rearguard to restore the hosts 18 point lead. Keith Jumper began to find his way to the Éanna basket and along with scores from Darragh O’Hanlon and Donaghy helped the Warriors cut the gap to 12.
But Éanna continued to find their shooters in space and Wilson helped himself to back to back threes to maintain the lead. Darren O’Sullivan cut to gap with a three on the buzzer to leave Éanna 51-39 up at the long break.
Despite not playing with any great fluency the Warriors worked their way back into the contest in the third with threes from O’Hanlon and Jokubaitis and scores inside from Donaghy and two from Quigley.
Heaney and Hilary Nets kept the Warriors in check but Donaghy’s domination under his own board kept the visitors momentum going.
Tomic, Wilson and Heaney added for the hosts but Bogdanovic had the final say with an effort from inside and as the sides turned for Éanna lead was down to a more manageable 9, at 65-56.
Into the final quarter and Bogdanovic and Lawton fired in early to cut the Éanna lead down to just 6 points. Reynolds replied with two scores of his own for the hosts but when Donaghy and Lawton both found their range an unlikely Warriors win was still possible.
However Éanna captain Neil Lynch put the result beyond the visitors with a huge three and followed that with a score inside and in an instant the Dublin side were 14 up. Quigley cut the advantage to 10 but Tomic, Zecevic and Wilson helped Éanna finish in some style for a thoroughly deserved 87-70 win.
Scorers:
DBS Éanna: Marco Tomic 19, Stefan Zecevic 14, Joshua Wilson 13
Warriors: Jonathan Lawton 15, Kieran Donaghy 12, Eoin Quigley 9
• Next up for the Warriors is another road trip to face DCU Saints in the Phoenix Centre in Carrickmacross, tip off is 7.30pm.
