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Alan Cantwell reports on Garvey’s Tralee Warriors defeat at the hands of UCD Marian at Tralee Sports Complex on Saturday night…
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 63
UCD Marian 92
Action from Saturday night’s game. Photo by Liam Ryan
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors surrendered their place at the head of affairs in the Super League to keen rivals UCD Marian in a top of the table clash in front of a packed out Tralee Sports Complex on Saturday night.
For only the second time in their short Super League history have the Warriors succumbed to a defeat from a visiting side as Marian emulated the feat achieved by League champions Templeogue last season to register a win in Tralee.
Kieran Donaghy provided the perfect opening for the Warriors with the first score of the game and added two free throws after Daragh O’Hanlon opened his account.
Continued below…
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Action from Saturday night’s game. Photo by Liam Ryan
A three from Dan James and a score from Mike Garrow for UCD Marian saw the sides level early in the first.
But Marian’s aerial dominance under the board told when Mike Bedulskis helped himself to three scores from close range and with James, Garrow and Conor Meany also on the mark the Dublin side led by 9. Warriors reply came from free throws from Eoin Quigley and Dusan Bogdanovic but Bedulskis and Barry Drumm fired in to push the Marian lead to 23-13 at the end of the first.
Trae Pemberton was on the mark early in the second for the Warriors but Marian were finding their scores with some ease and when they struck with a couple each from Neil Baynes and Garrow the Warriors looked decidedly uneasy as their rivals forged ahead to lead by double scores 34-17 mid way through the quarter.
Donaghy sparked a welcome revival for the hosts with a couple from under the board and when Pemberton landed his first three, Donaghy followed suit and Fergal O’Sullivan chipped in with a score to leave just 9 between the sides but Meany and Kinavane with a score and the extra saw UCD 13 to the good at half time 44-31.
Action from Saturday night’s game. Photo by Liam Ryan
Into the third and when Dan James and Mike Garrow launched back-to-back threes Marian were back out to a 19 point lead.
Warriors kept in touch with Pemberton’s second three of the night and another from Donaghy but Bedulskis, Garrow and a three from James saw Marian hold the home side in check.
Fergal O’Sullivan and Pemberton between them brought the lead back to a more manageable 10 before Meany and Garrow restored the UCD advantage.
However O’Sullivan was to have the last word in the quarter drilling two huge threes to leave just 11 between the sides and giving the huge Tralee support something to cheer about going down the stretch.
However the Warriors hopes of maintaining their almost perfect home record were short lived as UCD Marian launched a relentless drive to the line and quite simply overpowered and overran the hosts in a hugely one sided final quarter.
Action from Saturday night’s game. Photo by Liam Ryan
The Warriors were dealt a considerable blow early in the fourth when Kieran Donaghy fell foul of the officials when issued with his second unsportsmanlike foul of the night meriting ejection from the court.
After that, the Warriors were to land just two scores in the remaining 7 minutes as Marian powered through the lanes to score through Drumm, Meany, Garrow, Bedulskis and Markowicz and see out an impressive win against an uncharacteristically disjointed and disappointing display from the Warriors.
Scorers
Warriors: Trae Pemberton 18, Kieran Donaghy 15, Fergal O’Sullivan 13
UCD Marian: Mike Garrow 22, Mike Bedulskis 17, Dan James 14
• Next up for the Garvey’s Tralee Warriors another tough top of the table clash with Griffith Swords Thunder at the ALSAA in Dublin next Saturday evening with action getting underway at 6 o’clock.
