Taylor class apart to seal Eagles double
UL EAGLES 72
UCC DEMONS 65
Daire Walsh
MEN’S SUPERLEAGUE NATIONAL CUP FINAL
A TALISMANIC performance from guard Robert Taylor at the Basketball Arena last night helped UL Eagles make it a Men’s and Women’s Superleague double after a gripping decider with Munster rivals UCC.
It looked for large periods that it would be the Paul Kelleher-trained Demons who would come away with the trophy, but Mark Keenan’s charges never gave up and the finished the game with a flourish.
UCC took the early lead with a three-pointer from Shane Coughlan, but the Eagles struck back with a
brace of two-pointers from captain Neil Campbell and pacy American Taylor.
UL attempted to put some daylight between the sides with five points from Taylor and two from Jason Killeen.
UCC regained the lead with scores from Shane Coughlan and Ciaran O’Sullivan, and despite some excellent scores from Campbell, Taylor and Killeen, a three-pointer from Coughlan gave UCC a 21-20
advantage at the end of an intense opening quarter.
A two-pointer from Matt Hall did restore the UL lead at the start of the second period, but UCC started to cut loose, with scores from Carlton Cuff, Niall Murphy and Shane Duggan opening up a six-point cushion.
Three points from Shawn Atupem, and two each from Murphy and Kyle Hosford, kept the scoreboard ticking over in favour of the Cork side, but UL were equally prominent in front of the hoop, with scores from Taylor, Eoin Quigley and Killeen meaning that they trailed by just five points (39-34) as the buzzer sounded for half-time.
UL came out of the blocks intent on addressing the deficit. A trio of two-pointers from Kinevane, Rob Lynch and Campbell brought them to within touching distance, before a Kinevane point from a free-throw brought parity hree minutes into the period.
Scores from O’Reilly and Daniel O’Sullivan did increase the UCC gap, but seven points from the force of nature that is Taylor suddenly had Eagles in the ascendancy. But UCC responded to lead 55-53 heading into the final quarter.
UCC struck first blood in the fourth period, with a fine score from Coughlan, but UL were quick to reply with two free-throws by Campbell.
UCC did bring their lead back up to five with another Atupem score, but a brace of UL two-pointers from Matt Hall and Kinevane brought the margin back to one with five minutes to go.
There was a sense that the pendulum was swinging to UL, and a terrific three-pointer from Campbell helped them towards a five-point lead with time almost up.
UCC continued to battle until the very end, but late UL scores rom Taylor, Kinevane and Hall gave UL a memorable victory.
SCORERS – UL Eagles: R Taylor 29, N Campbell 12, M Hall 9, J Killeen, S Kinevane 8 each, R Lynch 5, E Quigley 1. UCC Demons: S Atupem 16, S Coughlan 11, K Hosford 9, N O’Reilly, C Cuff 8 each, C O’Sullivan 5, S Duggan, N Murphy 4 each.
UL EAGLES – D O’Donovan, R Taylor, E Quigley, S Kinevane, N Campbell, R
Lynch, A Dawson, M Hall, S King, B Reidy, A Holden, J Lynch, J
Killeen, C O’Gallachoir.
UCC DEMONS – L O’Mahony, K Hosford, D O’Mahony, C O’Sullivan, S
Coughlan, D O’Sullivan, B O’Neill, S Duggan, N O’Reilly, C Cuff, N
Murphy, S Atupem, M O’Leary.
REF – D Caballe, P Dempsey & M Nazimek.