Impressive first-half display not enough to see Panthers off the mark against Celtics
Chinwe Iwunze was Portlaoise Panthers' stand out players against Liffey Celtics putting is a very impressive display in that first half for Panthers Photo: Sean Brilly
MIDLANDS Park Portlaoise Panthers’ winless start to the 2026/27 Domino’s Women’s Super League may have stretched to six games following last Thursday night’s trip to FloMAX Liffey Celtics, but caretaker coach, Aaron O’Neill insists there were huge positives to take from that latest performance.
Indeed, Portlaoise held their Leixlip rivals to their lowest first-half points total of the season so far as they, themselves, led at the half-time break for the very first time in this campaign, only to succumb to a huge third-quarter surge that rocketed the hosts back in front by 19 points.
For O’Neill, who only took temporary charge of the team following the dismissal of Ger Jago at the start of last week, these are significant positives on which he hopes to build over the team’s three-week break from competitive action.
“That first half was great,” he told the after the full-time buzzer sounded on Thursday. “For having only three days to get it together, that was the best first half you're going to get.
“But that third quarter did kill us. When you have such a short rotation, you don’t have the same legs, so that definitely hurt us, but there's loads that we can build on there.
“We have to keep together and we have three weeks to build before we go again. Once you get three weeks of training, getting all that stuff together, it’s amazing the difference it can make,” he said.
Chinwe Iwunze led the way for Portlaoise in that impressive opening half, putting up 14 points in that period as she proved a handful down the lane for the Liffey Celtics defence.
But the hosts managed to finally shackle her after the break, confining the visitors to a meagre 12 points over the closing 20 minutes, while they ended the game with five players in double figures, Nya Epps on a game-high 16 points with fellow American, Brooke Kane adding 14 to the scoreboard.
Katie Williamson registered a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds, with Clara Boyce and team captain, Áine O’Connor totalling a further 23 points between them.
Liffey ignited this contest with a nice corner three from Boyce and a layup from O’Connor before Portlaoise opened their account when Iwunze worked her way down the lane for a deuce.
Williamson, O’Connor and Kane manage to drain some more baskets, but two buckets by Jasmine Burke in the closing minute of the first quarter reduced the gap to five (13-8).
Panthers opened the second period with an eight-point run that included two ‘and ones’ and a layup by Iwunze, and, while an O’Connor deuce broke that run, Portlaoise continued on to hit a further five unanswered points as Alyssa Velles converted from both sides of the arc.
Bria Shine also struck from downtown before Ireland underage international, Katie Rose Harrison picked up a further two to push Panthers’ lead out to nine.
Liffey did haul themselves back to within two, as Kane and O’Connor converted from the free-throw line, but it was Portlaoise who finished the half on the front foot, Iwunze and Shine adding scores that saw the visitors take a 30-24 lead into the interval.
Celtics needed a big response in the second half and a treble by Kane just ten seconds in halved the deficit, which was then completely wiped out after another couple of minutes.
Indeed, Liffey began to really flex their muscles, with a nine-point surge that included buckets from Williamson and Boyce, before Epps struck from off the three-point line.
Indeed, Panthers were afforded a mere six points in the third quarter and a late three by Epps helped leave Celtics well in command at 55-36 heading into the final period.
It was a long way back for Portlaoise, who were afforded just another six points in the fourth, as Liffey pushed their lead out to 25, with Boyce and O’Connor draining some nice trebles over that final period.
The three-week break comes at the right time for Portlaoise, as they continue to regroup under O’Neill who knows they will face a challenging return to action when they make the trip to Cork to face Brunell on Saturday 21 November.
“Brunell will be next and that will be a tough test, but we have no easy game,” he stressed.
“We have three weeks to get ready for that and we'll give it our best shot then” he said.
Brooke Kane, Nya Epps, Erin Boyce, Rachel Doyle, Katie Williamson, Ciara Brogan, Clara Boyce, Áine O’Connor.
Top Scorers: Nya Epps (16), Brooke Kane (14), Áine O’Connor (13), Katie Williamson (10), Clara Boyce (10).
Holli Dunne, Megan Dunne, Katie Rose Harrison, Jasmine Burke, Alyssa Velles, Bria Shine, Chinwe Iwunze.
Top Scorers: Chinwe Iwunze (14), Alyssa Velles (10), Bria Shine (7).
