Kestrels celebrate MABB Men’s Division One Cup success

Basketball 

Kestrels 83 

Tullamore 60 

KESTRELS’ senior men’s basketball team bagged the first piece of silverware available to them this season after they triumphed 83-60 against Tullamore in last Wednesday’s MABB Division One Cup Final staged in Mucklagh Community Centre.

With their only defeat so far in this season’s Division One campaign having come at the hands of their Offaly rivals back in December, the Portarlington side were looking to exact revenge last week, and a strong second half performance helped them achieve just that.

Despite a late second-quarter wobble, John Dunphy’s side still managed to take a 10-point lead into the half-time break, and they doubled that advantage in the third quarter, with captain, Jordan Fallon leading the way at both ends of the court.

Liam Guinan also turned in a strong defensive performance, along with 18-year-old Ross Muldowney, while Apostolis Verganelakis and James Byrne also served up some timely buckets.

Last week’s victory brought to a successful conclusion, a campaign for Kestrels that also included fine wins over Longford Phoenix (82-61) and Kildare Gliders (78-66) en route to the decider.

Delighted at seeing his side surmount the current Division One table toppers and land this season’s cup, Kestrels boss, Dunphy told the *****Laois Nationalist*****: “The first quarter was very tight and, while we seemed to get to grips with them in the second quarter, we had a poor end to that half and gave up a few sloppy baskets.

“But we came out very strong for the first three minutes of the third quarter and really pushed ahead from there. Our start to the second half was brilliant, but Tullamore kept fighting all the way to the end like they always do.

“As a team, broadly speaking, we moved the ball very well. There was a lot of ball movement, a lot of player movement and really good spacing on the floor. We worked well on offence, but defensively, we were really strong and that’s what won the game for us.

“It's great to get some silverware this early in the season. This is a relatively new competition. Usually it was just league and top four, but this cup competition was brought in the last few seasons and it's great to get more games,” he said.

With this prize now in the bag, Kestrels will be turning their attention back to the defence of their MABB Division One crown.

The Portarlington side is currently sitting joint third in the table, just three points adrift of leaders, Tullamore with a game in hand.

Indeed, just three points separate the top four sides in this league, and Dunphy is anticipating an exciting tussle over the second half of the season, which, for his side, starts with the visit of second place Athlone to Coláiste Íosagáin on Friday 27 February.

“If you look at the table, there's probably four teams who can win this league. “It's going to be pretty tight. Tullamore, ourselves, Gliders and Athlone, they're all very competitive, and that’s what you want. You want to play in a competitive league, and it’s very competitive this year,” he added.

Kestrels have been without the services of Peter Byrne and Lir O’Loughlan, both of whom have been sidelined with shoulder injuries for quite some time.

Dunphy does expect to have them back for the business end of the league campaign and will welcome the additional height they will bring to his line-up.

KESTRELS: James Byrne, Jordan Fallon, Sean Smith, Liam Guinan, Apostolis Verganelakis, Ross Muldowney, Daithi Howlen, Darren Smith, Michael Luttrell, Dualtagh Unuvar, Sam Cunningham, Peter Dunphy.