Lions/Portlaoise gearing up for clash with Kilkenny in National Cup semis

Basketball Ireland Men’s Masters M50 National Cup 

LIONS/PORTLAOISE will be hoping to take another step closer to the Men’s Masters M50 National Cup title when they play host to Kilkenny in the semi-finals of the competition later this month.

The Dublin-Laois combination squad have enjoyed a strong start to this season’s competition, topping their group following a 53-43 victory over Malahide/Glasnevin and a 47-27 triumph over Galway Masters.

Against the former, Lions/Portlaoise edged the opening quarter by three points only to see that narrow cushion wiped out by the half-time break, at which point the two sides were deadlocked at 29-29.

But Pat Morahan’s side pushed on in the second half to emerge 10-point winners in the end, Rody McEvoy, Shane Jackson and captain, Greg Dunne serving up some timely buckets over that period.

“The game against Malahide was excellent,” remarked Portlaoise skipper, Dunne. “If we were to meet them again, it'd be a great final” he insisted.

The clash with Galway proved a more comfortable affair, despite Lions/Portlaoise finding themselves a point down by the close of the first quarter.

They edged back in front 19-16 by the half-time recess, and really hit the afterburners in the third, outgunning their opponents by 12 in that penultimate period, before taking the fourth by five.

Looking back on that tie, Dunne admitted. “We were sloppy in the first half, because we knew that Malahide had beaten them by 27, so we kind of felt that we were going to beat them.

“It was a type of game where we felt we were going to get the business done, and we did play better in the second half.

“They did run out of steam, and we were just going through some stuff that we've been working on, trying to execute plays. Some of it worked and some of it didn’t” he told the *****Laois Nationalist*****.

Dunne will be hoping that everything clicks for the team as they head into the business end of the competition with a last-four clash against a Kilkenny team that they certainly won’t be taking lightly.

Indeed, Kilkenny served up some solid performances in their respective group games, which saw them card a narrow 64-53 loss to Queens Belfast, but serve up a convincing 59-38 triumph over Templeogue.

Certainly Dunne is anticipating a severe test in their penultimate round fixture, insisting, “Kilkenny will be decent. I know from playing them in the Midlands, coming up through the senior ranks, they would have been good. Really what's left in the competition is decent.

“Hopefully we can keep on going. We have a nice blend of players, small and big. We're fairly mobile, and we're able to get out and run the floor, which is the big thing at this age group,” he said.

Should they manage to navigate their way beyond the challenge of Kilkenny, Lions/Portlaoise will be able to look forward to a date with either Malahide or Belfast in this season’s title decider.