Panthers denied return to winning ways as they fall to Glanmire
Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers prior to their Womens Super League game against UCC Glanmire in St Mary's Hall on Saturday Photo: David Maher
Basketball Ireland Womens Super League
Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers 58
UCC Glanmire 77
IT’S now three defeats on the bounce in the 2025/26 Domino’s Women’s Super League for Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers after they fell to UCC Glanmire at home in St. Mary’s Hall on Saturday night.
The visitors took the opening three quarters, Claire O’Sullivan leading the charge for the Cork side with game-high 18 points, along with five rebounds, while Jewel Watkins also made a strong impact with 13 points and seven assists.
While they were very clinical from the free throw line, Panthers continued to struggle in the field, with a return of only 37 percent inside the arc and 22 percent beyond.
For, what would be regarded as a shooting team, such stats present Portlaoise with cause for concern going forward this season, and head coach, Peter O’Sullivan will be hoping he and his players can remedy that situation ahead of next Saturday’s trip to the unbeaten defending champions, Killester.
Glanmire proved significantly more ruthless from downtown, seeing eight of the 20 attempts they made from distance drop through the string, with no less than six players contributing in that department.
Yet it was from inside that they drew first blood, Watkins and Amy Dooley delivering in the paint to propel them four points up before Tunnah hit back with a three for the hosts.
Another effort from beyond the arc by Tunnah helped see Portlaoise overtake by two, but six and five-point runs for Glanmire propelled them back into the driving seat, O’Sullivan Watkins and Miriam Loughrey all contributing to that.
Two free-throw conversions by Ciara Byrne in the closing seven seconds of the first quarter saw Portlaoise reduce their arrears to six (20-14) heading into the second quarter, which opened with another bucket for Glanmire through Emer Dunne.
The Cork side continued on to serve up another six points without response as Dooley and O’Sullivan got in down the lane to help propel their side 14 points clear.
But Portlaoise managed to remain in touch as Jessica Fressle served up a deuce and Byrne again punished from the free-throw line to cut the deficit slightly to 11 points (33-22) by the half-time break.
Panthers really needed to hit the ground running when they returned to the court, but instead Glanmire chalked up the opening six points of the third quarter when Watkins and Aine McKenna each drained big threes.
Now facing a 17-point gap, Portlaoise tried to get motoring with two free throws from Fressle, but they struggled to garner any moment, O’Sullivan, Watkins and Jessica O’Shea all delivering off the three-point line to help propel Glanmire 22 points up (56-34) heading into the fourth quarter.
The visitors were not about to cough up an advantage of that size over the closing 10 minutes of action, O’Sullivan picking up nine points down the stretch with Mia Furlong adding a further five to help ensure their side remained well out of reach.
Despite a further six points from Freesle, an ‘and one’ from Shauna Dooley and a nice three from Megan Dunne, Portlaoise just could not make any significant in-roads into the advantage held by their Cork rivals.
It left them simmering on a third consecutive loss in this season’s Super League campaign, which had started out with a promising victory away to Catalyst Fr. Mathews earlier in the month.
Yet, subsequent reversals at the hands of Utility Trust St. Paul’s Killarney, McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles and now Glanmire, leave them sitting eighth in the table, three points the better of the winless Fr. Mathews and FloMAX Liffey Celtics.
Bucking that trend will not be made any easier by the challenge, this weekend, of the unbeaten Killester, who have their eyes set on landing a third straight Super League crown this season.
MIDLANDS PARK PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Holli Dunne, Shauna Dooley, Ciara Byrne, Megan Dunne, Lynn Tunnah, Jasmine Burke, Elaine Kennington, Christiana Ojide Boiko, Jessica Fressle, Sarah Fleming, Alyssa Velles.
Top Scorers: Jessica Fressle (14), Lynn Tunnah (10), Alyssa Velles (10).
UCC GLANMIRE: Aine McKenna, Jessica O’Shea, Claire O’Sullivan, Annaliese Murphy, Mia Furlong, Jewel Watkins, Miriam Loughrey, Emer Dunne, Faye McDonnell, Amy Dooley.
Top Scorers: Claire O’Sullivan (18), Jewel Watkins (13), Miriam Loughrey (9).
