Cork basketball: Ruthless Brunell back in National Cup semi-final
Brunell players Kelly Sexton, Shanon Ryan, Edel Thornton and Simone O'Shea celebrate their win over DCU Mercy recently. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Trinity Meteors 49 Singleton's SuperValu Brunell 90
A THIRD consecutive semi-final awaits Singleton's SuperValu Brunell in the Paudie O’Connor Women’s National Cup following a comprehensive win over Trinity Meteors at Trinity College.
The Dublin side went into this clash minus two of their influential players through illness but the Brunell coach Timmy O’Halloran was very pleased with the manner his side approached the game.
“You can only play wants in front of you and I thought our attitude was spot on and once again our scoring averages were high and our defence was top-notch,” said O’Halloran.
The Brunell chief is now looking forward to a possible local derby against The Address UCC Glanmire in the first weekend of January that’s likely to be hosted at the Neptune Stadium on January 8-9.
“I suppose for all of us we can have a good Christmas knowing that we have a cup semi-final to look forward to but we have a lot of work to do before then and we can now concentrate on picking up some league points,” added O’Halloran.
The Cork side put this game to bed in the opening quarter when they played high-tempo basketball and with Katie Walsh nailing consecutive baskets they surged into a 10 point lead in the sixth minute.
In the closing minutes, Trinity did their best to contain the Brunell scoring avalanche but the Leesiders looked comfortable at the end of this period when they commanded a 14-point lead, 24-10.
The trend of the game didn’t on the restart but Brunell could afford to use various rotations and with the American pairing of Kwanze Murray and Shannon Ryan continuing to score at will the game looked done and dusted at the break.
Leading 47-25 at the break it was a case of going through the motions for Brunell in the second half and with Edel Thornton controlling affairs at the point there was no way back for Meteors.
Indeed coach O’Halloran got his entire squad on court as this understrength Meteors side never had a chance of toppling them.
Upwards and onwards for Brunell as the glamour of another cup semi-final will be keenly awaited by fans and players alike.
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