Ballincollig's Adrian O'Sullivan and Keelan Cairns sign off for Ireland duty with a win
Tradehouse Central Ballincollig's Adrian O'Sullivan goes past Moycullen's Eoghan Kelly during the Men's Super League at Ballincollig. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
Tradehouse Central Ballincollig 88 Moycullenn 53
ANOTHER win for Men’s Super League leaders Tradehouse Central Ballincollig as they eased past Moycullen at the Ballincollig Community School.
In fairness, if Ballincollig wanted to move up another gear they could have totally dismantled their Galway opponents but coach Kieran O’Sullivan was happy with the overall performance.
“Our defence was superb from tip-off and that’s not done by accident as we scout teams and look at the weapons that could cause us problems and then we go about shutting them down on game day.
“We have a free weekend due to the international game and then it's Neptune and that should be a good test for both teams.”
The home side got off to a good start with Andre Nation and Dylan Corkery helping them into a five-point lead before the Moycullen coach John Cunningham called a time out just two minutes into the quarter.
Ballincollig went into the game minus the influential Ciaran O’Sullivan who started the first game of a two-game ban and he will also miss the derby clash with Neptune.
Finally, after three minutes Moycullen got up and running with a Grant Olson jumper but the westerners were getting no clear looks from the stringent Ballincollig defending.
The Galway side were just about hanging in and when Adrian O’Sullivan went coast to coast in the eighth minute the home side led 17-7.
Andre Nation continued with his recent form when taking an assist from Pau Cami Galera to produce a wonderful dunk that gave the home side a 24-12 lead at the end of the opening quarter.
O’Sullivan began with a neat jumper before Dylan Cunningham's technical foul seemed to inspire the visitors as they registered the next two baskets.
The one striking note about this Ballincollig side is their ability to dominate their own boards on a consistent basis. Solid defence is also a great trait in any side and players like Corkery, O’Sullivan and Nation work very hard for the team.
In the closing minutes, Ballincollig held firm despite the game getting scrappy and they looked home and hosed at the break when commanding a 45-28 lead.
A Nation drive to the hoop was executed on Ballincollig’s opening possession as the writing looked on the wall for the visitors when a stunning Milorad Sedlarevac dunk followed.
The game continued to get scrappy such was Ballincollig’s dominance and midway through the quarter, they had increased their lead to 25. As the quarter matured Ballincollig could afford to use various rotations and coming down the stretch their fringe players got minutes and they all did well on the big stage.
For Adrian O’Sullivan (20) it was a good send-off before he joins up with the Irish squad, along with Collig's Keelan Cairns who are in action against Switzerland on Wednesday before hosting Cyprus on Sunday.
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