Brunell well beaten by Trinity Meteors despite Edel Thornton's best efforts
SSV Brunell's Lauryn Homan gets her pass away past Trinity Meteors' Rebecca O'Keeffe, during their Women's Super League clash, at the Parochial Hall. Picture: David Keane.
Singleton’s SuperValu Brunell 60 Trinity Meteors 81
A stroll in the park for joint Women’s Super League leaders Trinity Meteors as they brushed aside a young and inexperienced Singleton’s SuperValu Brunell side at the Parochial Hall.
Brunell’s injured American Mary Dunn has returned home and the club hope to have a replacement in the coming weeks to bolster their chances for the rest of the season.
A long-range three-pointer from Kelly Sexton gave the home team the perfect start before Meteors replied with a brace of Celena Taborn free throws. Another pointer from Olivia Dupuy surged Brunell into a six-point lead but consecutive baskets from Claire Melia reduced the deficit to the minimum.
The influence of Melia was certainly posing Brunell problems and midway through the quarter when she banked a shot following a swivel to the hoop her team led for the first time.
As the quarter matured Brunell got sloppier and despite their players competing hard they lacked quality in many departments. In the closing minutes, Brunell struggled and late Taborn basket ensured Meteors led 23-15 heading into the second quarter.
On the restart, Taborn continued to dominate at the post as it was clear to see Brunell hadn’t a player with the physicality or height to stop her. It only took three minutes for Meteors to increase their lead to 18 points as the class of Melia was broke the hearts of this young Brunell side.
To be fair Meteors didn’t have to excel in this period as all they did was find Taborn at the post. Some Brunell players were over-reliant on shooting threes with others driving to the hoop with the end product not pretty at times as Meteors were simply too tall and agile.
To be fair Brunell’s Edel Thornton is not one to shirk a challenge but playing without professionals is certainly hurting the northside club as they cannot compete with the elite sides. It was no surprise that Brunell trailed by 20 points at the break as they simply found scoring a near impossibility and their tally of 25 points in a half will not win you many games at this level.
Much the same on the restart with Taborn banking a lay-up before Melia followed up with a deft move to the hoop.
In fairness the spirit of Thornton was clear to see as she hustled and harried various Meteors players to gain possession for her team and to finish with a game-high 35 points is testament to her spirit.
It was no surprise that Meteors looked comfortable entering the final quarter. Coming down the stretch Meteors went through the motions.
E Thornton 35, K Sexton 5, L Homan 5, O Dupuy 5.
C Taborn 25, C Melia 20, M Riera-Serda 12, S Kenny 4.
M Roberts, K Sexton, R Sexton, A Braham, E Peyton-Blake, L Homan, D O’Reilly, L Crean-Hickey, E Thornton, M Finnegan, A Macheta, K Walsh, R Lynch, O Dupuy, M Dunn.
D Finn, S Keane, S Kenny, R Hynes, L Blaney, A Marmian, E Moloney, C Melia, M Riera-Serda, C Taborn, R O’Keeffe, N Kenny.
L Aherne (Limerick), S O’Shaughnessy (Tipperary).
