UCC Glanmire coach Mark Scannell left frustrated but can't have any complaints, they didn't play well enough for long enough

UCC Glanmire coach Mark Scannell will have plenty of questions, plenty of regrets, be frustrated as hell, but he can have no complaints, as his team never reached the heights, the standards they are capable of doing in this SuperLeague final.

And when you play poorly in any game against a good side, you lose, in this case 87-81 against Trinity Meteors.

And that is what happened. Meteors are a good side. They finished just behind Glanmire in the league table, only lost to them by three and four points in their league meetings, so Glanmire knew they had to play well for 40 minutes to win.

They didn’t play well for long enough to win. Especially on defence.

And yet they went close. With under two minutes to go they was only one score in the game and that was so because of the offensive performances of Jewel Watkins (29) and Viane Cumber (22) and the experience of Claire O’Sullivan who was outstanding when the game was there to be won.

She ended the game with 12 points but her overall performance, at this stage of her career, was incredible and if this was to be her last game at this level, she can bow out with her head held high and as one of the best players ever to play the game.

Trinity Metors deserved this win. They were the better team all game, they were never going to be beaten and deserve the title of SuperLeague champions for 2026, their first league success in 30 years.

UCC Glanmire, looking for a third Domino’s Women’s Super League title in five years and their first since 2022/23 will hurt for a long time after this loss. They will know they caused their own downfall and that will hurt the most.

Amazingly, despite struggling on defence, especially against the fast break, back door cuts, and been outrebounded on both ends of the floor, Glanmire were only four points behind at the break, 35-39.

They trailed by 2, 15-17 at the end of the first where Glanmire struggled on both ends of the court and seemed to find the pace Meteors were playing at too much to handle and it knocked them out of their usual rhythm.

The fact they were still in the contest was down to their two American players Jewel Watkins and Viane Cumber, who hit 31 points out of their 35.

Aine McKenna with a late three in the second quarter was the only Irish player to score from play. Emer Dunne hit the other point from the free throw line.

While Watkins (19) and Cumber (12) were superb on offence, if Glanmire were going to win this game, they needed their experienced Irish players, Claire O’Sullivan, Aine McKenna and Annaleise Murphy to step up offensively and help with the scoring.

They also needed to up their defensive intensity and slow down the Meteors fast break in the third quarter.

They started poorly again and trailed by eight, 42-50 after three and a half minutes of the restart, forcing Mark Scanell to call a time-out where he read his team the riot act. He told them in no uncertain terms this game would be over soon if they didn’t sort out their defence.

IMPACT

The hairdryer treatment worked. Glanmire upped their intensity and two huge three pointers from Aine McKenna and Cumber had them back in the final trailing by two, 48 to 50.

They were soon ahead 53 to 52 and the outcome of this final had turned, and the game was in the balance again.

The teams went score for score in the final moments of the third until Meteors got a late run of points and with 10 minutes to play Glanmire trailed again by five, 54 to 59.

Once again Glanmire were struggling on defence, failing to stop or even slow down the Meteors fast break, and two quick converted steals by Meteors had them ahead 59 to 69 with just over seven minutes to play, forcing Mark Scanell into another timeout.

Could he get another run from his team?

Aine McKenna gave them hope with a superb four-point play to make it 67-71 with just under six minutes left.

It was game on, but Meteors kept the pace high, kept running the ball and forced Glanmire into turnovers at a crucial stage in the game which broke their spirit.

Glanmire needed to get a mini-run but every time they scored, Meteors hit right back and, in the end, deserved their win to set off scenes of wild celebration from their supporters.