Eanna undo champs
EANNA recorded a massive early-season boost by beating the defending Men’s Super League champions and neighbours Templeogue 92-86 in Coláiste Éanna on Saturday.
Even a colossal 37-point haul by Lorcan Murphy was not enough to see Mark Keenan’s side return to winning ways following their loss to Killester the previous week.
Eanna, who themselves had suffered a heavy 25-point defeat to Swords Thunder in their season opener, managed to regroup and chalk up arguably their best result in their time in the top ranks.
They did, however, suffer a slow start to the match, falling 16-8 behind the reigning champions before battling back to take a two-point lead by the halftime break.
“We just stuck to our game plan, getting back on the inside,” explained Eanna player Ciaran McEvilly.
Their new American signing Tamron Manning proved very effective, hitting 18 points while Neil Lynch and Aidan Dunne each carded the same.
With 90 seconds remaining on the clock, Eanna had a seven-point advantage, but in one swift move they found themselves with their backs to the wall.
Indeed, Dunne was fouled out on a three-point play, as Templeogue brought it back to four, but, in a game that could have swung either way, Eanna managed to hold out for a memorable win.
“We felt we didn’t do ourselves justice in the first match,” said McEvilly. Thunder are a great team, but we didn’t bring the intensity we needed to our game.
“But we learned a lot and had a tough week of training. We got our heads together – to beat the reigning league champions was great and shows us what we’re capable of.
“We have a young team with a lot of talent, but for us it’s about getting that consistency.
“While we showed how good we can be against Templeogue, equally we showed how bad we can be the previous week.
“We’ve got to bring that same level we showed [against Templeogue] to every game,” he stressed.
Disappointed with their poor run of late that has left his Templeogue side seventh in the table, coach Keenan said: “In the last two games we’ve given up too many points – 96 against Killester and 92 against Eanna.
“To be fair to Eanna, they’re a lot stronger this season and more together.
“Stephen James has a cracked rib, and he played against Killester, so we felt we had to rest him for this game. He’s our top defen-der, so he was a big loss.
“We started well but maybe there was a bit of fatigue down the straight with players perhaps not being up to it physically when we needed that high-intensity defence.
“It is disappointing. Two defeats now, but the players have to show char-acter and we’ll regroup.
“Really it’s only about a little tightening up in defence and getting that bit more out of players. Doing that can turn a six-point loss into a ten-point win,” he insisted.
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