For the third season in a row Garvey’s Tralee Warriors left the Kingfisher Arena in Galway on the wrong side of the score line to Maree after an 84-74 defeat at the hands of the reigning National Cup champions on Saturday night. Despite leading midway through the first quarter, the Warriors trailed at the end of all four quarters and eventually succumbed to the Oranmore outfit by 10 points in the end.
Tom Dumont opened the scoring for Maree and Kyle Carey and KJ Bosley were also in range but scores from Ryan Leonard from beyond the arc and a trademark effort from Jarvis Doles left just a single point between the sides midway through a scrappy opening quarter. Rap Buivydas made an immediate impact off the bench to score and Daniel Jokubaitis fired in his first and second threes of the night to edge the Warriors ahead. However Maree were able to get shots away from outside with relative ease and when Carey, Eoghan Rockall and Zvominir Cutuk all hit from distance the Galway side led 20-17 at the end of the first.
Maree embarked on a quick run early in the second and despite Jokubaitis getting another open look from outside they built a 10 point lead with in five in a row from inside from Carey, Bosley, Cutuk and two from Terence Lewis. Doles and Johnny Williams sparked a response from the Warriors to cut the gap back to a more manageable five points but Cutuk and Bosley again hit nothing but net from outside to restore the Maree advantage. Doles and Buivdyas combined with a three apiece to give the Warriors the last say in the quarter but the hosts still led 41-34 at the long break.
The Warriors lifted the urgency level up a notch early in the third and captain Eoin Quigley with a double and threes from Doles and Leonard had the Tralee side back on terms. Kyle Carey was a constant threat for Maree and he single-handedly added the next 10 points for the hosts but Buivydas with two and a Quigley three kept the Warriors in touch. Cian O’Sullivan opened his account after a brave rejection from Dumont at the other end but Rockall added with the final act of the quarter to see Maree take a 6 point lead down the stretch.
Much like they did in the second quarter, Maree hit the floor running in the fourth with baskets from John Burke, Cutuk and Rockall keeping the Warriors at arms-length. Jokubaitis replied with a typical three but Rockall negated that with a wide open effort from beyond the arc. The Warriors looked for someone to seize the initiative as the clock reached the mid-way point and up stepped Johnny Williams to fire the visitors right back into contention with five scores in a row. However the momentum was shot down with Carey hitting a killer three to temper the revival. Try as they might, the Warriors simply couldn’t manage to bridge the gap and with foul trouble late on it was left to Rockall and Lewis with three from six from the line to see out another win for Maree at their adopted home court by 84-74 in the end.
Scorers:
Maree: Kyle Carey 25, Zvonimir Cutuk 15, Eoghan Rockall
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors: Johnny Williams 18, Jarvis Doles 14, Daniel Jokubaitis 13
Next up for the Warriors is a home date with great rivals Templeogue who come to Tralee with a similar 1-1 record after an opening night win over Killester but a defeat away to Super League dark horses Ulster University on Saturday night. The Warriors battles with Mark Keenan’s side over the years have always provided great entertainment and next Saturday promises to be no different.
Please note that tip off next Saturday evening in the Tralee Sports Complex is at the deliberately earlier time of 5.00pm to allow fans to see the Ireland v New Zealand Rugby World Cup quarter final later that evening
