The Trinity Meteors took on Kerry-based St Mary’s on Saturday afternoon in what turned out to be an exhilarating game.
The game began with some fluid end-to-end offense from both teams, with the Meteors gaining an 8-5 lead after five minutes thanks to a great rebound shot from Sarah Kenny. Trinity were clinical in finishing off many of their offensive opportunities throughout the first quarter, with points from A’lexxus Davis and Rachel Rice contributing to their 15-7 lead by the quarter’s end. The Meteors were also the more aggressive side in defence, with Ella O’Donnell and Rice putting in some excellent defensive shifts to maintain the gap between the teams.
The Meteors extended their lead throughout the second quarter with a dominant performance. There was clear evidence of thorough preparation from the home side, with point guard Dayna Finn consistently being fed the ball to dribble at the opposition before finding Davis in space to finish off the move. St Mary’s struggled to deal with the pace of the Meteors’ fast breaks and Kenny was afforded time and space to shoot from distance on multiple occasions to add to the home side’s lead. The Meteors went into halftime with a 33-17 advantage, which accurately reflected their superior performance.
However, it was the away team that took the initiative in the third quarter, with the St Mary’s players increasing aggression and improving organisation to snuff out the many Trinity attacks. Mounting fouls by the Meteors contributed to St Mary’s gradually closing the scoreline gap, with free throws from Paris McCarthy and Emma Sherwood allowing the visitors to gain a foothold back in the game. An explosive end to the third quarter saw St Mary’s score 10 points without reply, narrowing the Meteors’ lead to 44-38 by the end of the quarter.
Despite providing the Meteor’s players with an alarming wake-up call going into the final stage of the game, St Mary’s struggled to carry over much of the momentum they had gained in the previous quarter. Some excellent distance shooting from Keane allowed the Meteors to restore some much-needed breathing room. Trinity’s team managed to find another gear in the closing minutes, winning and converting free throws to take the game out of sight from the visitors. Kenny rounded off an excellent performance by converting a free throw to secure a final score of 68-55 in favour of the Meteors.
Meteors Head Coach Vinny O’Keefe had the following thoughts on his team’s performance in the close game: “It was a really important win for us. They’re playing very well at the minute. They won a huge game last week and it was a really tough game. We’ve now gone two wins ahead of them which is huge for us in terms of keeping separation between us and the bottom half of the table so we’re delighted”
“The third quarter was very hairy. It just seems to be our nemesis at the minute, where after half time we don’t come out with the same energy, and then [St Mary’s] came back and did very well”, he said.
“We had enough within us to move ahead so we were delighted. It sets us up now for the rest of the season in terms of giving us a bit of leeway to push on, and the young girls came in today and played very well.”
