Colin O’Reilly, UCC Demons Coach
The weekend pitched us against two undefeated teams in two days and saw us come out the right side of the win column.
Saturday against killester was as always a hard fought game. Within the tight confines of the IWA both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm which turned the game into a dog fight. As a group we stayed solid throughout and matched them physically which is always key. The second quarter was where we won the game as we held them to 6 points to stretch the lead to 14 at the half. They are the defending champions and never gave up but we were never really in any danger of losing.
Sunday’s game was a bit more free flowing and open as a contest. Again Thunder tried to roughen us up but the lads stuck to our style of basketball and fought through some unnecessary tactics from them. Leading into the half time break we found the required energy and played outstanding basketball over the last 22 minutes. A 9 point deficit turned into an 15 point win.
For us it’s a case on building on the foundations in place and continue to improve on all areas of our play. We have now established a team identity that we feel will help us succeed throughout the season.