Festive season definitely Merry for Monk
Ronan O'Malley (left) was Merry Monk's top scorer in their win over Tolka Rovers. Picture. John O'Grady.
Team Merry Monk claimed their first win of the National League season with a gritty and determined comeback against Dublin opponents Tolka Rovers.
The hosts played their hearts out and their bench players had a big impact when they came on which helped to seal their maiden victory.
Tolka started red-hot from beyond the three point line with their star performer Cameron Murphy sinking a three. Ronan O’Malley replied with a layup off a nice Brian Donoghue bounce pass in the post, but Rovers leading guard Alessandro Biffi came back with a three as Murphy hit a long two-point jump shot and a layup off a eurostep for a 10-2 start by the visitors.
Rory Upton’s three got the home side back on track and Nathan Roddy nailed one shortly afterwards. The hosts started to lock up defensively again as O’Malley got a free-throw and a layup to go before Mark Cunningham landed a big block on Murphy. Two buckets from Upton and one from Cunningham and free-throws from Biffi and forward Misan Fyne left the visitors leading by two when the first 10 minutes closed, 22-20.
Tolka got four points to open the second through Tom Kenny’s spin-move to fadeaway shot and two free-throws but Brian Donoghue’s three-pointer from the left wing was good to cut the lead to three again. It was cut to one when Nathan Roddy’s fastbreak layup went in, but two finishes at the rim from Kenny and Biffi stopped the momentum. Theo Daly off the bench for the Ballina side instantly hit a right wing three, but that began a 9-0 run for the away side with Murphy and Kenny contributing seven of those points.
O’Malley assisted Roddy’s layup to calm things down again, but three unanswered scores left Ballina down 15. However, they kicked into gear with a 9-0 run themselves to end the quarter, Ronan O’Malley with six points of two layups and two free-throws, and the final score of the quarter a left wing three-pointer from Connor Burke assisted by Roddy. That left them down by six, 39-45, going into the second half.
Cunningham opened the scoring in the third quarter, a layup, but was hit back with a Murphy layup after his initial shot was blocked by Donohue, and Biffi finished a fastbreak with a layup. Kenny then grabbed his teammate’s miss to score again. Donohue spotted Roddy open in the right corner from the top of the three-point line and Roddy duly hit from the right corner.
Ronan O’Malley followed it up with another Ballina three from the left wing. Biffi connected with his right sided three for the visitors in the next possession. Roddy knocked one down from the top of the three-point line again and O’Malley’s two consecutive layups kept the game tight.
Down 54-58, the hosts embarked on a 13-0 scoring run near the end with five Cunningham points, a Daly three and O’Malley’s basket which gave Merry Monk their first lead with less than two and a half minutes to go in the third quarter. They led 67-60 at the end of the quarter after two Murphy free-throws, having outscored Tolka 28-15 in the period.
A very strong fourth quarter ensured victory, six points from O’Malley, four from Roddy and some great free-throw shooting from Daly and Cunningham. The youthful Ballina (who had six under-18’s in the squad) ended the game winning 92-78 with a first score for John O’Boyle in the game, and picked up their first national league win as a result.
