Monk boys start season as they mean to continue
Merry Monk's U20s who began their season with an impressive league win at home to Athlone on Sunday afternoon.
Merry Monk made a winning start to their U20 National League season with a 33-point win over Athlone this afternoon.
The visitors trailed only by ten points at half-time, with a trio of three-pointers keeping Athlone on the coattails of Merry Monk. But the Midlanders were heavily reliant on Rian Gaynor and John Akinnola to find baskets, with little impact coming off the bench.
Merry Monk, however, could call on Jack Diffily, making his debut for the club, as well as Cian Morrison for impact. They both combined for 19 points alone to add to the firepower of their starting five. All but one of Merry Monk’s starters scored ten points or more, with Theo Daly finishing with a game high of 17 points, and David Marrey (16), Brian Donoghue (14) and Mark Cunningham (10) also getting into double digits for the afternoon.
Cunningham shot eight of his ten points in an impressive opening quarter for Merry Monk. An eight-point run towards the end of the first period, with Cunningham, Donoghue and Marrey all finding their range, put them into 14-point lead, 24-10, a lead that could have been greater were it not for a three-pointer by Rian Gaynor.
Athlone responded with their best quarter of the game, which included threes from Aaron Mannion and Adam Curley. Merry Monk kept the board ticking through Theo Daly, Marrey, Conor Burke and Donoghue but a late six-point run by Athlone cut the gap to ten points at the switching of ends, Merry Monk leading 39-29.
It appeared half-time came at the right time for Merry Monk. Theo Daly’s brilliant three-pointer upon the restart kicked off a seven-point run as the hosts stretched their lead to 17. Both John Akkinnola and Mindagas Nemeikstis got six-points each as Athlone tried to keep up with Merry Monk but the bench for the home side would come to the fore as both Jack Diffily and Cian Morrison combined, along with Donoghue and Daly, to make it 59-44 going into the final period.
Athlone did get the opening basket of the final quarter, but a high foul count would prove costly. Diffily punished the visitors from free throws, along with baskets from Marrey and Donoghue, to put the result beyond doubt, even if the performance was described as ‘patchy in some places’ by head coach Derek Cunningham.
“Defensively I thought the lads were very good,” Cunningham told the afterwards. “They were quite intelligent, defensively experienced, but it was patchy sometimes. We ran the fast break very well, we scored a lot off that, that was our focus. It’s our first game back so delighted it was a good win in the end.
“We has a great spread [of scorers]. I'm not sure what the tallies were but look, this is a team. We have guys who can score, but everybody can score, and I thought everybody did well.
“There's a lot strictly in a half court we need to work on but our energy was very good from the start. We let them back into the game a couple of times. [Athlone] are a much improved team but it’s a good spread, a good team we have there," added the coach.
“Jack (Diffily) was very good. His first game, he was carrying a bit of an injury for a while, I thought he did fantastic. A team player, what we're looking for, and then young Patrick Leonard there, did very well, got plenty of minutes. We had a good opportunity there at the end to get everyone minutes.”
Merry Monk’s U20s will now turn their attention to the cup next weekend when they travel to the capital to take on St Vincent’s.
Merry Monk Ballina: Conor Burke (2), Theo Daly (17), Mark Cunningham (10), David Marrey (16), Brian Donogue (14). Replacements: Aaron Keane, Jack Diffily (13), Cian Morrison (6), Patrick Leonard (2).
Athlone: Mindagas Nemeikstis (8), Cian Lawless, Adam Curley (8), Rian Gaynor (15), John Akinnola (11). Replacements: Aaron Mannion (3), Oscar Wang (4), Fionn Murphy (2), Arturas Slunka (2).
