Limerick maintain their stranglehold

Basketball: The University of Limerick's stranglehold over women's basketball in Ireland continues. The Wildcats needed to produce a great performance yesterday, as anything less would leave them struggling against such a complete side. So by giving them a 12-point head start they made their task near impossible.

Limerick's second title in succession was achieved thanks to an enormous defensive performance. Early on, they shut Gráinne Dwyer out of the game; with Sinead Leahy keeping tabs on her she was restricted to a paltry three points in the first half.

Lisa Palmer was busting a gut to keep her side competitive, but her contribution of nine-points, five defensive rebounds and six turnovers - before the interval - wasn't enough to stop UL steam-rolling into a 42-19 lead.

Michelle Aspell was patiently breaking her opponents' will, while Dearbhla Breen was on form from three-point range. Between them, they finished with 32-points. But it was the all-round performance of Gillian Aherne that marginally secured the MVP award.

On the day, the Wildcats shooting was their main deficiency. As their confidence disintegrated, they seemed to go for the more difficult shots too early in the game. In the third quarter, when UL finally went off the boil, the required points never arrived. It was then that Nicole Conway's absence, due to injury, was really felt.

UL never panicked, and when you have players with the physical advantage of Bethany Schott and Leahy under the basket three-pointers are worth going for.

After a scoreless seven-minutes, Aspell landed one, which was quickly followed by an aggressive drive to the net by Aherne, which stretched the lead to 47-23. Thereafter, any thoughts of a revival were vanquished.

"It was a hard third quarter today because we were up by so many points," said UL coach Tony Hehir. "The Wildcats did their best without their American player today (Conway), they gave a great performance, but our players were just so dominant."

The final quarter was a non-event, raising questions of the implications of Limerick's superiority for the game in general; they are undefeated since November 2002.

"Today we were exceptionally good," explained Hehir. "It's not always like that, some of the days our wins are closer. Obviously it is not good for the game to have a dominant force, but I'm delighted we're there."

UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK: M Aspell 18, D Breen 14, G Aherne 13, N Mulalley 9, S Leahy 8, B Schott 5.

WILDCATS: G Dwyer 11, M Liston 10, L Palmer 9, J Maher 7, J Coady 5.

In the women's Junior Cup final, the Drimnagh Dynamos never looked under threat against Glanmire, running out 55-44 winners. A 20-point contribution from Emer Foley earned her the MVP accolade.