McHale's Ballina stop the rot

BASKETBALL: Clearly, plenty of soul searching was done in Ballina and Tallaght this past week. Out west, Seán McHale's men ended a five-game losing streak that was threatening to destabilise the club with a comprehensive 89-76 victory over Star of the Sea on Saturday night, who are themselves entrenched in a disheartening run of defeats.

American Lawrence Young netted 34 points while that all-year round, multi-talented, sportsman Ronan McGarrity yet again crossed codes to win a Connacht club football medal on Sunday with Ballina Stephenites after shooting 12 points on the court the previous evening.

But the real success story of the weekend came on Friday night when Shamrock Rovers Hoops secured their first win of the season, on the eighth Superleague attempt, against Waterford by a three-point margin.

Ken Black's side seems to have turned a corner with Gabe Hughes posting 25 points and 21 rebounds. He was ably assisted by fellow American Jackson Bain with 23 points and by point guard Scott Kinevan on 18 points.

The Tralee Tigers continued their winning ways, albeit narrowly against Neptune with potential Kerry senior footballers Kieran Donaghy and Micheal Quirke combining for 46 points. Donaghy will be under the spotlight next Saturday night when he lines out for the Underdogs against Jack O'Connor's Kerry in the final episode of TG4's reality television show.

Tralee remain top of the southern conference but the Limerick Lions established themselves as their main contenders in Munster with victory over the UCC Demons. Liam Farrell picked up the Most Valuable Player award after a 26-point haul.

Elsewhere, St Vincent's edged out UCD to move into a clear second place behind Killester in the northern conference, this despite a massive 37 points from college's Cedric Peoples. Paul Tonkovich was the main force for St Vincent's but the significance of this tight encounter was that very little now separates the top five teams in the country.