Cobras Basketball Club

Senior men squad travelled to Castleblaney to face last years league champions with the intention of recording a victory and sealing a Top 4 spot. The game began with Cobras shooting well from beyond the arc as Shane Carville scored 13 first quarter points to give Cobras a 18-13 lead. The second quarter saw Lakers’ pull back to narrow the gap despite good scores from guards Owen Mcsweeney and Shane Smyth.

With a narrow 6 point lead, the 3rd quarter proved to be Cobra’s downfall as turnovers and limited scoring allowed the hometown to gain momentum and take a lead into the 4th quarter that would prove to be the deciding factor. Despite a late spirited comeback attempt, Lakers went on to score some easy baskets that flattered the final scoreline of 63-46.

Next week Cobras face Killinkere, which will be their final opportunity to record the victory that will see them qualify for the Top 4 in April.

Shane Carville (25), Eoin McSweeney (3), Shane Smyth (2) Wes McDonagh (2), Alan Thompson (5), Joe Davis (2) Tony Ayres (5), Cormac Kelly (2), Gearoid Kelly, Ian Ratty

Al Thompson scored the first 8 points and poured 23 overall as Cobras beat last years champions in a physical encounter at Athboy Community School.

Cobras start was impressive. Following Thompson’s initial outburst, Cobras proceeded to hit back to back three pointers from Tony Ayres and Shane Carville. Further scores from Wes McDonagh gave the home side a 10 point lead at the end of the 1st.

Ravens emerged rejuvenated from the half time break as Cobras floundered early in the 3rd quarter. Neil MacSweeney found his range to keep the scoreboard ticking for Cobras, but it was Ravens who were pushing hard and the lead was down to 6 entering the final 10 minutes.

Ravens battled on to take the lead in the 4th, however a three pointer from Eoin MacSweeney and a 3 point play from Alan Thompson ensured Cobras had a 4 point cushion with 90 seconds to play. However with less than a minute to go Ravens converted a 3 point play and Cobras lead was down to 1.

With 15 seconds to go, Shane Carville was fouled driving to the basket and a subsequent technical foul against Dundalk gave four free throw attempts to seal the win.

N. MacSweeeney (8), I. Ratty (2), E. MacSweeney, A. Thompson (23), T. Ayres (9), S. Carville (17), W. MCDonagh (10), E. MacSweeney (9), A. Gunning, G. Kelly, S. Smith, J. Davis

Athboy Cobras hosted rivals Longford last Saturday night in a fast paced and high scoring match. The game began with both teams shooting well from the field but with big rebounds and scores from Cobras inside men, Alan Thompson and Wes McDonagh; Cobras took a deserved 19-13 first quarter lead. The second quarter saw Cobra’s pull further ahead with great scores from guards Neil Mcsweeney, Shane Carville and Tony Ayres. This gave the home side a 49-27 half time lead that they would never surrender.

The second half saw furious end to end basketball of the highest level with the visitors valiantly trying to pull back the lead. However Cobra’s determination and effort saw Shane Smyth and Eoin McSweeney score baskets and the defensive performance of the Cobras combined with some evenly distributed scoring proved too much. On the night Cobras hit a total of eleven 3- pointers that was too much for the visitors from Longford as Athboy recorded a 104-71 victory.

Scorers:

Shane Smyth (9) Eoin Mcsweeney (9) Alan Thompson (24) Wes McDonagh (4) Shane Carville (29) Neil mcSweeney (27) Tony Ayres (2) Alan Gunning

Coach: Joe Davis; Paul Skelton

Cobras travelled to Athlone and were met with a team intent on revenge for an early season defeat. This slow paced match saw Athlone looking to limit the scoring options of cobras that resulted in a slim half time lead at 31-26. Cobras chipped away and played some great defence overall but putting the ball in the basket became too infrequent. The home court advantage was just enough in the end for Athlone who held out to win by a narrow margin of 55-51.

Alan Thompson (7) Alan Gunning (2) Neil McSweeney (1) Wes McDonagh (7) Ian Ratty (2) Shane Carville (27) Tony Ayres (2) Shane Smyth (3) Eoin McSweeney

Cobras travelled to Rochfortbridge and were met by full strength squad intent on revenge for their previous loss to the Cobras on their home court. Cobras had a sluggish 1st quarter that proved difficult to come back from and were always chasing the game. Despite a spirited 3rd quarter comeback in which cobras drew level, dragons pulled away with some home court shooting levelling their encounters this season at 1-1.

S Smyth (8) A Gunning (8) A Ayres (3) E McSweeney (5) S Carville (23) W McDonagh (9) J Davis (4)