The Warriors BIDL take on Carrick Cruisers in the final of the inaugural Basketball Ireland Development League (BIDL) final on Sunday next at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.
The Warriors have made it to the final with an unbeaten run of five games to take their place in the very first final of the newly introduced competition.
Tralee Warriors BIDL Squad that overcame Ongar Chasers in the semi-final
The Warriors booked their ticket for Tallaght with a win over Ongar Chasers in a semi-final meeting in Moyderwell that the Tralee side threatened to dominate after the early exchanges. However Ongar came right back into the contest and kept the Warriors honest to the very end before Luke O’Hea’s side finally saw out an 84-73 win.
The Warriors are unbeaten in after their four group matches with wins over Clare Crusaders, Tipp Talons, Fr. Mathews and St. Mary’s Castleisland along with two walkovers over Portlaoise Panthers and Clare Comets. They topped the table in Conference 1 with the offensive prowess of James Fernane, Joshua Osayanrhion, Olaf Michalczuk, Dan and Steven Bowler and Fleming brothers Padraig and Aaron a huge part of the Warriors success to date.
The Warriors Development side have a number of the U20 players doubling up at the weekend including Joshua Osayanrhion, Olaf Michalczuk, and Eddie Sheehy as well as current Warriors Seniors Steven Bowler and Zigi Kaletka and former players James Fernane, Daire Kennelly and Padraig and Aaron Fleming.
They will take on a Carrick Cruisers from Carrickmacross in Co. Monaghan who sealed their place in the decider with an 85-70 win over St. Mary’s Castleisland in the semi-final. The Cruisers went through the round robin phase of the competition with 6 wins and a single defeat away to Phoenix Wolves. They boast former Super League players Martins Provizors who played with DCU St. Vincents along with talent elsewhere on the court including Ramunas Ramunauskas, Vitalijus Kaminkas, Audrius Urbanavicius and Andrew O’Connor.
The BIDL Mens Final tips off at 11.00am on Sunday next the 14th of April at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.
The Tralee Warriors U20s travel to the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght this weekend in a bid to defend their National title they won with a hard fought victory over Titans of Galway twelve months ago. This year it is Éanna that stands between the Warriors and back-to-back U20 titles.
The Tralee side secured their place in Saturday's decider after a last gasp win over Limerick Celtics in a thrilling semi-final played at Moyderwell. The Warriors turned around an early deficit to take control of the contest but had to withstand a final flourish from the Limerick side before securing a 77-76 win in the end. It was a brilliant game of basketball from start to finish and the Warriors young guns were given a proper test of their championship defending credentials before prevailing by the minimum to set up a final showdown with Éanna who got the better of Titans who were also looking for back-to-back finals in the underage grade decider.
The Warriors got their campaign off to a flying start with a comprehensive win over local rivals Killorglin and followed that up with a 91-87 hard fought win over Blue Demons from Cork. In a thrilling contest just before Christmas the Warriors were given a reality check with an overtime loss to Limerick Lions after overtime. They got back to winning ways at home to Neptune and away to Ballincollig to top their Group and progress to a quarter final meeting with Templeogue. They survived a proper test of their mettle and had to come from behind in the final quarter to secure a 68-63 win to make it through to the last four.
The Tralee side then faced a formidable examination of their championship defence with in a cracking semi-final against Limerick Celtics in Moyderwell. The game was played at a frantic pace throughout with both teams having their periods of dominance. However it was a solid third quarter display from the Warriors that set up the win despite a late run from Limerick Celtics that threatened to derail the bid for back-to-back titles. In the end the Warriors just about edged home by 77-76 in what was as entertaining a game of basketball as you could wish to see and saw the defending champions set up a final showdown with Éanna from Dublin in Saturday’s decider.
The Mens U20 National League Final between Tralee Warriors and Éanna gets underway in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght next Saturday with tip-off at 3.30pm.
