Mystics advance to semi-finals of National Cup

NUIG Mystics are through to the semi-finals of the Women’s National Cup thanks to a 57-53 victory over Killester in Oranmore on Sunday.

Training had been going well for the team and, buoyed by their league win over Castleisland, confidence was high going into the game.

Mystics started with Leah Cunningham, Ailish O’Reilly, Nicole Krusen, Deirdre O’Shea and Marine Airnault and got off to a great start playing some great defence and holding Killester scoreless for the first six minutes.

The quarter ended on a scoreline of 13-2 in favour of NUIG and also saw the return of Hannah Coen to the floor after her cruciate ligament operation last season. This was a welcome return as Lauren Murray was unable to play after being admitted to hospital on the previous day.

The second and third quarters were evenly matched on scorelines of 13 -13 and 17-17 respectively but Mystics’ strong start stood to them and they led 43-32 at the end of the third quarter.

Killester started strongly in the fourth and through a mixture of turnovers by the home side and good scores from Killester the lead was brought back to four points with 3.20 left on the clock. Mystics rallied and, with both teams trading scores and hitting some big free throws, Killester never quite managed to cut the deficit and NUIG ran out winners on a scoreline of 57-53.

This was a great team effort from NUIG Mystics and leaves then with a semi final against Portlaoise Panthers in January. The league takes its Christmas break now and returns on January 3 when the Mystics and Portlaoise will have a dress-rehearsal for that semi-final when they meet in the league in the NUI Galway Kingfisher facility.

NUIG Mystics: Marine Airnault (9),Sarah Grealish, Nicole Krusen (15), Tena Thornton, Kate Lyons (5), Emer Smyth, Leah Cunningham (4), Ailish O Reilly (13), Hannah Coen (10), Deirdre O’Shea.