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Bish basketballers edge home in All-Ireland U-15 showdown

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Date Published: 26-May-2011

St. Joseph’s College 44

Douglas Community School 42

ST. Joseph’s College (the Bish) were crowned National champions after defeating Douglas Community School in the All-Ireland U-15 basketball final last Sunday in the University of Limerick.

The Western Regional champions – having earlier defeated St. Aidan’s College (Cork) and St Eunan’s (Letterkenny) in the preliminary round – had advanced to the final despite a challenging and close semi-final against Colaiste Eanna (Dublin).

The Bish started the final with three quick baskets by Ciaran Conlon, Ciaran Barbour and Cathal Reilly. The sharp shooting skill of Ronan McKeown forced the Douglas coach to take a timeout to contain the threats from both inside and outside.

Lurglain McDermott played superb defence with the result that the Bish ended the first quarter leading by six points. The city outfit’s shooting guards Liam Egan, Mark Rohan and Peter O’Connor scored impressive baskets at the start of the second quarter and with Cathal Reilly dominating the boards, the Bish looked like strong contenders for the title as they led comfortably by 12 points at half time.

Douglas, however, started the third quarter showing they had no intention of surrendering their National title and Jack O’Mahoney and guard Liam Harris combined to contribute 14 points throughout the quarter. This brought the Cork school back into contention despite five vital points from Padraig Doran and Liam Egan.

Neither team had lost a game all year so the final quarter was understandably extremely tense and the large crowd added to this atmosphere. The Bish managed throughout the final quarter to maintain a slender lead with superb post moves from captains Peter Cooke and Padraig Doran and solid outside shooting from Peter O’Connor and Liam Egan.

Mark Rohan controlled the point exceptionally well and his decision making was crucial in the final minutes. Douglas managed to equalise with 11 seconds on the clock but, in the end, the Bish managed to secure a memorable victory when Padraig Doran, playing a captain’s role, managed to grab a big rebound and fired the ball nto the basket.

 

Bish coach Brendan Doheny said: “This team possesses a self confidence and an inner belief that I knew would carry them over the line. It really shows that hard work and dedication does pay dividends and clearly stands to you on court. We are so proud of these boys.

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