Kestrels top C Division in Under-16 Boys All-Ireland Club Championship

KESTRELS emerged from last weekend’s Under 16 Boys All-Ireland Club Championships in Gormanston with the C Division title after a Super Sunday saw them surmount Mulroy Hoops, Castlebar Comets and finally Carlow BC in the knockout stages.

The Portarlington side found themselves pitched into a very tough group that included Maree and Sligo All-Stars, but they made a blistering start to this competition, storming to an emphatic 70-32 success against Boru Blazers in their opening contest on Saturday morning.

The Laois outfit had just four points to spare by the close of the first quarter, but hit the afterburners in the second and third, by the end of which they had enlarged the gap to 35.

There was no way back for Blazers by that stage, as Kestrels reached the full-time buzzer with no less than four players in double digits, including Eoghan O’Loughlin on a game-high 21, with Tristan Gallagher, Denis Kacinskas and Darragh O’Loughlin totalling a further 42 between them.

A much tougher assignment awaited them in Game Two as they took on a Maree team looking to bounce back from their earlier four-point reversal at the hands of Sligo.

And it was the Galway side who prevailed by just two points (50-48) as they produced a strong start and finish to this game.

Christopher Fitzpatrick spearheaded their attack with 18 points, while Gavin Olayemi and Yaroslav Alexandrov weighed in with a further 26.

Kestrels gave it everything, and even took a six-point lead into the final quarter, but could not hold back Maree’s late revival, despite Eoghan O’Loughlin again coming up big for them with 23 points.

Their final game in Group Two saw them go up against a Sligo side that had won their opening two games of the campaign, and while they trailed by just four points at the end of the first quarter, Kestrels fell off the pace, losing out 53-28, as Oliver Ettery served up a huge 30-point haul for the pool winners.

Those results meant the Laois side would take on Mulroy Hoops in the last eight of the C competition on Sunday morning, but it looked like that might well prove their last stop in the competition, as their opponents led by 10 almost midway through the third quarter.

Yet Louise Foster’s side had narrowed the gap to just three by the start of the fourth and continued on to run out 49-41 winners, Eoghan O’Loughlin again putting up a game-high total of `18 with Gallagher adding 12.

They served up a more emphatic display against Castlebar Comets in the semi-final, running out 42-17 winners to set up a title game against Carlow BC who had prevailed against Phoenix and Longford in their respective knockout rounds.

Just six points separated the two sides at the midway point in this decider, and it was only over the closing three minutes that the Laois team really made certain of victory thanks to a late seven-point run, Darragh and Eoghan O’Loughlin signing off with a combined 40 point tally in that game.

Delighted with the performance of her players, Kestrels head coach, Louise Foster told The Laois Nationalist “It was absolutely amazing. They were very tough games, especially against Maree and Sligo in the group stages.

“In the quarter-finals [against Mulroy Hoops], we were down maybe 10 or 12 points, and I just said to the boys that it's do or die here now lads, and they really got it together.

“The Carlow game in the final was intense. Everybody was tired, and again we just pulled away in the last three or four minutes of the final quarter.

“The lads really showed true spirit and team work. They were unreal. They give it everything and I couldn't have asked for anything more from them.

“They left it all on the court, and I was very proud of them. The team effort was unreal. It wasn't just one or two players. None of them could have done it without each other.

“It’s great for the club, especially for the younger boys and girls, to see what can be achieved” she said.

KESTRELS: Nathan Heavey, Ryan Judge, Aidan O’Reilly, Daniel Chinda, Callum Walsh, Denis Kacinskas, Darragh O’Loughlin, Eoghan O’Loughlin, Dylan Halpenny, Kareem Oyelakin, Tristan Gallagher.