Portlaoise Panthers’ Under 16 boys go all the way for club’s first AICC crown

PORTLAOISE Panthers Basketball Club scooped their first ever All-Ireland Club Championship crown after their Under-16 Boys enjoyed an unbeaten run all the way to the A division prize in Gormanston last weekend.

Jack Scully’s side made it a clean sweep in Group Five of the competition on Saturday, before seeing off Éanna in the last eight, Belfast Star in the semi-finals and ultimately, Titans (44-35) in the decider on Sunday.

Delighted with the performance of his players, Portlaoise boss, Scully told The Laois Nationalist “I knew we had a team that should be there or thereabouts.

“A lot of them would have been there when we won the Billy Kelly Tournament, so I did feel that we were good enough to win if they turned up.

“Defensively, we were very hard to beat all weekend. When you look at the scores that our opponents put up, our defence was really good all weekend and that was definitely the base of our performance” he said.

Portlaoise opened up their campaign with a hard-fought 47-36 victory over St. Mary’s Castleisland in Group Five.

While they trailed their Kerry rivals by a solitary point at the close of the first quarter, Panthers flexed their muscles across the next two, outgunning their opponents by 19 points in that period to take a firm hold of the tie.

St. Mary’s dug in again in the fourth, but could manage to recoup only seven, despite Adam Griffin and Darragh O’Sullivan finishing on a combined 24 points.

Evan Branagan led the charge for Portlaoise in that curtain raiser, chalking up 11 points, nine of which came from beyond the arc, while Noah Barbour also proved a serious threat from off the three-point line.

Their next outing against Carlow proved a more comfortable affair, Jack Scully’s side holding their opponents to single digits in every quarter, as they emerged 44-19 winners.

Sochima Onuorah proved their most prolific scorer on that occasion, finishing on a game-high 13 points, while Noah Finn and Giovanni Osadolor combined for a further 16 by the close of proceedings.

They completed their group phase with another comfortable 58-32 triumph over Phoenix BC, Onuorah serving up 16 points, with Barbour and Branagan totalling 21, as they set up a quarter-final date against Éanna the following morning.

Trailing by seven points at the half-time break, Panthers stormed back in the second half for a 42-30 success over their Dublin rivals, Onuorah, Iheme and Osadalor each carding 11 points in that tie.

That propelled Portlaoise through to a clash with Belfast Star in the penultimate rounds, and this time they were not so slow out of the blocks, racing into a 15-point (22-7) lead by the close of the first quarter.

They added a further five to that advantage by the half-time recess, and, while Star did recoup four in the third, they were unable to make any significant in-road into their opponents’ advantage by the full-time buzzer.

Onuorah, Iheme and Branagan again inflicted the bulk of the damage, while Finn and Barbour weighed in with a further eight apiece.

Awaiting them in the final was a Titans team who had accounted for both Neptune and Sligo All-Stars in the knock-out rounds earlier that day, and it was the Galway side who led by a point at the end of the first quarter.

But Portlaoise responded well over the middle two periods, Iheme and Branagan leading the way as they overtook into a 13-point advantage by the start of the fourth.

Sam Hresko served up a huge 11 points for Titans in the closing six minutes, but even that was not enough to reel Portlaoise back in, as they held on for the victory that completed their march to the title.

“It's been a massive year with three A All-Ireland titles in the bag this season, the Under 16 Boys AICCs, the Billy Kelly Under 17 National champions and the Schools A Under 19 title” remarked Scully.

“To be winning A All-Irelands at three different levels is hugely pleasing and shows that we’re not just a one-team club.

“It’s huge to get over the line in these competitions. We’ve been the nearly club for a long time, so it’s great to get a few titles under our belts” he said.

PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Noah Finn, Sochima Onuorah, Prince Iheme, Giovanni Osadolor, Ben Heffernan, Roan Bourke, Noah Barbour, Senan O’Connell, Evan Branagan, Ari Ajayi.