St Mary’s CBS denied back-to-back All-Ireland Cup honours after fierce battle with Éanna

Coláiste Éanna 68 

St Mary’s CBS 59 

DESPITE St. Mary’s CBS hitting top gear late in the second quarter, it was not enough to see the Portlaoise side surmount Coláiste Éanna when they two teams locked horns in Tuesday’s All-Ireland Under 19A Boys Schools Cup Final at a packed National Basketball Arena.

Jack Scully’s side found themselves 18 points down late in the opening half, but demonstrated exceptional fight to haul themselves back on to level terms early in the third quarter.

But that was to prove the closest they would go to defending the prize they raised last season, as Éanna, led by captain and game MVP, Adam Charles, regained a grip on this tie.

Indeed, Charles, who finished on 16 points, was one of four players to hit double digits for Hillary Netsiyanwa’s side, and despite Desmond Ogedegbe amassing a colossal 34 points, Portlaoise were unable to mount a second comeback.

Speaking to the Laois Nationalist after the final buzzer, St. Mary’s head coach, Jack Scully said: “We were 18 points down at one stage in the first half, but we came out with a man-to-man, we put on that press and the press really worked.

“The boys, for that 13 or 14 minutes, gave 110 percent, and for the minutes outside of that we gave 80 percent, and that's why they beat us. We played soft, we played slow, we were taking breaks on the floor and they caught us.

“Down the stretch, when the game was right in the balance, we turned the ball over three times and they scored six points.

“At this level of basketball, with the likes of the players they have on the floor, and with a coach like Hillary Netts, you're not going to get away with that.

“We made mistakes and I do really feel we left this game behind us, but the best team won on the day.

“But we’ve a phenomenal bunch of young guys and they're still all very young for this age group, so we’ve got to learn from this and move on,” he said.

It was certainly not the start to this cup decider that St. Mary’s wanted, Charles landing attempts from both sides of the arc before Augustine Farrell and Adam McCarthy also dropped big shots from off the three-point line to rocket Éanna into an 11-0 lead with just over two minutes gone.

St. Mary’s did manage to arrest that run when captain, Love Omoijade weaved his way in for a bucket, before a Jayden Umeh triple and a Justice Iheme deuce reduced their arrears to six.

But Éanna responded with an eight-point run, half of which came from Charles, as Portlaoise struggled to convert in a clogged key.

They did manage to get going again when Omoijade and Ogedegbe struck in the paint before the latter drained two free throws, but a shot-clock beating three from Karl Walsh left Éanna with a 24-13 cushion by the close of the first quarter.

It did not get any better for St. Mary’s at the outset of the second, their Rathfarnham opponents adding five to that advantage through Walsh and Harry Lynch before Ogedegbe got Portlaoise’s side of the scoreboard ticking again.

Both Jayden Umeh and Ogedegbe took the max from their visit to the free-throw line and Justice Iheme produced an excellent three-point play that helped St. Mary’s reduce the deficit to ten.

And while Adam McCarthy did pick up a bucket for the Dublin side, St. Mary’s continued to intensify their press, forcing turnovers that resulted in a further six unanswered points from Prince Iheme, Ogedegbe and Umeh that left just four points (38-34) between the sides at the half-time recess.

Ogedegbe twice struck in the paint in the opening minute of the second half to level it up at 38 points apiece, but Farrell responded with a corner three to edge Éanna back in front.

That appeared to help the Dublin side regain some measure of composure as they went on a nine-point run that included buckets from Patrick Walsh and Lynch, together with an ‘and one’ from Charles.

Ogedegbe did arrest the surge with one from the free-throw line, but Portlaoise were struggling to put the ball through the string whenever they drove down the lane, as they were held to just seven points in the third quarter, at the end of which they were back trailing 52-41.

Walsh and Justice Iheme exchanged buckets at the start of the fourth before Ogedegbe got in for a three-point play and picked up another deuce to bring it back to seven.

But St. Mary’s struggled to make any further-in roads into that deficit down the stretch, as scores from Lynch and Walsh steadied the ship for Éanna who ensured victory from the free-throw line despite a late three from Ogedegbe.

COLÁISTE ÉANNA: Adam Charles, Finain Moran, Emmet Callan, Aodhan O’Neill, Conor Chambers, Patrick Walsh, Karl Walsh, Augustine Farrell, Chisom Chime, Adam McCarthy, Hugo Mulligan, Max McCarthy, Harry Lynch.

Top Scorers: Adam Charles (16), Adam McCarthy (12), Augustine Farrell (11), Harry Lynch (11) ST. MARY’S CBS: Jayden Umeh, Justice Iheme, Mark Delaney, Jim Hanamy, Luke Kavanagh, Prince Iheme, Jack Fennell, Ben Quigley, Ibrahim Ahmed, Daniel Booth, Love Omoijade, Scott Davis, Desmond Ogedegbe, Aaron McCormack, Echezona Onurah.

Top Scorers: Desmond Ogedegbe (34), Jayden Umeh (8), Justice Iheme (7).