St Mary’s CBS exact revenge to lift All-Ireland Schools League title

St Mary’s CBS 56 

Coláiste Éanna 53 

ST MARY’S CBS were crowned All-Ireland Under 19A Boys Schools Basketball League champions after they emerged victorious from a thrilling decider against Coláiste Éanna in Neptune Stadium on Friday afternoon.

Having lost out to Éanna in last month’s All-Ireland Schools Cup final, the Portlaoise side was determined to exact revenge, and fought their way back from 11 points down in the second quarter for a three-point win that denied their Dublin rivals a national double.

St Mary’s had managed to reduce their arrears to three by the half-time break, and a big third-quarter display, in which they confined their opponents to just seven points, saw Jack Scully’s side overtake into a six-point advantage.

But Éanna, were far from done, and hauled themselves back on to level terms at 48 points apiece with just over three minutes remaining, only to see St Mary’s hit the next six and hold on to that lead, if only just, to lift the coveted prize.

Justice Iheme emerged the game’s top scorer on 17 points that included a late steal and slam, while Desmond Ogedegbe weighed in with 11 and Jayden Umeh and Ben Quigley drained some hugely important buckets down the stretch.

“I’m just delighted for the lads,” St Mary’s CBS head coach, Jack Scully told the Laois Nationalist.

“We lost the cup final to Éanna and we lost the league final to them last season as well. And then, with the lads losing two National Cup semi-finals in January, it’s been a good, but a tough year, so, to see the lads get over the line and get an All-Ireland title under their belt, it was great.

“Éanna are a really good team. We knew what we were going up against and I’m just delighted we came out on the right side of it,” he said.

While Iheme opened the scoring on Friday, Éanna fought back into a 9-4 lead as Augustine Farrell struck from both sides of the arc, while Adam Charles and Patrick Walsh delivered in the paint for the Dublin side.

Two free throws from Umeh, along with buckets from Ogedegbe and Love Omoijade edged St Mary’s back in front by the narrowest of margins with just under a minute to go in that opening quarter.

But a treble by Farrell and a deuce by Adam McCarthy, saw Éanna end that period with a 14-10 lead which they enlarged to seven points early in the second when Charles landed a shot from downtown.

Hillary Netsiyanwa’s side continued on to push their advantage out to 11 points as Charles picked up scores from off the free-throw and three-point lines.

An ‘and one’ from Omoijade, together with buckets from Ogedegbe, Luke Kavanagh and Prince and Justice Iheme helped close the gap to 31-28 by the half-time break.

They continued on to overtake by two, as Justice Iheme accounted for the opening five points of the third quarter.

And while Éanna’s Patrick Walsh square the game at 33 points each, St Mary’s pushed on again to end that penultimate period with a 44-38 cushion, Umeh, Omoijade, Ogedegbe and Ben Quigley all contributing to that surge.

An eight-point run, that featured two buckets from Harry Lynch, did restore parity once against for the Dublin side, but St Mary’s dug in and registered the next six, compliments of Umeh, Quigley and Ogedegbe.

Yet the Portlaoise side was still not over the line yet, as McCarthy landed baskets from inside and beyond the arc to leave just the bare minimum between the teams with 1:22 remaining on the clock.

But, again, St Mary’s demonstrated great resolve, as Justice Iheme came up with a huge steal and deuce to help his side clinch the prize.

ST MARY’S CBS: Jayden Umeh, Justice Iheme, Jim Hanamy, Luke Kavanagh, Prince Iheme, Jack Fennell, Ben Quigley, Ibrahim Ahmed, Daniel Booth, Love Omoijade, Scott Davis, Desmond Ogedegbe, Echezona Onurah.

Top Scorers: Justice Iheme (17), Desmond Ogedegbe (11), Jayden Umeh (9), Love Omoijade (9).

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

Top Scorers: Adam Charles (15), Augustine Farrell (13), Adam McCarthy (9), Patrick Walsh (8).