St Mary’s CBS Portlaoise land All-Ireland Under 19A Schools Cup

St Mary’s CBS Portlaoise 67 

St Muredach’s College 58 

ST Mary’s CBS, Portlaoise were celebrating All-Ireland Under-19A Boys Schools Cup success on Tuesday after battling their way to a tremendous 67-58 victory over St Muredach’s College in a rip-roaring decider in the National Basketball Arena.

While Jack Scully’s side made several runs throughout this tie, their Mayo rivals kept on fighting back, and it was only when Cormac Howson took four from the floor and Cillian O’Connell drained three from the free-throw line in the closing minute, did St Mary’s wrap this game up.

That late barrage pushed Howson’s total on the day up to a game-high 20 points, while Desmond Ogedegbe and O’Connell combined for a further 29 and Jayden Umeh served up a performance that earned him the MVP honour.

For head coach Scully, who only the previous Saturday had seen his Portlaoise Panthers men’s team suffer defeat in the President’s National Cup final on the very same floor against Limerick Celtics, this was another huge moment for basketball in Portlaoise.

“Obviously, after last Saturday night, it was tough coming back up the road,” Scully told the Laois Nationalist. “It would have been a killer to come up here after Saturday night and head home with another loss.

“But this win is massive for the school, massive for us as a club, as a team and me as a coach. It’s our first national title on the men’s and boys’ side, so it’s huge.

“We’ve been at this level for the last seven or eight years, we’ve been knocking on the door and it’s just great to get over the line.

“These lads have worked really hard for the last number of years and it’s just really great to see them come out of underage basketball with something to show for it, because they absolutely deserve it,” he smiled.

Scully and his St Mary’s players were anticipating a colossal test from St Muredach’s on Tuesday and that’s exactly what they got.

While a seven-point run, that included a superb three from Umeh, did hand them the initiative early on, Cian Morrison and Nathan Roddy demonstrated their ability to also strike from distance as they hauled St Muredach’s back on to level terms.

Ogedegbe did get in for a bucket as St Mary’s edged that opening period 18-17, and, again the Portlaoise side managed to serve up another surge in the second quarter to push their lead out to seven, Cillian O’Connell landing his attempt from beyond the arc.

The Mayo side, however, kept their opponents well in sight and when Roddy eked out some space off the three-point line to drain another three, it left just as much between the sides at the break (33-30).

Yet six unanswered points from Justice Iheme, Howson and Umeh helped push St Mary’s advantage out to eight, only to see their opponents halve that deficit by the close of the third quarter when Mark Cunningham and Brian Donoghue struck from the paint.

Muredach’s came out firing in the fourth, with Cian Morrison and Cunningham both serving up baskets to level the tie at 47 points apiece.

But when O’Connell responded down the other end of the court, it propelled St Mary’s back into a lead that they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game, even in the face of huge pressure by their Connacht rivals.

Indeed, St Muredach’s remained very much in contention up until the closing minute when Howson punished from the floor and O’Connell did likewise from the free-throw line to push their lead out to six with 28 seconds remaining.

“We’ve been building slowly in St Mary’s CBS, the same as Scoil Chríost Rí on the girls side,” said Scully.

“There’s a very strong link between club and school and that’s really important. Everyone here today, including myself, are either coaching or playing in the club.

“In fairness to St Mary’s CBS, they asked me to come in this year and they’ve given us everything we’ve wanted and they’re really trying to push that link too.

“It’s ultra important that you have kids coming out of underage basketball who want to play senior basketball and who are good enough to play at that level and we’re really starting to get all that right,” he said.

ST MARY’S CBS PORTLAOISE: Jayden Umeh, Luke Kavanagh, Cormac Howson, Jack Fennell, Cillian O’Connell, Tony Walsh, Justice Iheme, Oisin Crosson, Daniel Booth, Love Omoijade, Fionn Stack, Desmond Ogedegbe.

Top Scorers: Cormac Howson (20), Desmond Ogedegbe (18), Cillian O’Connell (11).

Head Coach: Jack Scully.

MVP: Jayden Umeh (St Mary’s CBS Portlaoise).

ST MUREDACH’S COLLEGE: Cian Morrison, Alan Birrane, Patrick Carr, Conor Bourke, Darragh Bourke, Sam O’Connell, Nathan Roddy, Rory Mahoney, Mark Cunningham, Joseph O’Boyle, James O’Boyle, Brian Donoghue.

Top Scorers: Mark Cunningham (19), Cian Morrison (15), Nathan Roddy (12).