St Mary’s CBS Portlaoise on the brink of completing All-Ireland Schools’ double

ST MARY’S CBS, Portlaoise Under 19A Boys basketball team are on the brink of completing an All-Ireland Schools double as they gear up to take on Coláiste Éanna in a much-anticipated League decider in the National Basketball Arena on Wednesday morning.

Having captured the All-Ireland Cup last month following their 67-58 victory over St Muredach’s College in the final at Basketball Ireland headquarters, the Laois side will be hoping they can add the league silverware to the school trophy cabinet when they face off against their Dublin rivals in this season’s showpiece.

While head coach, Jack Scully harbours great belief in his St Mary’s players, especially in the wake of their All-Ireland Schools Cup success, he certainly appreciates the depth of the challenge they face in unhinging a Coláiste Éanna team that has proven one of the biggest forces in schools basketball over recent seasons.

“I think we’re underdogs going into the final,” admitted Scully. “Coláiste Éanna have a savage history in schools basketball over the last couple of years and the team they have this year is littered with Irish internationals.

“I coach a lot of them with the Irish Under 18 team that I’m involved with. You have the likes of Adam Charles, Harry Lynch, Adam McCarthy, Dean Kiernan, they’re all Irish international players.

“A lot of people would have said at the start of the year that they’re the team to beat. I’m under no illusion as to the task that’s ahead of us, and if we are to win it, we’re going to have to play really well.

“But we’re unbeaten in all schools competition so far this season, with it all culminating in winning the All-Ireland Cup a few weeks ago, which was a real milestone for us.

“We have a really good blend of experience and youth in the team. We have the likes of Cillian O’Connell and Cormac Howson, who are actually Under 19 and have been playing schools basketball for the last couple of years.

“And then we have the likes of Jayden Umeh and Desmond Ogedegbe, who are three years underage and they’re performing really well. They’re really good players in their own right and, even though they’re really young, they’ve stepped up massively,” he told the Laois Nationalist.

Certainly these young players have made a huge impact on the St Mary’s squad this season, Umeh, scooping the MVP award in last month’s All-Ireland Schools Cup title match, in which Ogedegbe chalked up an impressive 18 points, underscoring just why he has been recently drafted into the Ireland Under 18 international panel.

In St Mary’s All-Ireland Schools League campaign this season, Umeh drained two massive three-pointers down the stretch to help see the Portlaoise side make it over the line for a 51-46 triumph over St Andrew’s in last month’s quarter final.

Later that same day, they lined out in the semi-finals against a St. Muredach’s side eager to avenge their cup final heartbreak only the week before, but it was St Mary’s who again prevailed 70-57, Umeh emerging from that tie his side’s most prolific player on 16 points, while O’Connell (14), Fionn Stack (14) and Ogedegbe (13) also finished in double figures.

Scully is hugely pleased to see his players back on the All-Ireland Final stage for the second time this season and appreciates only too well what completing a double at this level would mean to both the school and his club, Portlaoise Panthers.

“Winning the All-Ireland Cup Final in January was a huge monkey to get off our back in terms of underage boys basketball in the town.

“In the school and club we’ve had some really good teams over the last decade. We’ve got to quarter-finals and semi-finals, but we never actually got to a final and got it over the line.

“That cup final win gives us the confidence to know that we’re good enough to do it and that we belong there. And, as much as we’re wary of Éanna, I’m sure they’re wary of us too.

“Completing an All-Ireland double would be huge. Over the last couple of years we’ve put massive focus on underage basketball, especially on the boys side in Portlaoise and having that direct link with the school has been hugely beneficial to us.

“Everyone who plays in the school, plays in the club, so there’s great continuity in terms of players involved and, then myself, coaching both teams as well.

“So to finish up this season with an All-Ireland double in the Under 19A section would be huge for us. It would be huge for basketball in the school, in the club and it would just a great reward for all the work that has gone in over the last decade,” he insisted.