‘That was one of the all-time great games ever held in St. Mary’s Hall’ – Scully

Panthers boss hails his players after they topple Tolka to reach Men’s Division One final ND AUDIT 

PORTLAOISE PANTHERS 97 

MOY TOLKA ROVERS 94

ND AUDIT Portlaoise Panthers head coach, Jack Scully described Saturday night’s gripping three-point victory over Moy Tolka Rovers in the Domino’s Men’s Division One semi-final as one of the greatest games to ever take place in St. Mary’s Hall.

Down by five at the end of the first quarter, the hosts served up a massive display in the second that saw them put up a huge 38 points to outgun their Dublin rivals by 18 in that period alone.

Yet Panthers still saw their 13-point cushion at the half-time break completely wiped out late in the third, Tolka even managing to overtake by three for a short period.

Portlaoise, however, regained the initiative over the closing five minutes and held firm in the face of a monstrous challenge down the stretch to secure their place in this season’s decider which brings, with it, promotion to the Domino’s Super League ranks for the victor.

While James Phelan amassed 24 points for the Laois side, Mike Wallace matched that game-high total for Tolka, Emiliyan Grudov and Daniel Ayoade also making a serious contribution to the visitors’ cause with a combined 42 points.

Yet Panthers had just enough fire-power to prevail in this titanic battle, Eric Anderson and Xabi Arriaga each serving up 21 points, while combining for 20 rebounds and nine assists on the night.

“That was one of the all-time great games ever held in St. Mary’s Hall and just to come out the right side of it was phenomenal,” Scully told the *****Laois Nationalist*****.

“I knew Tolka would never give up and it was a ding-dong battle right to the very end.

“There were 400 tickets purchased for this game and that’s more than we’ve ever sold. It was just a great day for the club and the players have to take massive credit.

“I felt everyone stood up and everyone was counted in the big moments there tonight. I thought Eric was phenomenal, James and Xabi too.

“I just can’t wait for the final in two weeks’ time. That’s another step forward for the club. I’m just absolutely delighted,” he said.

In what was a tight opening quarter on Saturday night, the two sides found themselves deadlocked on three occasions before Tolka pulled five points clear after Grudov struck from beyond the D and Wallace served up a deuce.

Taking a 22-17 lead into the second quarter, the visitors were overtaken again within two minutes of the start to that period, as Anderson’s bucket was followed by two from Liam Kinsella.

And Portlaoise continued on to exert a really tight grip on proceedings after serving up a 13-point run that featured big efforts from downtown by Arriaga and Davin McEvoy.

Tolka finally got going again by way of a Elijah Faapito deuce, but Panthers kept the scoreboard ticking to take a 55-42 advantage into the break.

They managed to maintain that gap for the opening couple of minutes of the second half, but Tolka began to make some steady in-roads into that deficit, Ayoade and Samuel Badejo combining for 17 points in that period to help their side recoup 11 and cut the gap to 73-71 by the close of the third.

Another Wallace bucket restored parity at 73 points apiece, the same player seeing a fine effort from off the three-point line drop through the string to propel Tolka in front by three with almost seven minutes remaining.

A James Phelan triple had Portlaoise back in front though, and while Grudov did tie it up once more at 80 points each, Jack Scully’s side responded with a six-point run compliments of Phelan and Anderson.

Tolka did reduce their arrears back to three when Wallace drained another bucket from distance with just over two minutes left on the clock, but free throws from McEvoy and Anderson followed by Kevin Donohoe’s basket from the floor steadied the ship a little.

Both Wallace and Anderson exchanged threes in the closing minute, the latter picking up a further two from the free-throw line to help push Panthers six points clear with 21 seconds remaining.

Tolka tried desperately to engineer a late recovery, but while Stephen Commins did manage to halve their arrears with his big triple, that score was met with the sound of the final buzzer, Panthers doing just enough to secure their place in this season’s title game.

ND AUDIT PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Cillian O’Connell, James Phelan, Eric Anderson, Davin McEvoy, Kevin Donohoe, Gary Morrissey, Xabi Arriaga, Liam Kinsella.

Top Scorers: James Phelan (24), Eric Anderson (21), Xabi Arriaga (21), Davin McEvoy (18).

MOY TOLKA ROVERS: Daniel Ayoade, Mike Wallace, Rory Howe, Marcus Black, Elijah Faapito, Samuel Badejo, Stephen Commins, Emiliyan Grudov.

Top Scorers: Mike Wallace (24), Emiliyan Grudov (23), Daniel Ayoade (19), Elijah Faapito (12), Samuel Badejo (10).