St Joseph’s College, Galway, have claimed a fourth successive All Ireland basketball title when they cruised to a comfortable 53-31 victory over Douglas Community School in the u-16 A boys cup final recently.
It is a remarkable feat for the Bish who defeated St Malachy’s College (Belfast ) and Colaiste Eanna (Dublin ) in the run up to this final. Peter Cooke earned the MVP honours after an impressive 14-point display, while teammate Padraig Doran added 15 points.
Cooke opened the scoring with a quick three-pointer followed by one from his Irish International teammate and point guard Mark Rohan, and although Douglas connected with two, it was the Bish that was setting the pace. Defensively the Bish limited Douglas to just 10 points, while Cooke and Rohan combined for 16 points during the quarter to lead by 10.
In the second quarter St Joseph’s continued their scoring rally and were led by the MVP performance of Cooke’s six point tally in the opening minutes of the second quarter. Teammate Padraig Doran added an additional four points and St Joseph’s defensive pressure proved too much for Douglas as the Cork side only managed to add three points. Liam Egan hit a big three pointer from deep followed by a layup from Ben Ntumba to keep the pressure on the Cork school as St Joseph’s led by 37 – 13 at the break.
Douglas attempted to recover with a scoring rally from Liam Harris, and Gary Pineada, but their 14 point contribution could not decrease the points gap made by St Joseph’s. After a seven point scoring charge from Padraig Doran in the closing minutes of the quarter, the Galway side secured a double digit lead that they would not relinquish, 48-27.
Damian Dolan and Peter O Connor continued to pave the way for the Bish, allowing the Bish bench of Ronan McKeown, Joseph Tummon, Darren O’Donnell, and Ciaran Conlon to take to the court before a 22-point victory was celebrated.
