In fina l c o untd o wn
the day the Drogheda girls ran out 38-25 winners, to reach their first final.
Watching and waiting in the wings was the Division 1 Junior B team - their opposition Dominican College of Griffith Avenue in Drumcondra.
The free-scoring Katie McCabe was once again in flying form and scored all six points for her side in quarter one.
However, Dominican got the upper hand in the second quarter, with Erin Lane the only scorer for Our Lady’s, and a single basket separated the sides going into the second half.
Zoe Lennon got the Drogheda girls the start they needed in quarter three, though, and they never looked back after that. Benita Assoua was superb under the defensive boards, with Joy Njekwe picking up some nice baskets at the other end and the final score of 24–9 sees them into their second final, having won Division 2 this time last year.
On Thursday it was the turn of the 2nd Year Division 2 Junior C team to play in their semi-final and the school again travelled to ALSAA to take on Holy Faith, Killester’s A team.
A previous encounter had not gone well for the ‘College’ girls, but they had improved so much since then and were very optimistic. However, they had the worst start possible and found themselves 9–0 down at quarter one end and 15-1 by half-time.
They did rally in the second half thanks to scores from captain Emily Farrell and Olamide Adegoke, but it was a bridge too far and they lost out 22-7 in the end.
Nevertheless, this team can be very proud of their achievements, as seven of the 10 players are only in their first year of playing basketball.
JUNIOR A: JUNIOR B: JUNIOR C: GREENHILLS have been relegated back to Division 2 of the Oriel Zone League after going down away to Cooley last week.
In the first of the three trips games - all played over nine ends - the visitors got off to the worst start possible, going down three shots after two ends.
Cooley skip Ronan Hanlon’s team upped the tempo further in the next two ends and Greenhills found themselves trailing by five.
However, the visitors’ skip Jack Howell rallied the troops and his lead Val Maguire had a significant contribution to make towards the overall team effort and after six ends there were just two shots between them.
Greenhills continued to cause the hosts problems in the seventh end and now they were one up. However, despite Cooley not playing at their brilliant best they clawed their way back and with two ends remaining they were three up and in the driving seat.
When it came to the crunch, though, Greenhills went on the attack and played some lovely bowls, with lead Maguire hitting excellent draw shots to the jack and laying the platform for this victory by four shots, assisted by teammates Alan Thornberry and Jack Howell.
In the next match the hosts completely dominated the first three ends, going four up.
Greenhills skip Claire Woods team responded in impressive fashion, closing the gap down to one in the fifth end, although the gap would have been far greater but for the excellent drawing skills of Jimmy Flood.
Greenhills had a productive spell at the half-way stage, going two up after seven ends, but the hosts’ skip John Murnaghan encouraged his team to get stuck in and duly squared the match before going three up with one end to play.
The Cooley team controlled the last end, playing superb draw shots to the head and securing the victory in fine style by five shots against the Greenhills team of Claire Woods, Jimmy Flood and Gertie Griffin.
In the last match of the night Cooley started the game at a very quick pace, with host skip Frances Woods having the upper hand in the first four ends to go five up, but Greenhills recovered from that poor start in the sixth end, trimming the deficit down to two shots.
Tom Devin’s team played a combination of shots in the next two ends to a short jack and middle jack respectively to get their nose in front, two up.
However, Cooley showed great composure in the ninth end to take the lead again, three up with two ends to play.
The visitors now had an uphill battle on their hands to get anything from the game, and it was Cooley who showed their vast experience to take a comfortable victory by six shots, with the host winning two matches and taking the overall points 6–2 against the Greenhills trio of Andy McGrane, John Hurley and Tom Devin.
Greenhills chairman Val Maguire stated in his address that the club played some hardfought games throughout the season and were unlucky at times not to win more points, and the aim now would be to get back into the top division next season.
The Greenhills juvenile trips championship will start shortly and interested parties are asked to please put their names forward on the noticeboard. The club agm will be held on April 19th and this week’s times of play are juveniles Tuesday 7 to 8.15pm, seniors Tuesday and Thursday 8.15 to 10.30pm.
CYCLING BOYNE GRAND PRIX