St. Mary’s have ten points to spare over Killester in U-20 National Cup

MEN’S U-20 NATIONAL CUP

St. Mary’s 56 Killester 46

ST. Mary’s U-20 men have been successful in their preliminary round of the national cup having had a 10-point win over Killester at the weekend.

The opening 10 minutes was close, Killester opened the scoring and went four points ahead before the home team registered their first score which came from top scorer for the game, Dara O’Connell. The sides went basket for basket throughout the quarter. Adam Donoghue, Shane O’Connell and Johnathan Hillard adding to the tally for the home side. Just a point separated the sides with 20 seconds remaining when Shane O’Connell netted a three to see St. Mary’s hold a four point lead at the end of the quarter.

St. Mary’s gave a huge performance in the second quarter. Both Shane O’Connell and Dara O’Connell on target with their shots while also winning most rebounds. The home side scored 14 points during this period and held their opponents scoreless for the first five minutes until Vincent Achukwu registered their first score of the quarter. At the half time interval St. Mary’s led 30-18.

The home team went on to win the third quarter and increase their lead again giving coach Maurice Casey an opportunity to run his bench. The final period saw Killester make a good comeback but time was not on their side and it was Castleisland who took the win. ST. MARY’S: Dara O’Connell 21, Adam Donoghue 12, Shane O’Connell 12, Johnathan Hillard 3, David Riordan 2, David Lynch 2, Gary O’Sullivan 2, Nathan Nolan 2, Patrick Horan, Danny Hickey and Adam Nolan. Coaches: Maurice Casey and Paudie Fleming St. Mary’s will now meet Cup holders Neptune in the next round.

CHRISTMAS BLITZ

CLOSING date for the St. Mary’s 48th annual Christmas basketball blitz is October 30. To enter contact tournament director Donal O’Connor 0876984941, Club chairman Maurice Casey 0876228257, senior secretary Fiona O’Connor 0868553764, call to Gerdie at Vincent Murphy sports for a booking form or email on stmarysbball@ hotmail.com