The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
St Anne’s men edge derby win over Gneeveguilla
DIVISION 3 MEN’S LEAGUE St Annes 51 Gneeveguilla 45
GNEEVEGUILLA travelled to play St. Annes for this keenly contest senior men’s derby clash and it was St Annes who just about deserved the win. St Annes drew first blood with Con O’Mahony opening his account with a lay-up. This was followed by an inside play by Thomas Murphy of St. Annes to go 4-0 up. John O’Keeffe of Gneeveguilla got a basket back before St Anne’s veteran Aidan McCarthy hit a three from the top of the arch.
Don Murphy from Gneeveguilla then started with a basket, followed by George O’Keeffe. St Annes hit back with four from Con O’Mahony, two each from Shaun Keane and Andrew O’Sullivan before Gneeveguilla settled their game down with two points each from Stephen Lehane, McAuliffe and Don Murphy. Con O’Mahony hit another two baskets before the end of the quarter with George O’Keeffe responding with a basket to end the quarter 19-14 in favour of Annes.
The second quarter saw Gneeveguilla gain the upper hand with Don Murphy clocking up ten points alone in this quarter. Only for Shaun Keane of St. Annes with four points and the hard work of Jim Morris and Eoin Rice in defence it would have been a total blow out for St. Annes as John and George O’Keeffe added another 5 points between them to leave the score at 28-23 in favour of Gneeveguilla.
The third Quarter started where the second finished with Don Murphy and Shaun Keane trading baskets. McCarthy, O’Mahony and Andrew O’Sullivan were again on the scoreboard for St. Annes, while Stephen Lehane, N. Clifford and John O’Keeffe kept Gneeveguilla ahead. The rotation of players by Coach Mike Finnegan saw the introduction of John O’Rourke and John Cronin for St. Annes anticipating the need for fresh legs in the tense final quarter.
The fourth quarter began with St. Annes trailing 34-39. And it was to be the Andrew O’Sullivan and Shaun Keane show, as the two St. Annes stars cut, drove and passed inside to amass ten points between them. Gneeveguilla hit back with baskets from McAuliffe, Lehane and Don Murphy with a minute and a half to go St Annes were up a point.
Thomas Murphy dropped an inside play to put St Annes up three and Gneeveguilla will rue missed free shots and chances as Con O’Mahony with less than 30 seconds left on the game clock and nothing on the shot clock sunk three from at least three meters outside the three point line to carry St Annes to a hard fought win.
U-12 GIRLS PLATE Killarney Cougars 22 Gneeveguilla 44
GNEEVEGUILLA hosted Cougars in Rathmore on Monday last and a strong second half by the Cougars saw them finish comfortable winners despite a great effort by the home side. Cougars led by 5 points at the end of the opening quarter with Yen Lennistor and Aimee Coffey impressing with good baskets.
Gneeveguilla made a good start to the second quarter with baskets by Katelyn O’Leary and Lilly Sheerin but Cougars responded well to finish quarter with Olivia Gaffey coming storming into the game with 10points. The teams went basket for basket in the third with Gneeveguilla battling well to reduce the arrears thanks to good baskets by Sarah O’Neill adding 6 points but baskets for Cougars by Louise Corcoran, Mia Griffin and Eilish Mullane all helped Cougars ahead a s they went on to finish the game strongly to advance to the next round.
U-11 ACADEMY BOYS Killarney Cougars 18 Vixens 8
COUGARS made a good start to this game with baskets by Ian Coffey and Mark Shanahan and Ted O’Gorman as Cougars led 7-2. The Vixens had a good second quarter with baskets by Tomas Ahern and Evan Curry with Cougars just ahead by 2 points at half-time. Cougars had the better of the second half with David Butler and AC Pardillion adding baskets to see Cougars edge ahead to take the points in an entertaining game for the large crowd.
U-12 BOYS DIVISION 2 St Bridget’s 44 Cahersiveen 43
THE first two quarters of this contest were even enough with pressure little between the sides. But in the third St Bridget’s upped the tempo and held a comfortable lead at 36-27. Cahersiveen fought back in the last quarter adding sixteen points and actually led by a point but St Bridget’s Cathal Sheehan landed the winning basket in the final seconds to ensure his side escaped to victory by the minimum 44-43.
It was a game that in truth could have gone either way with Cathal Sheehan top scoring with 21 for St Bridget’s and Brian Quinlan drained 23 for Cahersiveen. Both got good support from Ben Conway for the home side and Conor Shea for the away team.
U-16 BOYS DIVISION 2 St Annes 47 Glenbeigh Falcons 42
ST. Anne’s met Glenbeigh last Friday and for the second time this season in the Division 2 Boys league, after suffering the heartbreak of losing the first time on the buzzer by a single point. Things started off very badly for the home side as they fell behind at the end of the first quarter by 9-3. The second quarter, proved no better, with the half time seeing the Falcons ahead by 17-8. Cian Knight being the stand out performer for the visitors with 10 of his teams first half points. Darragh Brosnan scored 6 of the Farranfore Boys half time tally of 8.
The half time break saw the St. Anne’s Boys re-organise themselves, and with outstanding defence from James O’Leary in keeping Glenbeigh’s top scorer, Cian Knight, to a single basket in each of the remaining two quarters, the home side slowly cut into the visitor’s advantage. St Anne’s reduced the deficit by 6 points by winning the third quarter on a score of 14 to 8, leaving just three points between the teams going into the final quarter.
This final quarter was a veritable shoot-out, and in what was a low scoring game, up until then things went in favour of the Farranfore boys who won the quarter 25 to 17, leaving the final score 47 to 42.