Deadly Bullets win cup

THERE was standing room only in Virginia College as Drogheda/ Duleek outfit Bullets held off a spirited fightback from hosts East Cavan Eagles to win the North East Men’s Top-4 Cup Final.

Twenty-four hours earlier Bullets had overcome Dunshaughlin Rockets 67-54 in their semi-final, while Eagles had seen off Navan Cougars by the much wider margin of 97-56, but it was the Drogheda men who started the decider at a ferocious pace.

Their greater accuracy under the basket gave them the edge in the first quarter, at the end of which Bullets had a 24-10 lead.

Eagles started the second quarter with great gusto, with their star men Eoghan Donoghue and Laurence Caffrey to the fore as they reduced the deficit slightly to 28-15.

However, once more Bullets responded. Janis Assere used

EAST CAVAN EAGLES BULLETS 65 77

his 6ft 7in frame to great effect and when captain Ciaran McGroggan added a three they were cruising - 35-17 - with four minutes left in the second quarter. McGroggan’s accurate shooting continued and by half-time the scoreboard read 49-24.

Caffrey and Donoghue gave Eagles hope in the third quarter as they began to eat into the deficit, but Bullets kept the scores coming with sufficient regularity to take a still-comfortable 69-49 lead into the final period.

Eagles scored the first basket in the fourth quarter to give themselves a glimmer of hope and with six minutes remaining on the clock Caffrey hit a three-pointer for Eagles, followed by a quick two, and the gap was now down to just 11 points.

With three minutes to go it became an eight-point game as Sean Brady scored, and Darragh Gaffney’s basket left six between the sides with 1min 36sec still remaining.

That was as good as it got for Eagles, though, and the Drogheda team finished strongest to end up fairly comfortable winners on the day.