All- Stars U14s in finals
ATTENTION turned to the underage EJ’s Sligo All- Stars U14 boys and girls teams who were competing in Derry and Limerick respectively recently in the All- Ireland finals.
The boys qualified for the All- Ireland finals after winning the League and Cup Double in Letterkenny the previous weekend.
The boys were in a group of three, playing St Bridget’s from Kerry first.
EJ’s Sligo All- Stars had a good start and they were winning by 23 points, however the Kerry side came back to within six points after the 3rd quarter. A stern team talk once that quarter finished brought them back to life and they took the game by 17.
Top scorers for EJ’s Sligo AllStars were Ciaran O’Reily 23, Daniel Walsh 14 and Mateusz W cławowicz 5
The second game was against Liffey Celtics from Kildare. This being the AllStars’ biggest test of the weekend. The sides were well matched with the game going toe to toe with the All Stars winning by two points after the first half. The game continued in this fashion until tiredness set in, with the Liffey Celtics’ 6’ 06” Silas Sunday took its toll on the team with the Kildare side winning the game by seven points.
This was a heroic display from the All- Stars team but the Kildare big man proved too strong for the Sligo team.
Ciaran O’Reilly once again was the top scorer for the All- Stars with 17, while Bridel Bosakani was the second top scorer for the Northwest side.
This meant the All- Stars went into Sunday playing for fifth while Liffey Celtics progressed to the Top 4.
Sunday morning the All- Stars squared up to their western rivals the Galway Titans. On paper these teams are well matched however a number of the Titan’s players were not on form with the All- Stars taking the game by 20 points, winning 58 points to 38.
One again it was sharp- shooter Ciaran O’Reilly who was the top scorer for the All- Stars with 14 point, Matthew Reynolds netted ten, with Bridel Bosakani also scoring ten.
For 5th and 6th place, the All- Stars faced another western rival in Maree from Galway.
The weekend was taking its toll on all the players in what turned out to be a low scoring game with a number of shots missed. The game turned into a survival of the fittest. Maree were leading by eight points at half time but the Sligo lads came out fighting in the second half with the All- Stars winning by six points.
The final score was 27 points to 12. Ciaran O’Reilly was once again the top scorer for the AllStars with 14 points, Bridel Bosakani got seven, while Matthew Reynolds got four. The girls did not have as good a a weekend with them losing all three games in Limerick, due to an under strength team traveling.
Their first game was against Belfast Phoenix which they lost by two points on a scoreline of 33 points to 35.
Their second game was against the eventual All- Ireland winners Portlaoise Panthers, which they lost by 29 points.
Their final group game was against Gneeveguilla and losing by 15 on a scoreline of 25 points to 40.
This was a great experience by both teams and the first in a long- time that EJ’s Sligo All- Stars had both boys and girls in the an All- Ireland Final.
The club also held its AGM recently and this saw all board members remaining in place for the coming year. The big talking points were fund raising, development of the club and also basketball in the Sligo area.