Ballymakenny College comeback to win All-Ireland Under 19B Boys Schools Cup Final

Ballymakenny College served up a performance of great tenacity and resilience to surmount St. Finian’s College, Mullingar 68-59 and lift the All-Ireland Under 19B Boys Schools Cup in the National Basketball Arena on Wednesday.

From 13 points down late in the second quarter, the Drogheda side worked their way back to overtake their opponents in closing three minutes and push on for a nine-point victory, game MVP Thibaut Njuguna playing a big part in that comeback with great defence and a 17-point total on the day.

St Finian’s certainly opened this game with intent, storming into a 21-9 lead by the close of the first quarter.

Dara Keaveney and Alfie Murray inflicted the early damage for the Mullingar side, both players each serving up two buckets from the perimeter.

Andrew Opala and Ryan Bell continued to bring the heat on offence, the two combining for 13 points in that opening period with the former draining a sublime three.

Ballymakenny dug in more at the outset of the second quarter, Darragh Byrne and Shane Kelly, both landing shots from beyond the arc to reduce the gap to eight points, only to see Jakup Opala respond with a side-line three and deuce for St. Finian’s.

Still, the Drogheda outfit kept themselves well in the reckoning as Njuguna, Karolis Pileckas and Sean Carr muscled their way in for buckets to haul their side back to within eight of their opponents by the break (35-27).

They carried that momentum into the third, Njuguna, Pileckas and Kelly all delivering in the paint, while Carr struck from outside the arc to reduce deficit to just a solitary point.

A St. Finian’s time-out help steadied the ship as they moved back into a five-point lead (48-43) by the close of the third quarter compliments of Andrew Opala, Murray and Bell.

But Ballymakenny continued to ask serious questions of St. Finian’s in the fourth, the Westmeath side managing to stay out in front thanks to some timely buckets, including a spectacular layup by Rian Keaveney.

Still, Ballymakenny kept on coming, and when both Pileckas and Ryan Kelly struck from the inside and Njuguna landed a three, the Drogheda side edged into the lead for the first time in the game with just over three minutes left on the clock.

And they refused to take their foot off the pedal, a big three from Darragh Byrne, together with a maximum return from the free-throw line for Njuguna, Pileckas and Shane Kelly rocketing Ballymakenny over the finish line.

Looking back on an enthralling final, Ballymakenny College head coach, Kevin O’Hanlon said “We knew Finian’s had a lot of threats and they were really hurting us in the first half, so we had to switch it up to a zone and thankfully that helped us. It slowed their guys down, and we picked up our offence to win the game.

“We’ve four sixth-years and they’ve given so much to basketball in the school, so I’m just so proud of them for all the hard work that they’ve put in.” he said 

Quarter Scores: Q1: 9-21, Q2: 27-35, Q3: 43-48, Q4: 68-59.

Ballymakenny College:

Darragh Byrne, Ross Irwin, Emilijus Kontrimas, Karolis Pileckas, Shane Kelly, Conor Browne, Sean Carr, Ryan Kelly (capt), Ryan Nugent, Thibaut Njuguna.

Top Scorers: Thibaut Njuguna (17), Karolis Pileckas (15), Shane Kelly (11), Sean Carr (11).

Head Coach: Kevin O’Hanlon

St. Finian’s College, Mullingar:

Jakub Opala, Rian Keaveney, Ben Akinnola, Alan Dzialo, Arthur Vlad, Oisin Durnin, Dara Keaveney (capt), Ryan Bell, Andrew Opala (co-capt), Alex Walsh, Omer Yousif, Simba Chidavaenzi, Oliver Brennan, Mohammad Hasaballah, Alfie Murray.

Top Scorers: Ryan Bell (15), Dara Keaveney (10), Andrew Opala (10), Rian Keaveney (9).

Head Coach: Shane Campbell

MVP: Thibaut Njuguna (Ballymakenny College)