BNAF win O40 Men's Masters National Cup title following 86-79 win against BC Leixlip Zalgiris

Brothers Near and Far are O40 Men’s Masters National Cup champions following an 86-79 win over BC Leixlip Zalgiris at the National Basketball Arena on Thursday night. Centre Conor Gallagher took home the MVP, securing a double-double including a team high 18-points.

BC Leixlip Zalgiris will rue a poor third quarter shooting, which only saw Remigijus Dimiciukas and Inart Vitols trouble the scoreboard. However - their high intensity, loud supporters and outstanding performances from Dimiciukas and Marius Kasperavicius, who led the boxscore with 30-points including seven three pointers, contributed to an excellent final.

The opening quarter saw both teams start in attack mode. An early three-pointer by Dimiciukas, followed by a drive to the basket had BC Leixlip Zalgiris into an early lead, until eventual MVP Gallagher scored his first bucket and Isaac Westbrooks – playing in his second National Cup final of the year, following his success in the Pat Duffy National Cup final with Killester in January – made two jumpers to put BNAF back in front 8-7 after four minutes. That duo would combine for 15 of BNAF’s 23 first quarter points.

 Game MVP Conor Gallagher receives his golden ball from Basketball Ireland's Masters Lead Mike Murray. 

Starting the second trailing by two, Kasperavicius brought the crowd to their feet with his second shot from beyond the arc, while Sulius Kulvelis made his presence felt inside, notching his first two points of the contest shortly after and Zalgiris were back in front.

A 15-4 run in favour of BNAF followed over the next five minutes heading towards the half, allowing them to take a stranglehold on proceedings. Gonzalo Silva Vera started it off, with Gallagher, Westbrooks, Michael Boneparte and Bernard Walsh all contributing to leave BNAF 40-30 in front with 3:35 to go. A further flurry saw that advantage jump to 13 points, before Kasperavicius finished the quarter as he started it. – draining it from downtown – to give BC Leixlip Zalgiris a lifeline heading to the locker room 52-42 in arrears.

The BC Leixlip Zalgiris side which finished as runners-up in the O40 Men's Masters National Cup final at the National Basketball Arena. 

The standout moment of the third quarter happened as the buzzer sounded. Gonzalo Silva Vera drove into the right edge of the arc, before kicking it back outside to Gallagher. The big man then proceeded to hand it off to Walsh and set a screen as Walsh sent a Kareem-esque hook shot into the basket going out of bounds at the sideline. It was a tough moment for the Zalgiris faithful, who now trailed 71-50 heading into the final ten-minute period.

Bernard Walsh with the most outrageously casual buzzer beater that you'll ever see at any level 😳#BIMasters | #IrishBasketball pic.twitter.com/kiBWf3SeEf

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) May 8, 2025

Kasperavicius hadn’t given up hope though, starting the quarter with his fifth and sixth three-point shot to take his total to 20-points.  A further four-point play by Dimiciukas and suddenly BC Leixlip Zalgiris believed the comeback was on the cards. Belief grew to conviction when another 9-2 run had BNAF coach Martin ‘Kojack’ Conroy calling timeout with 3:25 left in the contest and his side only up ten, 79-69.  Both sides knew the next score could be crucial and it was BNAF through Boneparte and Silva Vera who would pick up the next two. Andrius Lekavicius responded with Zalgiris’ 10^th and final shot from beyond the arc, but they were unable to put together another meaningful run and it was BNAF who added to last season’s O50’s title with the O40 Men’s Masters National Cup at the final buzzer.

You can access and download the full gallery of images from the game here. 

Quarter Scores:

Q1: 21-23  Q2: 21-29  Q3: 8-19  Q4: 29-15

Game Scores:

Q1:21-23 Q2: 42-52 Q3:50-71 Q4: 79-86

BC Leixlip Zalgiris: Dzeraldas Pranaitis, Kestutis Damulevicius (4), Jurgis Butkevicius, Remigijus Dimiciukas (17), Saulius Kulvelis (4), Mazvydas Cepliauskas (4), Andrius Lekavicius (7), Marius Kasperavicius (30), Inart Vitols (9), Eivitas Kairys (4), Romualdas Rudokas, Rimantas Smitas. 

Brothers Near and Far (BNAF): Tommy Costello (3), Ian Durham, John Ennis, Vytautas Bronislovaitas (4), Gonzalo Silva Vera (9), Pete Madsen (2), Isaac Westbrooks (16), Tony Mc Donagh (3), Audrius Pauliukenas (3), Bernard Walsh (13), Michael Boneparte (15), Conor Gallagher (18).