McDaniel lights up late as Mercy College Sligo lift All-Ireland Under 19B Girls Schools Cup

For the second successive season, Mercy College Sligo broke the hearts of Naas Community College in All-Ireland Girls Under 19 Schools Cup Final competition, emerging 35-27 winners to lift the ‘B’ title in the National Basketball Arena on Wednesday afternoon.

While Naas did manage to shackle Anna McDaniel for the opening three quarters of this contest, Sligo’s star player cut loose in the fourth, racking up 13 points in that period alone to take her overall tally to 23 and scoop the game MVP award.

Both sides left a lot of points behind on the day, but Mercy, having found themselves a point adrift of  their Kildare opponents early in the fourth, hit back with six unanswered points down the stretch, almost all of those coming from McDaniel.

While Eva Langan drew first blood for Naas a minute into proceedings, Mercy College responded with a nine-point run, McDaniel and Aoibheann Schmidtmeier accounting for seven in that surge.

Mar Wall did pull two back for the Kildare side before the close of the first quarter, but they were still heading into the second facing a five-point deficit.

And that gap was enlarged to nine when McDaniel and Nessa Keane got in for two swift scores, before Maisie Ryan got NCC going again with a hard-fought deuce.

Sarah Beirne and Ryan did serve up a further two buckets either side of a Sarah McDaniel deuce for Mercy as the Sligo side reached the half-time break still five points to the good (15-10).

A six-point run in the third, that included a sublime effort from beyond the arc by Langan and a three-point play by Elle Minogue O’Reilly, helped Naas restore parity at 17 points apiece, but a deuce each from McDaniel and Schmidtmeier, saw Mercy head into the fourth with a narrow two-point cushion.

That advantage was wiped out within two minutes of the restart as O’Reilly took one from the line and Ryan struck from the paint to nudge Naas a point in front.

But Mercy delivered the next six points as McDaniel began to really make her presence felt and the Sligo defence began to make more stops.

With time running out, Naas were forcing their attempts and Sligo duly mopped up the loose balls, setting McDaniel free on the fast breaks to inflict irreparable damage over the closing two minutes.

“Naas really put it up to us this year” admitted Mercy College head coach Louise Harte. “They did a great defensive job on Anna and we just couldn’t break away.

“But as we got into transition in the fourth quarter, we were able to free her up and that’s how we came through.

“We’re absolutely delighted to win this cup. I think this really shows the strength of basketball in Sligo. There’s an awful lot being done in the club and school community, and I just feel very lucky to be part of this era” she said.

Quarter Scores: Q1: 9-4, Q2: 15-10, Q3: 21-19, Q4: 35-27

Mercy College Sligo:

Emma Lineen, Aoibheann Schmidtmeier, Nessa Keane, Shauna McGowan, Anna McDaniel (co-capt), Sheana Barrett, Sarah McDaniel, Hazel O’Brien, Megan Walsh, Clara Reynolds (co-capt), Olivia De Rocha Brito.

Top Scorers: Anna McDaniel (23), Aoibheann Schmidtmeier (5), Sarah McDaniel (3)

Head Coach: Louise Harte

Naas Community College:

Katie Maguire, Ciara Neilan, Kitty Ryan (capt), Mar Wall, Sarah Beirne, Ellen Gregg, Elle Minogue O’Reilly, Eva Langan, Maisie Ryan, Gemma Greene, Lily McGrane, Katie Neilan, Sophie Lawlor.

Top Scorers: Eva Langan (9), Maisie Ryan (8), Elle Minogue O’Reilly (4)

Head Coach: Chris McNairney 

MVP: Anna McDaniel (Mercy College Sligo)