St. Muredach’s College too strong for Presentation DLS in All-Ireland Under 19B Boys Schools Cup Final

An impressive first-quarter performance, in which they outscored Presentation De la Salle Bagenalstown by 13 points, laid the foundation for St. Muredach’s College’s 63-40 point victory in Tuesday’s All-Ireland Under 19B Boys Schools Cup Final in the National Basketball Arena.

Indeed, it was St. Muredach’s who made the early running with James O’Boyle and Brian Donoghue hitting two buckets in quick succession before game MVP Brian Morrison executed from outside the arc to help propel their side 11-4 up.

Matters grew at lot more ominous for Presentation when Nathan Roddy drained two throws from the line and Mark Cunningham served up buckets either side of a three by Morrison, as St Muredach’s led 26-13 at the close of the first quarter.

Jeremy Hla was keeping Presentation in it as he bagged seven in the opening quarter, but the Carlow side really needed to make more stops if they were to close the gap on their opponents.

Instead the turnover rate was favouring St. Muredach’s who enlarged the gap to 18 by the half-time break with Morrison and Roddy each taking their tally to 14 by that point.

Presentation did dig in late in the third quarter, putting together a nine-point run that featured a deuce and three from Hla that were supplemented by a bucket from Sean Hanlon.

But two converted free throws by Brian Morrison brought that surge to a close, while Cian Morrison also drained one from the line to keep St. Muredach’s well in the driving seat heading into the final quarter.

And the Ballina side were never going to allow their opponents a route back in as Roddy hit all three of his two-point attempts down the stretch and Brian O’Donoghue weighed in with a further four to help keep their side well clear.

“The first quarter gave us a big advantage and we held on to that by half-time” said St. Muredach’s College head coach, Barry Murphy.

“In the third quarter we fell asleep a little bit, but in the fourth we were very good again, so I’m very pleased with the performance.

“We haven’t won it for 17 years, so this means a lot, and with only two of those guys gone from next year, we’ve an extremely young side for Under 19 level” he added.

 

Quarter Scores: Q1: 26-13, Q2: 38-20, Q3: 48-33, Q4: 63-40

 

St. Muredach’s College:

Cian Morrison, Brian Morrison, Matthew Fox, Conor Bourke, Matthew Leonard, Mickey Caden, Patrick Carr, Nathan Roddy, Mark Cunningham (Capt.), James Gil, James O’Boyle, Brian Donoghue.

Head Coach:  Barry Murphy

Top Scorers: Nathan Roddy (20), Brian Morrison (19), Brian Donoghue (12)

 

Presentation De La Salle Bagenalstown:

Sean Hanlon, Evan Kelly, Adam Doyle, Rian Broderick, Darragh Fitzgerald, Ben Hogan, Conor Dunne Shane McDonald, Ruarc O’Neill, Ben Smyth, Jeremy Hla, Tadhg O’Neill.

Head Coach: Leon Power

Top Scorers: Jeremy Hla (16), Rian Broderick (11), Ben Smyth (4)

 

MVP: Brian Morrison (St Muredach’s College)

All games can be watched LIVE on basketballireland.tv and can be followed in-play using the Swish All Hoops app.