Neptune 89-57 winners over Portlaoise Panthers in U20 Men’s National Cup semi-final

Pharrell Osagie scored 27 points and Sean Noonan helped himself to 21 points, as Neptune powered themselves to the U20 Men’s National Cup final, following a 89-57 win over Portlaoise Panthers at Neptune Stadium. They will face Titans or Éanna in the final, who were playing their semi-final later on Sunday.

A seven point run started by Noonan’s three, a layup from Osagie and Dylan O’Rourke’s basket had Neptune 17-10 up five and a half minutes into the contest. Portlaoise Panthers came right back into it and Desmond Ogedegbe’s jump shot at the finish saw them trail 21-19 at the end of the first quarter. 

Osagie was making his presence felt in the paint both defensively and offensively, his back-to-back scores and Noonan’s layup nudged Neptune 29-22 up with less than four minutes gone in the second quarter.

It was a 16-point game following two corner three’s by Wesley Delaney either side of Akitoye Coker’s turnaround jump shot, which had Neptune 40-24 up with two and a half minutes remaining in the second quarter. A Osagie layup in the final minute and additional free throw brought his tally to 16 and Neptune were 47-26 in front, the Cork side would eventually hold a 50-28 half-time lead following a Dylan O’Rourke three in the closing seconds. 

Portlaoise Panthers needed to make early inroads in the third quarter, a three by Brayan DeSouza in the opening minute saw them trail 53-33. Neptune’s offence continued to deliver, a three from the top of the arc by Dylan O’Rourke put them 59-34 ahead three and a half minutes. A corner three by Noonan and a dunk by Osagie in the final minute helped them to a 72-46 lead, Jack Fennell had the final say in the quarter with a three for Panthers, to reduce the deficit somewhat.

Neptune didn’t let up, Kian O’Rourke’s three early in the fourth quarter illustrated their intent. Back-to-back three’s from Kian O’Rourke had Neptune 87-55 up with less than two minutes to go and they’d close out a 89-57 win.

Neptune’s Osagie was asked afterwards what was key to victory, he said: “It was our defence today, we managed to stop them, we had a plan for their best players and we executed well and that’s why we won” 

On his dominance in the paint he added: “I just knew the way they were playing in defence, they were pressing so I was back there, I was always open every time so I had my teammates look for me and whenever I was there I got the ball.”

Quarter Scores:

Q1: 21-19, Q2: 29-9, Q3: 22-21, Q4: 17-8

Game Scores:

Q1: 21-19, Q2: 50-28, Q3: 72-49, Q4: 89-57

Neptune:

Dylan O’Rourke (11), Kian O’Rourke (9), Oisin Tobin (4), Ben O’Connell (0), Akitoye Coker (4), Will Carmody (0), Noah Vaicekonis (0), Sean Noonan (21), Stephen Emukperuo (2), Wesley Delaney (11), Luke Walsh (0), Pharrell Osagie (27).

Portlaoise Panthers:

Senan O’Brien (DNP), Luke Kavanagh (3), Jayden Umeh (7), Jack Fennell (6), Echezona Onuroah (0), Brayan DeSouza (9), Daniel Booth (5), Love Omijade (9), Desmond Ogedegbe (14), Billy Muldowney (2), Riley Comerford (2), Isa Agayev (DNP).