Ballymakenny College, Drogheda 32 

Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, Youghal 37 

IN the final basketball league final game today in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght we saw a hotly anticipated contest between Ballymakenny college and Pobailscoil na Trionade, Youghal in the under 19C boy’s final. 

The game started off very defensively with both teams setting up in zones and limiting scoring opportunities. Pobailscoil na Trionade started the brightest with points from AJ Brophy and Cillian O’Connell. 

Erik Dvarionas hit a big three pointer for Ballymakenny to end their first half struggles from the field and cut Youghal’s lead to three points 5-8.

The second continued similar to the first with a lot of frantic play from both teams causing a lot of turnovers and missed opportunities. 

Captain AJ Brophy continued to impress for Youghal adding another three pointer to his tally, while O’Connell added four free throws. Ballymakenny continued to struggle from the field adding two field goals in this quarter to add to their two from the first. 

However, free throws from Cian Talbot Gaynor ensured they stayed within striking distance going into the break trailing 17-12.

Ballymakenny came out swinging in the third with a number of big plays. Nathan Parris stated the scoring with a nice lay-up to start the third. 

Continued scoring from Brophy and O’Connell helped keep Youghal in the lead but it was two big three-pointers from Dylan Jones and Kingsley Akinbode that helped Ballymakenny cut the lead to three points 25-22.

The fourth started close with Nathan Parris hitting another three pointer for Ballymackenny but even Parris adding another three was not enough for Ballymakenny to get back into this game with captain AJ Brophy continuing to show his class adding another five points including a big three pointer to finish the game and claim the MVP and more importantly the cup for Pobailscoil na Trionade, Youghal. 

It finished 32-37.

Ballmakenny College Kingsley Akinbode 4, Michael Soyemi, Erik Dvarionas 3, Nathan Parris 10, Adam Flynn, Dylan, Jones 5, Dylan Lynch 4, David O’Donoghue, Lizwe Tafuma, Latifu Olarenwaju, Tony Bonki Lionky 2, Cian Talbot Gaynor 4, Sam Murtagh.

Pobalscoil na Trionoide AJ Brophy 15, Michael Breathnach, Tomasz Mrowca, Tony McCarthy, Ben O’Brien, Chris Brophy, Cillian O,Connell 16, Wisdom Erhimwionsobo 6, Rory Dempsey, Destiny Omorodine.

MVP: AJ Brophy, Pobalscoil na Trionoide.