Ballincollig taken to overtime by Limerick before booking their place in the National Cup final

Ballincollig 70 

Limerick Celtics 67 (after overtime) 

Ballincollig were brought to overtime before booking their place in the final of the Pat Duffy Men’s National Cup following a gritty semi-final win over Limerick Celtics at the Neptune stadium on Friday night.

In a game that was the equivalent of a dogfight a 31-point contribution from Latavious Mitchell proved crucial for the Leesiders.

The tension was clear to see in the opening exchanges with both sides playing stringent man to man defence.

Mitchell the hard-working Ballincollig post player was having a battle with the Celtics Sean Hauser but he did manage to drain the opening basket with a bonus.

There is little doubt the game was being played at a ferocious pace with Eoin Donaghy pushing the ball at pace for the shannonsiders.

The scoring averages were low midway through the quarter but when Josh Steel nailed a three pointer it gave the home side a 11-5 lead with Limerick Celtics immediately calling a time out.

Amazingly with so much firepower Celtics were struggling to score although a brace of Hauser baskets edged them ahead 13-11 in the eight minute.

In the closing minutes both sides continued to struggle but a Mitchell slammer and bonus was good enough to edge Ballincollig into a 16-15 lead entering the second quarter.

Celtics Finn Hughes had a quiet opening quarter by his standard but when he nailed a huge shot outside the paint in the 12th minute it tied the game at 20 points each.

Midway through the quarter Ballincollig regained a four- point lead 26-22 but getting baskets was getting tougher with both sides putting their bodies on the line.

The one noticeable aspect in this period was the work done by Ballincollig’s Antonio Rodriguez whose energy certainly kept his team ticking over with Ballincollig commanding a seven- point lead 32-25 with 58 seconds remaining to the interval.

The Cork side did manage to finish with a basket but after a pretty ordinary half Ballincollig commanded an eight- point lead.

Looking at the half time stats Ballincollig made 13 of their 26 attempts inside the paint (50%) but 2/18 outside the arc made it an average of 11%.

The shannonsiders made only seven out of their 23 attempts inside the arc but just like their rivals they only made 2/14 outside the paint for a paltry 14%.

Ariyon Williams only took 12 seconds to nail the opening basket but he suffered a head would driving to the hoop and had to be replaced.

On the next possession Adrian O’Sullivan shot a monstrous three pointer and suddenly Ballincollig had taken a 10- point lead.

Midway through the quarter Celtics looked to be getting back in the game when reducing the lead to seven points before Latrell Jossell nailed a stunning three pointer.

In the closing minutes both sides continued to struggle on the scoring front although consecutive three pointers from the hot hand of Ruari Quinn reduced the deficit to four points in 28th minute.

The comeback wasn’t finished there as Celtics ambushed Ballincollig in the closing minutes and a late Philip Kearney basket gave them 52-50 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Coming down the stretch Williams took over the show and with 6.22 remaining Celtics raced into a six- point lead.

In your face defence got Ballincollig back in the game and a late Mitchell floater brought the game to overtime with sides locked at 66 points each.

In overtime both sides had opportunities to seal the deal but two late Jossell free throws eventually got Ballincollig over the line and into the final in two weeks time in Dublin.

Scorers for Ballincollig: L Mitchell 31, J Steel 11, J Latrell 10, A O’Sullivan 9.

Limerick Celtics: A Williams 20, S Hauser 13, R Cronin 13.

Ballincollig: A O’Sullivan, J Steel, L Jossell, D O’Herlihy, A Rodriguez, C O’Sullivan, C O’Sullivan, R O’Sullivan, C Blount, L O’Sullivan, D Corkery, L Mitchell.

Limerick Celtics: E Donaghy, A J Williams, M Frawley, F Hughes, R Cronin, A Wurie, P Kearney, A Wurie, P Kearney, C Gleeson, S Antonio Hauser, M Barry, J Hehir.

Referees: Emma Perry (Dublin), Jamie Dooley (Portlaoise), Emer Buckley (Kerry).