Ballincollig basketballers gave a shooting exhibition never seen before to win first National Cup
Ballincollig's Ciaran O'Sullivan nails a three-pointer against Tralee. Picture: INPHO/Tom Maher
Ballincollig treated us to the greatest exhibition of three-point shooting in National Basketball Arena history in the opening quarter of this Men’s National Cup final on Saturday night.
And it continued all night. Tralee were all at sea, and I’m not sure any team could have handled this assault from three-point land by Ciaran O’Sullivan’s side. They ended up losing 104-77.
American Latrell Jossell was incredible – hitting six three pointers from seven attempts. Keelan Cairns hit two, while Joshua Steel also added two as Ballincollig went 10 from 15, a massive 67 % from behind the three-point arc.
Tralee had no answer to this shooting and did very well to hang on in there with Jordan Perkins scoring seven for the Kerry side, followed by six from Irshaad Hunte to trail by 14, 34-20 at the end of the first quarter.
If Tralee were to stay in this contest, they needed to stop the Ballincollig shooters immediately.
They couldn’t, as Ballincollig maintained the hot hand from three-point line in the early stages of the second, with Jossell adding another, his seventh, and Steel hitting two more to take his tally to three, as the Cork side led 44-22 with under eight to play.
They were hanging in there for dear life and with just over five to play in the half, they trailed by 17, 44-27 but were still in the hunt.
But they needed to make some stops on defence. Again, they could not, as coach Ciaran O’Sullivan hit a three of his own to see the Village now lead 47-29 with over four minutes left to play in the second.
Latavious Mitchell then hit two free throws and Ballincollig led by 20, 49-29 and this game was becoming in danger of looking like a blow-out.
Tralee kept chipping away with two-point scores, but Keelan Cairns hit his third three of the half soon after and Ballincollig were 55-34 ahead with under two to play.
Ballincollig coach Ciaran O’Sullivan then hit his second three of the quarter to push the lead back out to 19, 60-41 at the half. Jossell led all scorers with 22 points, Steel had 14 and Cairns was on nine.
Ballincollig ended the half shooting 64 % from three-point land, making 16 of their 25 attempts. Never been seen or done before in a final.
They were in a great place and only 20 minutes away from their first senior national cup title.
The only question now was if they'd maintain this level, or would Tralee be able to stop their scoring?
In short – they could not. While they battled hard and did slow down the scoring rate from Ballincollig, the Cork side were happy to go score for score with Tralee.
With under three to play in the third, the lead had in fact increased to 22, 75-53 thanks to some superb, controlled and measured team basketball from the Cork lads, who were all playing superbly.
Tralee still had no answers.
And Ballincollig still had the hot hand.
Cairns, who had been sitting for most of the third after he picked up his third foul came back in with just over a minute to play and he hit his fourth three of the game. That was quickly followed by Joshua Steel hitting his fourth three as well and Ballincollig were up by 25, 83-58 entering the final 10 minutes.
Surely, now, this game was over as a contest.
In truth, it was.
Ballincollig are too good a team, they are too well coached by Ciaran O’Sullivan and Matt Hall to do otherwise.
They still outscored Tralee in the fourth quarter, got to empty their bench and went on to claim their first national cup title in style, much to the delight of their huge support, who acclaimed the players in the manner they deserved after this epic win and performance.
Fittingly, the game’s MVP Latrell Jossell, who ended the game with 31 points, brought up Ballincollig’s 100th point with another score and in the end they won by 27.
What a performance. What a win.
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