Cork Basketball: Great National cup weekend with success for Rebel Wheelers, Ballincollig, Fr Mathew's and Brunell
Rebel Wheelers vs South East Swifts WCB: Rebel Wheeler's Conor Coughlan with his parents after the game
Another basketball extravaganza of National Cup action in Dublin last weekend where four of Cork teams of the six competing in finals tasted glory.
It all began on Friday when the Rebel Wheelers put in another solid shift in the capital to win their seventh IWA consecutive championship.
What a group of players this Rebel Wheelers are as their will to win is incredible with Conor Coughlan picking up the MVP award as his 21- point tally proved crucial against a very talented Kilkenny based South East Swifts.
Niamh Dwyer at the tender age of 44 rolled back the years in the NICC Women’s final to help Fr Mathew’s defeat a highly rated Liffey Celtics side.
Trailing by 15 points in the third quarter all looked lost for Mathew’s but once Dwyer went to work her team rowed in behind her and finishing as MVP with 21 points showed there is no replacement for class.
Neptune brought a huge support for their Men’s U20 final against Galway outfit Titans but they suffered a heartbreaking defeat after putting in a wonderful performance.
Two minutes into the fourth quarter Neptune surged into a nine- point lead and their bench stormed on to the court at a time in joyous celebration thinking they had the game in the game in the bag.
At the end of the day they will learn its never over until the fat lady sings as Neptune’s shooting options coming down the stretch left them down and ultimately Titans nipped it at the death to run out winners.
Sad to see the Neptune coach Adam Drummond in tears at the end of the game but there is no shame in this loss as his team played above the call of duty and basically basic errors caught them when the game hung in the balance.
It was another disappointment for the Brunell U18 Women’s team when they went down 44-42 to Limerick Celtics.
In a low scoring encounter Brunell played outstanding defence but basically couldn’t put the ball in the basket.
In the end Kieran O’Leary although disappointed was realistic in praising his sides efforts but this was a final, they left behind them and one they will surely learn from as they are a young side will plenty of potential.
There is little doubt the performance of the weekend goes to Ballincollig whose display in their 104-77 win over Tralee Warriors will rank as one of the best at basketball headquarters.
The opening quarter shooting display from Latrell Jossell was off the charts shooting an incredible six three pointers in a 10- minute period.
Indeed, the overall Ballincollig display was terrific with Irish players Adrian O’Sullivan, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Keelan Cairns and Dylan Corkery all putting in huge shifts.
Congratulations to all concerned within the club and not forgetting their loyal fans who made it a carnival atmosphere on a memorable evening.
A 10am start on Sunday morning for the Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell fans as they were hoping to erase the loss of their U18 team with a win in the U20 decider against Dublin outfit Templeogue.
After a sluggish opening half Brunell got their act together in the second as their in your face defence broke the hearts of their brave opponents.
Ava Walshe led the Brunell scoring on 16 followed by Francesca Kyamagbro on 15 but it was young Abbie Lyons (13) who was named MVP for her outstanding display of defending.
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