St Pauls Under 19 Basketballers progress to All Ireland semi-finals!!
St. Paul’s arrived to Dundalk knowing it was going to be a very tough day. Their first game was against St. Clement’s College of Limerick. This is the team who knocked St. Paul’s out of the cup competition before Christmas.
In the first quarter Adam Kavanagh got the opening score followed by some well taken free throws. Dan McCormack got his first score follow by two free throws from Gary Morrissey. This gave St. Paul’s a two point lead at the end of the first quarter, finishing 9-7. A low scoring game was a result of both teams having incredibly tight defence. St, Clements fought back in the second quarter but St, Paul’s held them with more scores from Adam Ryan and Adam Kavanagh and it was a 21-21 draw at half time. St. Clement’s gave another massive push in the third quarter and took the lead, very important 3 pointers from Dara Lovern and Adam Kavanagh reduced the gap ending the quarter 33-35. This quarter also saw Adam Ryan come off with a knee injury. The final quarter, everyone stepped up to the plate. A massive score was a 3 pointer from Scott Higgins which put Paul’s in the lead again. Two more 3 pointers from Adam Kavanagh and Gary Morrissey secured the lead for Paul’s and in the final seconds, St, Clements were on team fouls and the game ended on a series of free throws scored by Adam Kavanagh. This was a massive victory for St. Paul’s
Final score: 55-49
The second game was against Blackrock, Dublin. St. Paul’s had already narrowly beaten this team earlier in the year and were well aware of what was ahead. St. Pauls took off in the first quarter with scores from Adam Kavanagh, Scott Higgins and Gary Morrissey. The second quarter saw Dan McCormack get into foul trouble but his replacement, Mark Kelly, stepped up to the plate with excellent defence a rebounds. Both teams scored 10 points which left the teams 30-21 in favour of St. Paul’s at half time. St. Paul’s dominated the third quarter with big scores from McCormack and Kavanagh. In the final quarter St. Paul’s showed how strong their panel is with scores from Dean McGovern, Mark Kelly and Dylan Kavanagh.
Final score: 66-40
Our final game was against the hosts, Marist, Dundalk. While the result of this game didn’t matter, St. Paul’s showed massive team spirit and sportsmanship. It was a great game of basketball with the opening score coming from the captain, Fionn Kavanagh. Everyone on the panel scored throughout the rest of the game.
Marist won this game by a point.
Final score: 43-42
St. Paul’s now proceed to the All-Ireland semi-final stage in the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght. They will play Colaiste Íde agus Íosef, Abbeyfeale at 12pm on Wednesday the 7th of February.