Clonmel CTI First Years dig deep to reach All-Ireland basketball semi-finals

Having recently won the South Eastern First Year Boys C Basketball final, the team from CTI Clonmel took part in the All-Ireland quarter-finals which were run as a round-robin competition on Tuesday, April 18. CTI hosted three teams from Mallow (Cork), Mountmellick (Laois) and Dublin in the Moyle Rovers GAA Centre in Monroe.

We are very grateful to the Moyle Rovers Club for allowing us to use their facility and to Pat O’Connor who is always ready and willing to help.

The first game of the day pitted CTI against Davis College, Mallow. A very strong first quarter allowed the Clonmel school build up a substantial lead that was never relinquished for the rest of the game. The final score was CTI 48, Davis College 20.

After a break of an hour, CTI then took on the team from Mountmellick Community School. This was a closer match at the start, but during the second quarter CTI started to pull away and eventually ran out winners on a score of CTI 42, Mountmellick 18.

The final game of the afternoon saw the two undefeated teams come head-to-head with CTI taking on Gonzaga College from Dublin, with the winners to advance to the All-Ireland semi-final. The teams were level on eight points each at the end of the first quarter. Gonzaga started to pull ahead and by the end of Quarter 3 held a lead of 19-13. This was the first time all day that CTI were trailing, and it would prove a great test of their character and determination. But they were certainly up for the challenge and turned a six-points deficit at the beginning of the quarter into a four-points winning margin.

There were great scenes of excitement and jubilation among the team and the large group of supporters that had gathered to cheer them on. The support that the boys got certainly helped to raise the spirits when they were trailing and helped them to get over the line.

INTO ALL-IRELAND SEMIS
The team has now qualified for the All- Ireland semi-final which will be held next Monday, April 24 in Dublin.

This is a massive achievement for this group of First Year boys from both Raheen College and Gaelcholáiste Chéitinn to reach an All-Ireland semi-final in their first year of taking part.

A huge congratulations to all involved, most especially the players and the coaching team of Colm Ó Conghaola and Luke Boland. Thanks also to Ms Marrinan and Ms Murphy who have helped the team and coaches at different stages during the year.