No joy for Tipperary school in All-Ireland schools boys basketball final

Coláiste na hInse, Bettystown (Meath) 44 Cistercian College, Roscrea (Tipperary) 31

Coláiste na hInse lifted the U16 C Boys trophy at the Pinergy All-Ireland Schools Basketball Cup Finals, after a 44-31 win over Cistercian College, Roscrea at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. Ebenezer Ehige claimed the most valuable player award with 19 points, while Louis O’Shea also impressed, picking up a 10-point haul.

Coláiste na hInse started brightly in a low scoring opening quarter, as Ebenezer Ehige’s jump shot helped them to a 6-0 lead. Cistercian College responded, with Robert Kennedy among their scorers, as they trailed 10-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Baskets from Louis O’Shea and Elliot Cassidy made it 14-7, before Paul MacCarthy converted a nice jump shot to close the gap. O’Shea was looking bright and a nice fadeaway jump shot by him made it a 10-point game, 19-9, with three minutes to go in the second quarter. With the buzzer about to go for half-time, Conor Phelan squeezed in another layup, as Coláiste na hInse held a commanding 27-9 advantage. 

The third quarter was slow to get going, with five scoreless minutes. They were ended by MacCarthy’s jump shot. Ebenezer Ehige responded immediately. The sides exchanged points but it was Coláiste na hInse who had a 16-point advantage going into the final quarter, leading 31-15.

Cistercian College started the fourth quarter with a jump shot from Joe Finn in the opening seconds. 

After two minutes an O’Shea layup had Coláiste na hInse 35-17 up. A four-point run by Cistercian College was ended by a big three from Ebenezer Ehige with four and half minutes to go, which made it 38-21.

Cistercian College tried to make inroads, and a Finn lay-up made it 44-27 with less than two minutes to go and four more points followed, but Coláiste na hInse won it 44-31.

Quarter Scores: 

Q1: 10-6 Q2: 17-3 Q3: 4-6  Q4: 13-16.

Top scorers:

Coláiste na hInse: Ebenezer Ehige (19), Louis O’Shea (10), Elliot Cassidy (5).

Cistercian College: Joe Finn (10), Paul MacCarthy and Robert Kennedy (both 6).

Coláiste na hInse: Ben Nulty, Mathias Saavedra, Sean Brereton Hurley, Sean McCloskey, Daniel O’Sullivan, Elliot Cassidy, Louis O’Shea, Ryan Grahame, Conor Phelan, Ebenezer Ehige, Daragh O’Callaghan, Sebastian Long. 

Cistercian College: Ryan Stone, Oscar Duggan, Antonio Burgarolas, Robert Kennedy, Paul MacCarthy, Timmy Hartnett, Alvaro Castillo, William MacEntire, Conor Mulrooney, Joe Finn, Pierce Murphy, Daithi Kehoe.

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