Muredach's are champions of Ireland
MVP winner Brian Morrison celebrates with his teammates after St Muredach's College won the All-Ireland senior 'B' boys basketball final in Dublin. Picture: INPHO/Ben Brady
Bonfires will blaze brightly across Ballina this evening as the town welcomes home its newest All-Ireland champions.
St Muredach’s College have captured the Basketball Ireland senior boys ‘B’ title with an emphatic 25 points victory over Presentation De La Salle Bagenalstown at the National Basketball Arena.
The Mayo side led from pillar to post, displaying remarkable consistency throughout but doing their main damage in the opening quarter when opening up a thirteen points advantage.
The full-time score was 63-38 – and in a sign of the Ballina school’s dominance, the opposition’s final tally was what St Muredach’s had managed to score by half-time.
Each of the starting five of Brian Morrison, Nathan Roddy, team captain Mark Cunningham, James O’Boyle and Brian Donghue had scored baskets in the opening seven minutes, as Barry Murphy’s side settled much the better, with Morrison, who would finish with the MVP award, dropping in the game’s opening three pointer.
St Muredach’s extended their lead by five points after a second quarter less eventful than the first, but credit to the chasers from Carlow who dug in after half-time and had actually pared their deficit back to twelve points before a strong finish, which included converted free throws by Morrison, saw Muredach’s enter the final quarter with a 48-33 advantage.
And they started that quarter as they meant to continue, with Brian Donoghue, from a free throw, James O’Boyle and Brian Morrison scoring the opening three baskets from which there was simply never going to be any way back for the Bagenalstown boys.
See next Tuesday’s Western People for full coverage.
