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OLAF MICHALCZUK ON THE MARK FOR ST. BRENDAN’S
Mens U20 National Cup
St. Brendan’s 77 Phoenix BC Belfast 43
St. Brendan’s negotiated their way past Phoenix BC to progress to the second round of the Men’s National Cup with a 77-43 win in Moyderwell on Sunday. St. Brendan’s dominated throughout and laid down a mark with a 15-7 opening quarter with scores from Eddie Sheehy, Olaf Michalczuk and a major effort from Gary Lynch with the Phoenix resistance coming from Jacob Byrne and Eoghan Sherry.
St. Brendan’s found their scores easier to come by in the second and with threes from Eoin Creedon and Michalczuk and scores inside from Sheehy, David Lucid and Phoenix Costello and despite scores from Omar Akhonzada, Danny Lavelle and Byrne the lead grew to 33-22 at half time.
St. Brendan’s maintained their control of the game in the third and with Eddie Sheehy conducting affairs from point guard and Creedon, Michalczuk and Donal O’Sullivan in range the hosts eased further ahead. Phoenix to their credit kept chipping away through Conn Rush and Lavelle with back to back threes and but the gap at three qaurter time was out to 50-34.
EVAN BOYLE HITS A CORNER THREE
The final quarter saw St. Brendan’s completely assert to force turnover and run in fast break lay ups through Eli Fitzgerald, Creedon, O’Sullivan and Aaron Nolan and when Michalczuk and Coren Hughes also netted from beyond the arc to cement their place in Round 2 of the Cup and a date with Éanna in the middle of November.
Scorers: Olaf Michalczuk 23, Eddie Sheehy 14, Eoin Creedon 13, Donal O’Sullivan 10
BOYS U16S
Boys U16 Div 1
Gneeveguilla 71 St. Brendan’s 68 (After Overtime)
St. Brendan’s suffered a tough loss on the road on Sunday when they were edged out by away to keen rivals Gneeveguilla by 71-68 after overtime in Rathmore on Sunday.
It was a quality encounter throughout with both teams having their periods of dominance and it was hosts that took the game to St. Brendan’s and despite majors from Sam Boyle and Ryan Sheehy, scores from Oisin Hurley and Ezekiel Mobolaji gave the hosts 26-19 lead at the end of the first.
Brendan’s played their way back into the game in the second and with Paddy Lucid and Sheehy in range they bridged the gap back but with Tadgh O’Leary and Hurley again on the mark the hosts led by the minimum 38-37 at half time.
Gneeveguilla drove on in the third and looked like they could build a game winning win with O’Leary, Hurley and Mobolaji dominant in the paint. But Brendan’s kept themselves in the contest with Sheehy driving to the board with ease and Daniel Spring backing up with a three they trailed by 55-49.
In a cracking final quarter Brendan’s chased down the home side’s lead with 6 points from Paddy Lucid and a couple of belting threes from Spring and Fionan Brosnan they led going into the final minute but two baskets from Mobolaji ensured the game would need additional time as they finished all square at 65-65 at the final buzzer.
In overtime the home side dominated the exchanges in the three minutes of play with Mobolaji almost unguardable with ball in hand and a hat trick from him settled the game despite a Sam Boyle three and a brave effort from Brendan’s they had to settle for second best.
The return game in Tralee will be well worth seeing as the teams are very well met and have developed a great rivalry.
GIRLS UNDER 16S
Girls U16 Div 2
St. Brendan’s 37 Kenmare Kestrels 34
St. Brendan’s bounced back from a tough loss away to Ballybunion Wildcats on Friday to secure a great 37-34 win after tight battle with Kenmare Kestrels on Sunday.
Deirdre Quigley was in range early for St. Brendan’s but the visitors pushed ahead with Alice Granville and Laoise Geary helping them to lead 10-6 at the end of the first.
Abi McNamara, Lily Collins and Brid O’Shea kept the scoreboard ticking over for the hosts but Maria O’Sullivan and Lucy Harrington ensured Kenmare kept their lead intact at 18-14 at the long break.
St. Brendan’s shored up their defence in the third with Róisín Cantwell and Abi McNamara denying Kenmare their shots and got to the board the other end to play their way into a 26-23 lead with scores from Katie Casey, Lily Collins, Aoife Hartnett and Kayla O’Connor.
In a tense final quarter Brendan’s defending heroically and despite Susan Torpey finding the basket for the visitors, the home side secured a thoroughly deserved win with Brid O’Shea and Deirdre Quigley landing the all-important scores to seal the win.
Scorers: Deirdre Quigley 12, Lily Collins 6, Brid O’Shea 5
Girls U16 Div 2
St. Brendan’s 59 Tralee Magic 22
Our U16 girls had their first home game against locals Tralee Magic. We started off well in the first quarter with great baskets from Chloe O Sullivan, Kara Kirby and Maire O Connor and led 20 -4pts. Brendan’s kept pressure on in the second quarter with baskets from Taylor Stack, Avril Doyle and Aoibheann McCarthy. In the third quarter Lisa O’Shea found her range adding points to push the home side further ahead. Magic tried their best to stay in touch but another strong quarter saw St. Brendan’s finish the better side on the night.
Top scorers
Chloe O’Sullivan 8, Lisa O’Shea 8, Taylor Stack 7, Maire O’Connor 6, Jocelyn 6, Aoibheann McCarthy 6, Avril Doyle 6
GIRLS UNDER 14S
Girls U14 Div 1
Gneeveguilla 45 St. Brendan’s 42 (After Overtime)
Our U14 girls tipped off their league campaign away to Gneeveguilla and in a tight first quarter both teams trade scores with Clodagh, Emily and Hannah on target for us coupled with great defensive work by Jennifer and Alice.
The second quarter saw Gneeveguilla build on their 3 point advantage in a period when our offence struggled to get going. Lucy stepped up to keep the score board moving with two big scores and when Mia finished on the break towards half time, the deficit was back down to 6 points.
While we struggled to get on the scoreboard, big defensive contributions from Sophia, Sophie and Michalina ensured that all was still to play for by half time.
The game ignited in the 3rd quarter as Clodagh and Emily lead the offensive charge as we outscored our opponents 10-4. Our defensive was equally impressive with great work from Hannah, Alice and Caoimhe.
By the end of the 3rd, it was honours even at 28 apiece. Our hosts started the 4th strongly with some great scores by their #10. Lucy chipped in again followed by scores from Alice, Clodagh and Mia to see us 1 down with 15 sec remaining. Gneeveguilla pushed to close the game out and were awarded two free throws with 1.9 seconds left.
After converting one from two, with no timeouts left and two points down, Mia somehow manufactured a 3 point shot attempt from her own half, was fouled during the shot and was awarded 3 free throws as the game clock expired.
Needing two from three to send the game to overtime, Mia duly turned up the excitement by missing the first but then making the next two to send the game into overtime.
A strong start by us in overtime was cancelled out by a big push by our hosts in the final two minutes as earlier fouls cost us dearly with players fouling out. With time winding down, the girls worked tirelessly but Gneeveguilla held on to win by 3 points, 45-42.
Top scorers on the night were Clodagh with 14, Mia with 7 and Lucy and Emily with 6 each. Well done to all the girls on a great performance and we look forward to going again this Sunday when we welcome Caherciveen.
Congratulations to Clodagh and Mia from our squad on their selection for the Basketball Ireland U14 Southwest Regional Academy. Well done girls! 👏👏
Girls U16 Div 3
Colmans Flames 37 St. Brendan’s 28
The season tipped off with an exciting game vs Colmans Flames on Friday 13th back in Milltown. Nerves were evident in the first quarter Brendans unlucky not to go in level at the break scores from Ava and Chloe and good defence from the girls kept the score to 8 – 4 in favour of Colmans Flames.
Brendan’s girls came out in the second quarter and upped the intensity with three baskets from Penny, one from Cora and one from Nicole and the hard work in defence from Fiadh, Penny, Maria and captain Caoimhe leaving the score at 15 – 14 to the home side at half time.
We lost the third quarter 14 to 6 as Colman’s pushed ahead. Scores from Cora and two baskets from Chloe kept us in the game. Caoimhe Fernane was very unlucky with 3 to 4 shots all rimming the basket, on another night it probably might have been a different story if they dropped in.
In the final quarter the girls gave everything with baskets from Nicole, Fiadh, Chloe and Penny to finish the last quarter 8 a piece.
Thanks to team manager Susan and coaches Lar, Noelle and Stephen for the time and effort they put in to get the girls ready. Brendan’s player of the match went to Chloe as she put in a great shift both on defence and offence and took some hard knocks and some great scores.
A promising performance tonight for the 1st game of the 2023/24 season – a team to watch In the future. All the girls had a great game and worked hard on defence. Thanks to Colmans Flames for an exciting, sporting game.
Scorers: Chloe 9, Penny 8, Nicole 4, Cora 4
Girls U16 Div 3
St. Brendan’s 38 St. Bridget’s 33
The opening quarter saw Maire Walsh and Ava Sharma turn over the ball and find the net. Fiadh McCarthy was as always a strong presence as she took control of rebounds and fast breaks finding Megan Noonan and Ava Sharma to score.
Caoimhe Fernane was also strong in driving to the board and rebounds getting the ball to Fiadh to score. In the second quarter Chloe O’Brien and Nicole Power were strong in defence to support fast turn overs and finding Penny Costello for another basket.
Cora Mehan with a superb 3 pointer settled the game and a further score from her earned her a deserved MVP. Aine Gibbon was fast on breaks and created opportunities for Chloe and Nicole under the board.
In the third and fourth quarters all players stepped up their game to secure the result. The match coaches on the day were Stephen and Noelle with Susan as manager on stats. This team is a team to watch for the future.
GIRLS UNDER 12S
Girls U12 Div 1
St. Mary’s 25 St. Brendan’s 12
Our girls played their first Co. League game away to St. Mary’s Castleisland on Saturday. Unfortunately it didn’t go the girls way despite their best efforts they couldn’t claw back an early lead built by the home side.
It was a learning experience for this group as they compete in Div 1 for the first time. Back to training next week and Home vs Cobras next Saturday.
Top Scorers
Ava O Sullivan 5, Nikola Vinarcik 3, Kate O Shea 2, Fia Ferris 2
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