The second-year basketballers from Portlaoise CBS have claimed a historic All-Ireland silver medal – described as their “greatest achievement to date”.
St Mary’s booked their place in the All-Ireland final after a comprehensive win over Dublin school, St Vincent’s Castleknock in the semi-finals.
St Mary’s were out in front early, leading by 15 points after the first quarter and extending that to a 20-point advantage by half time.
The Dublin side pushed hard in the third quarter, but Portlaoise were always in control, winning the semi-final on a scoreline of 53-34.
That sent the Laois school into the decider, where they faced off against Castleisland.
The game went right down to the wire, but it was the Kerry school who prevailed, winning by six points.
It was a close affair throughout, with St Mary’s three points ahead after the first quarter.
Castleisland finished the half with a narrow lead, however, but the third quarter saw the teams battle to a tie.
It went 37-37, then 39-39, as there was no separating the sides.
But Castleisland managed to pull away in the end, doing just enough to take the gold medals back to the Kingdom.
“We were very unfortunate not to come out with the gold,” head coach, Peter Duignan said.
“It’s very difficult to put in back-to-back performances on in the one day.
“We were outstanding in our semi-final, and just struggled to get it over the line at the end of the day.”
Duignan said he, the other coaches, and the entire school are extremely proud of the players and their efforts.
“It’s our greatest achievement to date and no doubt this wont be the last we see of this team,” he said.
ST MARY’S CBS PORTLAOISE: Ben Quigley (c), Justice Iheme, Prince Iheme, Tawanda Mahona, Ciarán Dunne, Gio Osadolor, Sami Ahmed, Jim Hanamy, David Timmons, Marat Tuhtarvos, Senan O’Connell, Owen Bowe Dent.
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