St. Malachy’s College Belfast 35, Presentation College Bray 29
National Basketball Arena
St. Malachy’s retained the Subway All-Ireland Schools U14A Boys Cup Final with a 35-29 win over Presentation College Bray at the National Basketball Arena. The Belfast side have contested every final since the competition began in 2013 while the Wicklow side were in their first U14 decider.
Ryan Paul imposed himself on the first quarter as Pres Bray went into a 6-2 lead. Conor McDonnell helped St. Malachy’s to curb Bray’s inside threat and CJ Fulton scored 13 points in seven minutes to put them in front.
Pres had to work exceptionally hard on offence in the second quarter but closed the gap through Milo Dollings and Killian Barr. It took Conor Eastwood’s three-pointer on the dribble to put St. Malachy’s 17-12 ahead at the break.
Eastwood opened the third quarter with another three and with Fulton back on the floor, St. Malachy’s threatened to blow out the game. Pres hung in there with Zac Collins putting in a big shift on defence but couldn’t claw back the lead in time.
“We just did enough in the early stages of the game,” said St. Malachy’s Coach Philip Molloy. “CJ’s points in the first quarter gave us the cushion we needed. Guys are just finding their love for the sport. We’ve got some very good players and some that are new to the game.”
St. Malachy’s College, Belfast: CJ Fulton (20), Odhran O’Boyle (2), Daire Ferguson, Dennis Price (2), Niall Quinn, Vincent Enginco (1), Ryan Kingi, Conor Eastwood (6), Niall Morgan, Callum Rocks, Conor McDonnell (4), Paul Sheehy.
Coach: Philip Molloy
Assistant Coach: Adrian Fulton
Presentation College Bray: E Florides (2), T Hoolihan, R Walsh, C Eddy, R Paul (17), Zac Collins, C Drysdale, Killian Barr (4), P Jacon, Milo Dollings (4), J Purdy (2), C O’Donoghue
Coach: Marie O’Toole
Assistant Coach: Mark Lennon
HT: St. Malachy’s College Belfast 17, Presentation College Bray 12
Subway All-Ireland Schools U14A Boys Cup Semi-Finals
St. Malachy’s Belfast 37, St Joseph’s The Bish Galway 26
Presentation College Bray 28, Mercy Mounthawk Tralee 15