Two of the best sides in schools' basketball provided a fitting climax to the Bank of Ireland-sponsored Cup finals yesterday as St Fintan's of Sutton successfully defended their Boys' A title with a 91-69 win over Colaiste Eanna, Rathfarnham.
The margin might have been a little more comfortable than they expected, yet nobody at the National Arena could deny that the Sutton students deserved the title. With captain Simon Behan in outstanding form all afternoon, and Michael Westbrooks never far away from a basket, they proved, on the day, far too powerful for their Dublin rivals.
This St Fintan's success is something of a family matter, with Westbrooks, who ended up with the top-scoring 32 points, joined on the team by his brother Isaac, and both of whom are clearly inspired by their father and head coach Jerome. Along with Behan (who ended up with 31 points), there were also significant contributions from Emmet McGonigle and Mark Grennall - two other veterans of last year's victory.
Neither side was forgetting that when they met in the Dublin Schools' final last weekend, it required extra time before Colaiste Eanna sneaked the win by just two points. And for most of the first half yesterday, it was a similarly close battle. The lead exchanged hands five times in that period, with Colaiste Eanna taking the early advantage through Ciaran McEvilly and Mark Coleman.
In a flourish before the interval, however, the combination of Michael Westbrooks and Behan became increasingly effective. Suddenly Colaiste Eanna were running into trouble, and trailing 41-34 at the halfway point.
They never reduced the gap to fewer than seven points after that, and despite the persistence of Patrick Barry, Eoin O'Donnell and Mark Kenny, the chase was in vain. Some slack free-throwing didn't help matters, but there was no stopping St Fintan's in the final few minutes. The Westbrooks brothers took over the court with a series of unanswered points, and all Colaiste Eanna could do was watch.
It was a somewhat similar affair in the Boys' C final earlier in the afternoon. Colaiste Mhuire, Crosshaven, were always that bit out of reach for Carrick-on-Shannon CS and ended up convincing winners, 60-50.
Graeme Foley, who claimed a top-scoring 25 points, helped ensure that the Cork students were never headed despite some obvious determination by the opposition. They led 32-17 at halfway, and while Mark McEvoy, Aidan Carr and Aiden O'Donnell kept firing for Carrick to reduce the gap, Colaiste Mhuire's victory was never really in doubt.
The Girls' C final was more or less decided by an outstanding display from the twin Toibin sisters, Roisin and Shelly. They scored 21 points between them as Colaiste Dun Iascaigh Cahir defeated Mount Temple 43-36.
Chasing from the start, the Dublin school managed to claw into a brief two-point lead, but they then went into the halfway break trailing 25-23. Vivienne Shaw and Suzanne Ahern were proving particularly useful in the scoring, but unfortunately for them, Cahir had a lot more in reserve and with a late rush of baskets from Michelle O'Donnell and Mairead Morrissey, they ran out seven-point winners.
