Waterford's dominance of women's basketball continued yesterday when the students of Mercy Waterford claimed the Bank of Ireland Schools' Cup over a gallant but ultimately outplayed Presentation Killarney.
For coach Katy Delaney, the deafening noise inside the National Basketball Arena on days like this is getting all too familiar. Just over a week ago she lead the Avonmore Wildcats to both the junior and senior Sprite Cup titles, and yesterday's team included three players from that junior success.
Not surprisingly, the trio all played pivotal roles in Mercy's 14-point victory. Co-captains Kate Maher and Jenny Coady scored 27 points between them, with the other under-19 standout, Julie May Kane, claiming 15 points.
The Killarney side also brought plenty of experience to Tallaght, even if it was their first time in the cup final. Mairead Finnegan and Lynn Jones are Irish representatives, and Finnegan was particularly crucial in putting up the challenge to Mercy in the first half.
Even though the Waterford girls were a little slow in getting their scoring off the ground, their determined defence meant that Presentation always had to work that bit harder for their baskets. Midway through the first half, however, Mercy moved up a gear and had built a 27-17 advantage by the interval.
Presentation increased their counter-attacking, with the scores of Katie Gleason and Sinead O'Connell ensuring that Presentation were never totally out of touch.
They held the gap to 35-25 midway through the second half, but with Maher in simply superb form, that was about as close as Mercy allowed them to get.
Orla Kavangh, along with Finnegan, inspired one last assault on the lead. Unfortunately for them, Mercy were in no mood to allow a comeback. In the final three minutes, Keane was unstoppable, and with the last word going to Maher, voted the game's MVP, there was no denying another deserving cup title for Waterford - their first cup since 1990.
Earlier, St Laurence's of Loughlinstown staged one of the most remarkable comebacks witnessed in a schools basketball final by defeating St Mary's Moyderwell of Tralee 51-45 to take the Boys' B trophy.
Desperately slow to start, St Laurence's were trailing 30-16 at half-time after St Mary's had built up what seemed an unassailable lead. Captain Jason Mitchell and Eoin Leen were particularly useful for the Kerry side, especially with their fast-break offence.
David Harrison, the Irish junior international, was almost non-existent for St Laurence's up to that point, shooting just three points, yet all that changed in the second half.
With Harrison increasing his total to 21 points, suddenly it was St Mary's who were behind with 10 minutes to go. To the despair if the Tralee fans, St Laurence's kept pushing the pedal and ran out six-point winners.
It wasn't quite as exciting in the Girls' B final, as Scoil Ruain from Killenaule dominated the second half against Loreto Foxrock for a 55-40 victory and their first schools' cup title.
Today's Boys' A final, an allDublin affair, is sure to be a tightly fought encounter. Colaiste Eanna take on cup holders St Fintan's of Sutton. When the sides met in the Dublin final last week, Colaiste Eanna came out on top by just two points.
