St. Muredach’s and St. Gerald’s share the spoils

Another busy week for both school and underage

ST. GERALD’S College, Castlebar, and St. Muredach’s, Ballina, met last week at the De La Salle Hall, Castlebar, in the schoolboys Under 16 and Under 19 basketball leagues.

It was a case of both schools sharing the spoils with the Under 16 boys from St. Gerald’s proving too strong for St. Muredach’s, but the Ballina Under 19 boys balanced the books by wearing down St. Gerald’s in their game.

It was good to see the old warrior himself, former basketball legend in Ballina, Barry Murphy, back coaching with St. Muredach’s after the pandemic and he has assembled a handy Under 19 squad.

Another old warrior on the basketball court (she’s not really that old) is Niamh Loftus who has been coaching at St. Gerald’s longer than even I can remember. She has put together a nice Under 16 boys team, ably assisted by Ruth Heneghan, while her Under 19s put up a good performance against a more experienced St. Muredach’s side, with both teams producing some high quality basketball.

Height, strength and finishing were to prove crucial for St. Gerald’s Under 16 boys who were too strong for a Ballina side who battled gamely to the end.

However, there was little they could do to stop Jack Diffily who finished on 20 points, while Luke Lydon nailed 16 points, Fionn McHale, Callum Masterson, CJ Eden, Ciaran McHale, Ethan Lyons and Rodrigo Ramirez contributing to a good team win, the Castlebar college winning 54-41.

Dylan Sweeney, Cian Morrison and Conor Burke hit some good scores for St. Muredach’s, Morrison finishing on 19.

The Under 19 game was a close affair with both St. Muredach’s and St. Gerald’s playing some good basketball; but a big second quarter from the Ballina school when they hit 17 points and held St. Gerald’s to five was to prove crucial in a game which finished 54-39 in the end.

St. Gerald’s opened well, taking the first quarter 11-8, Ethan Lyons and Godswill Aghboera hitting some great baskets.

Ballina were picking off the big scores from outside, Brian Donoghue, who finished on 18 points, including three-pointers, Markie Cunningham, who nailed 19, and Gary Traynor very much the key players, the Ballina college winning the second quarter, 17-4.

The third was evenly contested, St. Muredach’s ending it 16-15, while the fourth quarter went to the visitors who edged it 13-9 as St. Gerald’s battled back and could have pulled this one from the bag if they were more clinical in their execution.

UNDERAGE

ON the club scene the Under 16 boys from Kiltimagh Giants Club picked up another scalp by beating Belmullet last week to add to their victory over Castlebar Comets.

It finished 26-16 in favour of Kiltimagh who had their top scorer in Liam Smyth, who finished on six points, Tom Carroll who chipped in with a fine three-pointer plus another six points to bring his total to nine, Eoin McGovern and Joseph Heneghan also contributing to the scoresheet.

Belmullet coach Damien Lavelle will have to be patient as he tries to rebuild from the bottom following the tremendous success he has achieved with St. Brendan’s College and the Belmullet club over the years but he is a patient man, and I expect he will be bouncing back stronger than ever next season.

James Ivers nailed a fine score of 10 points for Belmullet on the night in what looks like a tough league with teams from Ballina, Ballintubber and Crossmolina particularly strong this year.

*Any clubs or schools who have any basketball reports please do submit them to johnmelvin127:gamail,com. Team photos would also be most welcome.