Under 19 Basketball

Under 19 Basketball
Next match for the Under 19 team away to Our Lady's, Drogheda on Monday 25 November at 11 am.


Following match on Wednesday 27th November away to St. Dominic's Cabra with tip off at 11 am.

Under 19 Basketball
On Tuesday the 22nd of October 2013, the senior basketball team travelled to Hartstown Community College, Blanchardstown for the first match of the season. The team was confident going to the match as the coach, Mr. Collins, had taken the team for many training sessions in the weeks prior to the match.  

We got off to a good start despite a strong physical opposing team. We adopted to their strength by playing with a solid defence. This worked and we were able to counter attack very successfully. The first quarter ended with St. Mary's gaining a very comfortable lead of 15 points to 1. We continued to build on this in the second quarter.

The second half was a lot tougher as our opposition refused to go down without a fight and they upped their game, They played a tough defence and scored a few nice baskets in the fourth quarter. The team stayed calm and retained the lead and finished the game with a commanding lead of 40 points to 19 points.  Kate Mulligan scored 19 points and Carla Wickham scored 8 points.  Captain Zoe Johnston lead by example.  Mr. Collins and Mr. Fennell were delighted with the performance.

Every single member of the team put all their effort into the game and we were delighted with the result!  We are now working towards our next match against St. Mary's Glasnevin on Thursday 7th of November.  All support would be welcome.

Report by Kate Mulligan, Fifth Year.  We are now looking forward to further updates by Kate.

Under 19 Division 1 Semi Final
Thursday 9 January, Away to St. Dominic's Cabra
Coach Mr. Collins
Leaving at 12.30 pm

Congratulations to the U19 Basketball Team on a spectacular win over St. Dominics of Cabra in the Dublin Division 1 Semi Final. Some great performances from the start lead to a strong lead of 18-0 by the first quarter with impressive performances by Ciara Byrne and Melissa Corrigan.Captain Zoe Johnston led the team well throughout the match keeping the team focused on the National Finals in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght on January 30th.

 Nicole Moriarty ended the game in spectacular fashionscoring the last basket with a long range shot from outside the key to finalise the score at 46 to St. Mary's and 4 points to St. Dominic's.  Well done everyone on a fantastic performance.

The hard work now begins with the run up to the final.

Champions, Under 19 Division 1
30 January 2014

Great news - St. Mary's won the Division 1 Title today by beating Our Lady's, Drogheda 18-12 with a fine battling performance at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.

The U19s consisted of Zoe Johnston, Captain, Nicole Moriarty, Michaela Moriarty, Kate Mulligan, Ciara Byrne, Carla Wickham, Kristina Kinsella, Melissa Corrigan, Lauren Williams, Rachel Morrissey and Kamilla Grebalska. Mr. Collins coaches the team, assisted by Mr. Fennell.

The eager supporters arrived at the NBA only to find that the match had been delayed by about twenty minutes.

The delay added to the anxiety of the day and Mr. Collins and Mr. Fennell did a great job keeping the team calm and prepared. 

The opposition also were working hard during a warm up.


Finally, the time arrived and with the support of a great noisy bunch of St. Mary's students, the game tipped off.  St. Mary's got off to a flyer.  Four excellent passes led to Zoe Johnston opening the score. Our Lady's went on the attack and there was some excellent zonal defending by St. Mary's.  St. Mary's then broke quickly and Carla Wickham scored again to see St. Mary's 4-0 ahead.  A large number of missed frees from both sides followed as both teams attacked. Meanwhile Jessa Dyer began her gymnastic routine to liven up the St. Mary's supporters which included a large number of parents.  Many thanks to taking the time out to support the girls.

There was further end to end exciting action as both teams showed excellent defensive qualities. St. Mary's scored again with Carla Wickham scoring a great basket despite being under great pressure to see St. Mary's lead 6-0. Our Lady's responded well with some good play and it was no surprise when they scored a basket.  Further pressure followed but during a St. Mary's attack, Kate Mulligan was fouled and she scored a point to see St. Mary's end the first quarter leading 7-2.

The second quarter began with some resolute defending by both sides and it took some good play by Our Lady's to pull the score back to 7-4. Ciara Byrne was excellent in defence but Our Lady's continued to pressure and soon it was 7-6.  However, a great fighting score by Kate Mulligan restored St. Mary's lead to 9-6.  However, Our Lady's fought back with a free to see the score at 9-7 and a late free saw the score become 9-8.  Both sides were now locked in a real battle. Mr. Collins, Mr. Fennell and the team had a long team talk.
The team was greatly encouraged by the St. Mary's supporters who were in terrific voice and were a great source of inspiration.  The supporters included a big number of First Years who were on their first event to support St. Mary's.  They were terrific and hopefully they will experienced many more finals in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.  All the supporters played their part and Jessa Dyer, Kirsten Nagle and Shannon Lowndes played their part in rousing them. Rebecca O' Dare, Chloe Farren and Alanna Barry were all involved in taking photographs.  Some great photos were taken!  It was also great to see so many parents there, some very noisy :) supporting our team.

The third quarter was a tense affair with both sides battling hard and the players giving it all. There were no scores for some time until Melissa Corrigan scored a fine basket under pressure. St. Mary's now 11-8 ahead and looking more comfortable.

Two successive frees from Kate Mulligan increased the lead to 13-8 and St. Mary's were looking good.  A very determined Kate Mulligan fought her way through the defenders to score a fine basket at the end of the third quarter to see St. Mary's lead 15-8.

The final quarter saw Our Lady's up their game considerably. St. Mary's defended very well but Our Lady's continued to pressure and soon scored to make the score 15-10. Our Lady's continued to push hard but a break led to Kate Mulligan scoring a basket to make it 17-10.  Our Lady's responded almost immediately to see the score 17-12. The St. Mary's supporters were very vocal now and they gathered near the end of the court..Our Lady's continued to pressure but the time was running out and a final free from Kate Mulligan increased the lead to 18-12.  Shortly later, he game ended and St. Mary's were now the Champions.  
It was a fine all round team performance by everyone in the team. Well done everyone and the coaches!
Our supporters ran onto the court to celebrate with the team. It was a marvelous occasion and everyone from St. Mary's were full of joy. Hard luck to Our Lady's, they played very well and well deserved their round of applause.

 

The coaches, Mr. Collins, assisted by Mr. Fennell, were absolutely delighted with the victory. Mr. Collins noted that "It was a tense game but our girls kept their cool and made us proud once again."  The whole team had played in winning the title - he was thoroughly delighted and "couldn't be more proud of my squad".

Division 1 Champions, 2013-2014
Well done girls - Fantastic Performance!
Captain Zoe Johnston led the team up to collect the Division 1 Shield.  There was great celebrations as she raised the Shield and the whole team were in great spirits.