Cascaders take U-13 basketball title

THE finals of the Clare U-13 Boys’ Basketball League took place last Sunday in Ennistymon. A total of six teams battled it out for the right to be crowned the first ever league U-13 boys’ champions.

Cooraclare A emerged as Group 1 winners after beating Doora/Barefield by 14 and then edging out Abbeylakers, Quin, by one point to secure a place in the final.
Group 2 tipped off with local side Clare Cascaders running out winners by 20 points over a much younger Cooraclare B team. The Cascaders also accounted for Doora/Barefield A by 15 points to set up a final showdown with Cooraclare A.
The final turned out to be the stand-out game of the day with the underdogs from Cooraclare proving to be more than a match for the bigger Ennistymon side. The end of the first quarter saw Cooraclare ahead by two points and they increased this lead to seven points by half-time ,with Ciarán O’Donoghue and Seán McNamara being prominent among the scores.
The third quarter saw the Cascaders eat in to this lead mainly due to an eight-point contribution by Liam Devitt and the Cascaders led by one point heading in to the last quarter.
Despite some fine baskets from Feargal Donnellan and a great overall effort from the Cooraclare boys, Cascaders’ height and experience proved to be decisive as they ran out victors by five points at the final whistle.
The league trophy was presented to Clare Cascaders captain Luke Howley by the Mayor of Clare, Councillor Christy Curtin who congratulated all involved in what turned out to be a most successful first ever Clare league juvenile competition. The final of the U-13 girls’ league will be held in Ennis on Sunday, March 27.