CLARE Basketball had one of its greatest-ever days last Saturday, March 22 as close to a thousand people passed through the doors of St Flannan’s College, Ennis, to take in at least one of the seven games played over the course of its Finals Day.
The sport in the county is experiencing a boom in recent years with over 2,000 players registered with the local Clare Area Basketball Board (CABB) and various teams from the county winning major honours.
All the games provided plenty of highlights and talking points but none more so than the final two games of the day, both in the U-16 boys age group, and both ultimately won by Clare Comets (Ennis) in the most dramatic of circumstances.
In the A-League final, Comets appeared to be cruising early on against Boru Blazers (Killaloe); a couple of minutes into the second quarter they enjoyed a 22-5 lead and even at half-time as several of their starting five got into foul trouble, they appeared to be still in control with a 33-17 advantage.
However, Blazers were heroically defiant, led by the outstanding Ollie Shanahan who finished with a game-high 25 points. With James Graham (12 points) also providing potent office, Blazers had got back to within a point in the closing seconds before Comets nailed a few late free-throws and a Blazers three-point-attempt to bring the game into overtime came back off the rim. Starting for the Comets in their 50-47 win were Matt Damiar (13 points), Conan Burke (10), David Elawune Bello (8) and Ciaran Biswas (8).
If anything though the second part of Comets’ double was even more exhilarating. In the U-16 D-League final Comets D had to withstand a tremendous effort from Kilrush, 32-31. With the sides tied, Comets were contentiously awarded a pair of free-throws on the buzzer, one of which Bobby O’Rourke impressively sank in front of a packed gym to clinch the win for his side.
It was a great day all round for the Comets as their U-14 boys also claimed the A-League title, getting the better of Clare Cascaders. Last month the two sides played out an epic, with the game requiring four periods of overtime before Cascaders edged it by a point. Last Saturday though Comets out of the gates quicker to provide a cushion which they maintained throughout to ultimately win 41-24.
Clare Panthers also had a day to remember by pulling off a double of their own in the U-16 girl’s age group. While their D-League final win over Clare Warriors was a relatively low-scoring affair (30-18), no side across the whole day had a greater spread of scorers than the Panthers D squad; remarkably as many as 10 players scored for them.
In the A-League final then they prevailed by 19 points, thanks to a game-high 12 points from Erin Kennedy and a strong second-quarter push. While Kilrush will also go on to represent the county in next month’s All Ireland club championships, last Saturday they were a tad too reliant on the impressive Laura McGibney (9 points) and Sarah Wallace (6) for scores.
Clare Warriors played some outstanding basketball in the second and third quarters to overcome Cascaders in the U-14 boys D-League final. Although Rory O’Neill (19 points, featuring three three-pointers) kept bringing the fight all through, Warriors prevailed, 44-31, with Andrew Shannon (20), Dan Casey (11) and David McNamara (9) combining well on offence and Jason O’Neill excelling on defence.
The opening game of the day then saw Shannon Jets in the U-12 Boys A-League final survive a brilliant late rally from Cascaders, edging it 39-33. Jack Hickey was exceptional for the victors, scoring a day-high 26 points.