WHAT A CRACKER of a game these two sides served up, with Donegal town coming from 17 down to win the Under-14 North West Region Super Cup against Letterkenny Blaze.
Letterkenny Blaze 41-45 Donegal Town
Blaze started like a train and shot ahead of a nervous Donegal Town side to race away into a 20-3 lead at the end of the quarter and look like they would be hard to catch.
But credit to the home side who came out in the second quarter and reeled in the lead as Sophie Carr had a fantastic 16 points along with an Amy Lorinyenko bucket to win the quarter 18-2 and get Donegal back in the game. With Blaze fans giving their side – the away team – fantastic support they dug deep and didn’t let our girls get a lead.
The third quarter was a really close one with Donegal edging it as great scores from Amy Lorinyenko, Orla Carbury, Kirsty Harron along with seven points from the MVP Sophie Carr gave us a two point 14-12 quarter win and 35-34 scoreline going into the last.
Once Donegal finally took the lead, albeit by a small margin they held their nerve well to win the quarter 10-7 and win the game by two baskets.
Lucy McGowan came to the fore in the last and gave us another attacking threat along with Sophie going forward and this turned the tide in our favour. A fantastic achievement for the Donegal town girls to win both the league and the Supercup and they are now preparing for their All Ireland Finals appearance in a few weeks time.
MVP was the talented Sophie Carr who worked her socks off. Well done Girls from all at the club we are very proud of your achiements.
Team; Sophie Carr 25, Katie Timoney, Lucy Mc Gowan 8, Orla Carbury 4, Tamara Mc Brearty, Courtney Harron 1, Kirsty Harron 1, Any Lorinyenko 6, Aoife Mackle, Lucy Clinton, Orla Mc Gonagle, Molly Shovlin, Sophia Masiri, Emma O Sullivan, Katelyn Duffy. Coach Kevin Sinclair
Donegal town Senior Ladies win their eighth North West Cup in nine years
Donegal Town 64 Letterkenny Institute of Technology 20
Donegal town ladies put in a fantastic performance to wear down a dogged LYIT side to claim the North West Cup Title for a massive eighth time in nine years.
Credit must go to the core of team and its two longest serving playing members Charlene Mc Hugh and Julianne Murphy along with Brid Murphy and Tara Khan have been the back bone of this side for so many winning seasons.
Julianne played her last home game and will be sorely missed from all here at the club and with the Legendary Charlene McHugh also claiming that this is her last season it is surely the end of an era for this fantastic group of girls.
It was the fourth consecutive meeting of these two sides in as many weeks and to Letterkenny Institute of Technology’s credit they put it up to Donegal early on.
But Donegal on their home patch were not going to be denied and the will to win instilled in these girls by Charlene over the years showed and the result never looked in doubt.
Great to see so many coming along to support Ladies sport and to anyone that was there were treated to some great basketball.
Big Thanks to Doms Pier one who provided after match food and it was very much appreciated. LyIT were a pleasure to have in our gym as their sportsmanship is fantastic and a credit to coach Vincent O’Brien.
Too many teams take a different approach and this was a throw back to the early days of league were both teams would socialize after games and actually get on. Back to the game and MVP goes to a talented player who is starting to realize her potential and her importance to the Donegal side – Kelly Harron.
Julianne and Tara where our main threats going forward while Ciara Mooney again kept things right at the other end. Well done Girls and best of luck next Saturday in Kilcar as they try to claim another league Title.
Team; Charlene Mc Hugh, Louise Carr, Kara Meehan, Kelly Harron 17, Ciara Mooney 2, Tara Khan 15, Julianne Murphy 13, Brid Murphy 4, Ruta Balezentyte 2, Emma Mc Kinley, Claudia Coughlin 4, Michaela Breslin 4, Eva Diver, Holly Carty 3. Caroline Mc Hugh. Coach Kevin Sinclair
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