Basketball: Donegal Town round-up as U14 wins North West Basketball Association trophy

A strong first quarter provided the platform for a strong and skilful performance.

Ballyshannon 88ers tried hard to get into the game having a better second quarter with tougher defence and attacking the basket through the impressive Ronan McGloin.

In each of their league games so far DTBC have had impressive individual displays from the likes of Eoghan McPartlan, Morgan Cassidy and Matthew McInern, however, this week it was the turn of Niall Feeney and Oisin Doherty to step up.

Feeney showed all the skills including rebounding, passing and scoring in very efficient performance and Doherty’s defensive skills and ability to pick out the right pass was there for all to see.

Another to impress was James Connolly who came off the bench and showed good game intelligence to help out other teammates with defensive duties and getting into positive offensive positions to finish important baskets.

Dillon McGroary and Joseph Jordan kept the 88ers defence working hard with plenty of movement and good assists for scores, while Ryan Gallagher’s coast-to-coast baskets were skilled and entertaining.

Cormac Carr and Theo Colhoun took care of rebounding duties and Jack Smith also showed plenty of determination to win and convert possession.

Before tip-off DTBC players and coaches had the chance to meet and thank sponsors Kevin Gallagher of the Mill Park Hotel and Seamus McGowan of Daytona Haulage for generously sponsoring new kits for the U14 Boys Squad.

Oisin Doherty (11); Theo Colhoun (4); Niall Feeney (4); Dillon McGroary (2); James Connolly (6);
Cormac Carr (2); Ryan Gallagher (4); Matthew McInern (6); Eoghan McPartlan (12); Morgan Cassidy (2); Joseph Jordan (4); Jack Smith (4). Head Coach Paul McHugh; Assistant Coach Paddy Muldoon.

A O’Brien; R Delahunty; R McGloin (10); D Owens; J Gallagher; C Gavigan; C Slevin; M. McNamee; M Browne; M Keon (2); C Kelly. Coach Kerry Ryan

On Saturday the lads were to host Ballyshannon 88’ers in their final game of the season at the Abbey gym but unfortunately, Ballyshannon hadn’t the required numbers so the match was conceded but all was not in despair as both sides mixed played out a highly entertaining in house friendly instead.

With Christian, Leon and Alan traded to the 88’ers for the day spectators were treated to a high scoring and skilled match with the home side Donegal edging out winners in the end by 3 points.

The friendly match was a credit to both sets of players although remaining competitive, everyone mixed well with high fives and pats on the backs evident throughout even though normally both sides are close rivals.

The lads have had a very successful season finishing in a highly competitive and closely fought league in a very respectable third place, having completed the treble over Ballyshannon – winning one and losing marginally by two points twice to eventual table-toppers Sligo All-Stars.

And having shipped a heavy defeat by Blaze on the opening day of the season to again narrowly losing out twice they have come a long way.

They have the finals day to look forward to in March, training will continue as normal with blitzes and friendlies envisaged in the foreseeable future.

Team: Oran Boyle Se Cassidy  Thomas Mc Hugh Thomas Lenehan Alan Mc Hugh Leon Mc Ginty  Senan Mc Ginty  Jon Farren  Christian Ward Nico Dominik  Charlie Joe Mc Neely  Connell Flannery Coach Garry Prendiville & Emmet Cassidy

The boys hit the road on Saturday the 9th February, destination Kilcar knowing that victory on the day would secure the league title but this wasn’t to be the case as they encountered an excellent and resilient Kilcar team.

The lads long winning streak stretching over 6 games came to an abrupt end with Kilcar taking the spoils in a much deserved 38-18 victory.

Kilcar were magic from the onset and had massive games from Ronan Cunningham and Liam Mc Laughlin who were both unstoppable on the day. The first half was pretty nip and tuck throughout with Kilcar scoring 4 unanswered baskets in the later stages to lead at half time 20-12.

Kilcar totally dominated the second half in what was an uncharacteristic performance from an out of sorts Donegal but had notable performances from the sharpshooting Lee Gallagher and the hard-working Jack Mc Groarty. Kilcar ran out deserved winners.

A special mention to Joe Byrne who reffed the game in an excellent manner, blowing the whistle when needed and the game flowed seamlessly as a result.

All is not lost for Donegal as the title still remains within their hands if they were to defeat Mulroy in their final home game of the season.

This match has to be allocated a date and when known all parents are asked to come and support the lads in their quest for silverware.

Team: Oran Boyle  Ryan Cleary  Rory Doherty   Lee Gallagher 4  Thomas Healy 2 James Harron  Thomas Lenehan 4  Niall Liu  Ryan Mc Cullagh Leon Mc Ginty 4  Senan Mc Ginty 2 Jack Mc Groarty 2 Harry Mc Kinney  Sean Sweeney  Thomas Mc Hugh. Coach Garry Prendiville & Emmet Cassidy

Our Girls hosted Sligo All-Stars a week on from a 67-23 defeat in Sligo and what a performance we got from the Donegal Town side.

Orla Mc Gonagle returned to the starting five having missed last week’s game and showed her worth knitting together the home defence really well. But it was the performance of Catherine Campbell that really brought the game to All Stars as she gave as good a performance as any of our players have done this season.

She carried the ball well, was our main threat to the basket and pulled down some terrific rebounds while also defending really well. Katie Gillespie too is starting to show her worth to the team as she put in her best performance in the blue and yellow and gave us a great threat inside while also protecting the rim very well along with Mcgonagle.

Sofia Masiri despite a few heavy fouls against her battled well to give us much-needed possession and was a loss along with Sarah Donovan who were both fouled out in the last and were a huge miss going into the last few minutes.

We did have a five-point lead with two minutes left but the more experienced All Stars just did enough to get over the line despite a couple of shots to tie the game going astray for the home team.

Something has to be done about home refereeing standards as surely a forty point turnaround isn’t down to the ups and downs of team form, we didn’t even have a training since the last game yet we were in a position to win the game with a minute left.

It was by far the most aggressive basketball our girls have played in these last 2 matches with 4 players having to leave the court with injuries more consistent with rougher field sports.

It’s disappointing to see teams put out to play like this but fair play to our girls for standing up to the challenge and the experience of playing rough basketball will hopefully do them some good but it shouldn’t be like this.

Amy Carr, Sofia and Katie all played well but As I said Campbell was terrific throughout despite being targeted for some terrible aggression and deservedly gets the MVP.

This is hopefully the standard now for our girls who have slipped off the pace this last month but a performance like this will really help.

Team: Catherine Campbell © 16, Natasha Prendiville, Sofia Maziri 4, Amy Carr 2, Roisin Gillespie, Sarah Donovan 2, Ava Maxwell 1, Emma Meehan 3, Katie Gillespie 10, Orla Mc Gonagle 2, Kirsty Harron. Coach Kevin Sinclair.