ABBEY VOCATIONAL SCHOOL, Donegal town claimed the Subway All-Ireland Schools U16C Girl Cup with a 35-25 win over St. Aloysius of Carrigtwohill at the National Basketball Arena.
Abbey VS Donegal 35 St. Aloysius Carrigtwohill 25
By Ross O’Donoghue
Both schools brought sets of fans in full colour and voice. It made for a raucous opening and the adrenaline was pumped into defence with the scoring low in the early exchanges.
For Abbey VS, defence would be a feature in the game. They made the most of their wingspan with fingers outstretched and solid rebounding from the likes of Eilish McGovern.
Picture caption: Abbey VS, Donegal players celebrate with the cup after the game. Picture by INPHO/Cathal Noonan
Grainne Twomey led the scoring for St. Aloysius and fought hard for an offensive rebound to level the scores at 4-4. It took good shooting from Ellie Muldoon and Sophie Carr to push Abbey out to 8-4 for the first quarter.
Ellie Muldoon responded soon after but it was the second quarter where Abbey tipped the game in their favour. They scored 12 points without reply as Carr dictated things from point guard and Ellie Muldoon kept the scoreboard rolling with the help of substitute Aine McGroarty.
The run went through the half and topped out at 16 points for Abbey VS to lead 26-7. That prompted St. Aloysius’ best spell in the game.
Latisha Moriarty snapped the run and Chloe Barry and Orlaith Duggan followed up as the Cork girls went on a streak of their own. It was enough to bring the score back to 29-17 heading into the final quarter.
Grainne Twomey was working hard to bring her teammates into the game and Ellen Baker brought the margin back to 10 points with three minutes left. The Abbey VS zone defence was getting harder to move around and that was as close as St Aloysius got.
Winning Coach Orlagh Carr said: “The girls were tremendous in the build up. It all comes down to the training really. They’ve been out there three times a week since the start of the year and it all worked out on the day.”
Abbey Vocational School: Fiona Shovlin, Sophie Carr 12, Ellie Muldoon 10, Anna Campbell 2, Eilish McGovern 7. Substitutes: Elizabeth Mackle, Orla Histon, Anna Griffin, Aine MGroarty 4, Rebecca Cadwell, Amy Lorinyenko, Niamh Histon
St Aloysius: Abbie Delaney, Grainne Twomey 13, Ciara O’Gorman, Latisha Moriarty 2, Ellen Baker 4. Substitutes: Chloe Barry 2, Kate Bourke, Lucy Cashman 2, Lisa Omorogbe, Ciara O’Gorman, Orlaith Duggan, Clodagh Tibbets, Louise Horgan
MVP: Eilish McGovern
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