The U20 Men go head to head with a talented Maree team this Saturday @ 6pm in the U20 National Cup Final in the National Basketball Arena.
Killester have had an exciting route to the final this year, having display some tremendous determination throughout the competition to end up in the final.
In the opening round a tricky away tie to local rivals St.Vincents in November. Killester were able dominate the game with their stifling defence led by Ciaran Roe which led them to their exciting fast break play and impressive shooting from U18 stars Paddy Sullivan and Lukas Gokas. The victory set up another away tie in the quarter final away to north Star from Derry
In what was always going to be a tricky tie, the lads go off to a good start but the long journey to Derry seemed to take its toll on our U20 Killester team as North Star were able to open up a 15 point margin at one stage. Key plays late on and some luck saw experienced campaigners Ciaran Roe and Steven "Fizzy" McGrath dig deep to come up with big defensive stops. Roe led by example on the offensive side also pouring in 35 points and forced overtime with a basket on the buzzer. The momentum was with Killester now as they proved too strong in over-time for the hosts and set up a semi-final date with Tolka Rovers
The Semi Final in Neptune Stadium was a high-pressured game with both teams enjoying narrow victories in recent Dublin Cup and League games. Tolka got off to a promising start and in a close game lead through-out the first 3/4's but coach Mark Grennell reminded the U20 lads to show some of their now famous determination and were able remain in the game and big baskets from Mikey Deegan and Emmett O'Toole paved the way for a Killester comeback. Killester showed their ruthless streak and took the lead the final 5 minutes and finished strong to earn their place in Saturday's final.
The team has put in some hard work over the last couple of weeks and are looking forward to enjoying the final. If you can make your way out to the Arena on Saturday to support the lads, they would love to see you there. Game is at 6pm. You are guaranteed to see some superb and exciting basketball.
The shock of the weekend saw Moycullen defeat reigning champions 11890 Killester 64-58 after a fantastic performance in Oranmore.
Moycullen lie at the foot of the Southern conference, yet made light of their league standing to defeat Killester, a win made all the more impressive as the Galway outfit were without the key personnel of USA star Luke Enos.
Moycullen coach Ger Lyons was understandably proud at the end. “We had a lot of injures. We couldn’t play Luke Enos who has been our go-to guy all season and James O Dowd was also injured so we were really up against it.
“We were trailing at half time but we felt we really should have been up at that stage. Before the game we were looking around and believed that we have nothing to lose so we gave it everything we had and managed to come out on top.” Lyons said.
The defeat will be a further blow to Killester who have now lost two games on the bounce having suffered a dramatic defeat to UL Eagles last weekend in the cup semi-final.
Elsewhere, 11890 Killester eventually saw of the challenge of Oblate Dynamo’s after a slow start courtesy of a final score line of 54-43.
Killester Head Coach Mark Grennell believes the final score wasn’t pretty.
“The score was 18-14 at half time. I think psychologically the girls might still have been carrying some scars after last week. But we got it together at half time. The girls put up 40 points in the second half, so that is a big positive. I think we can move on now.”
Report from www.basketballireland.ie
The club’s Special Olympics section held their 2011 Christmas Party in Bayside N.S. on 16th December.
In keeping with a long standing tradition, Santa Claus along with members of the mens’ and womens’ Superleague teams paid a visit to share in the festive fun with the Special Olympics athletes.
Killester Basketball Club would like to congratulate our four teams on making it through to the National Cup Semi Finals and although it was a disappointing weekend for three of the four we are very proud of the teams achievements.
Our under 20 men, are through to the finals weekend in a fortnight where they will meet Maree following a 65-54 victory over Tolka Rovers on Friday night.
The lads struggled a little in the first half to settle and trailed by 30-24 at half time but they came into their own in the second half thanks to the cool heads and at times brilliance of the likes of Mikey Deegan, Ciaran Roe and Paddy Sullivan as they ran out comfortable winners in the end.
Maree beat Moycullen in the other semi final 91-61 and will go into the final as favourites but we would like to wish our boys in ORANGE all the best.
Visit www.irishspecialevents.com for more photo's of the Semi Finals
Under-20 Men's National Cup Semi Finals
Killester 65 (24) (M Deegan 20, C Roe 19, P Sullivan 10).
Tolka Rovers 54 (30) (P Caffery 12, D O’Beirne 11, M Blanchfield 8)
Moycullen 61 (37) (D Costelloe 18, P Lyons 9, A Brady 6)
Maree 91 (54) (K Hansberry 28, P Burke 9, C O’Hagan 14)
Senior Women’s National Cup Semi Finals
Scruffy’s Saint Paul’s 58 (27) (L Jones 16, M Galwey 13, K Canty 8)
Killester 48 (26) (E O’Neill 13, E Glover 7, P Mahon 6, S Kennedy 6)
Men’s SuperLeague National Cup Semi Finals
11890 Killester 73 64 (27) (J Turner 18, M Westbrooks 11, P Madsen 11)
UL Eagles 75 64(33) (R Taylor 19, J Killeen 18, M Hall 11) OVERTIME
Women’s SuperLeague National Cup Semi Finals
DCU Mercy 68 (34) (L Peat 14, S Maguire 12, S Woods 8)
11890 Killester 30 (15) (H Fraser 9, A Sullivan 4, L Gray 4)
Irish Basketball is “Alive and Kicking” just ask any of the 2500 who were lucky enough to get into the SOLD OUT Neptune Stadium yesterday for the National Cup Semi finals as UCC Demons beat Bord Gais Neptune 84-66 to book their place in the Superleague Cup final against Munster rivals UL Eagles.
The game was almost a half an hour late starting due to the crowd congestion and the atmosphere in the Stadium was reminiscent of those great days in the eighties.
It was pretty close in the first half with the scores changing minute by minute as Demons led 45-41 at the break. Paul Kelleher’s side then went on the rampage in the second half in a performance that left the coach hardly able to speak after the game.
“We knew Neptune would be up for this. We knew they would come out blazing at us and they did. We had to stick with them at that stage, but the guys have been practising a lot and have been really focussed on the job. It was a great performance considering the pressure we were under. We’re delighted to be in the final but we know it’s going to be a very tough game and different game against UL.”
Neptune’s day turned into a nightmare in that second half. Trailing by 17 points, Mark Scannell lost his influential veteran American Ron Thomson with an ankle injury and soon afterwards had Ger Noonan fouled out. A visibly injured Thomson returned for the closing stages, but at that point the damage had been done.
So it’s Demons against UL Eagles in the final in Tallaght in a fortnight. Mark Keenan’s side edged out his former club 11890 Killester 75-73 in an overtime nailbiter on Saturday with again a magnificent attendance.
Keenan was over the moon with the result. “It is such an important win for us, I thought we had blown it but we never gave up and brought it to overtime, it was nip and tuck in that five minute period and we just did enough for a two point victory. What a game it had pretty much everything – great defence both ends, some great offensive plays – it looked like we were dead and buried when we went nine down but fair play to the lads they came back. I can’t believe it. I am so proud of them” said Keenan.
His opposite number Darren O’Neill was gracious in defeat “It is as simple as this they wanted it down the stretch, we were 9 up with less than three minutes on the clock and we lost. You cannot afford the silly mistakes we made but we have to regroup and concentrate on the league” said O’Neill.
It’s as we expected in the women’s cup final as the odds on favourites UL came from 31-35 down at half time to beat Hotel Montenotte Glanmire 71-59.
UL Coach James Weldon was happy enough after a slow start. “We certainly were not firing on all cylinders in the first half but we settled in the third quarter and Rachael (Vanderwal) and Michele (Fahey) saw us through after that sticky patch. We will have to be a lot better in the final, DCU were probably at their very best against 11890 Killester” said Weldon.
And he certainly was right as Mark Ingle’s DCU Mercy put in their best performance of the season so far to beat 11890 Killester 68-30 and stay on song for their three in a row.
“We worked really hard but we still have a lot of improving to do over the next two weeks before we meet UL” said Ingle.
This weekend is a huge one for 11890 Killester with four of the clubs teams in semi final action in the National Cups in Cork.
Darren O’Neill’s Superleague men play UL Eagles on Saturday night at the Neptune Stadium, Mark Grennell’s ladies are in action against DCU Mercy on Sunday afternoon.
Our senior women play Scruffy St Pauls in the Parochial Hall on Saturday and the men’s under 20’s meet Tolka Rovers on Friday night in the Neptune Stadium.
11890 Killester men take on the Eagles
Darren O’Neill’s boys are on a high going into their semi final on Saturday following an overtime win in Cork last weekend in the league against the countries top team UCC Demons.
“We are really looking forward to Saturday, last weekends win in the Mardyke was a huge boost after our unfortunate loss to DCU Saints. We know it is going to be a really tough game but we are injury free and the guy’s are raring to go”
“Last season’s loss in the final still rankles with those of the squad that played in that game whereas it is a new experience for five of the squad and they are up for it”
“We really need to come out of the blocks with all guns blazing against UL as they are a tough side who are well coached by Mark Keenan and we will be looking to our senior players like Jermaine Turner, Pete Madsen, Michael Westbrooks and Kieran O’Brien to lead by example. It is going to be a really difficult game but our confidence is high” said O’Neill.
Many people wrote off 11890 Killester after losing the likes of Paddy Kelly, John Behan, Isaac Westbrooks, Damien Sealy, Michael Gij and Keith Anderson from the squad for various reasons but the younsters such as Eoin Chubb, Al Casey, Robbie Clarke, Jodi O’Neill and our Spanish whizz kid Mariano Gomez have filled the gap as vice captain Mike Westbrooks explains.
“Yes we were written off by many but we believed in ourselves as a group and although we have had some losses we are into the semi final of the cup and are second in the Northern Conference of the Nivea for Men Superleague after taking some notable scalps”
“There is a good buzz in the squad and hopefully we can show what we are made of on Saturday and make it through to the final at the end of the month” said Westbrooks.
11890 SUPERLEAGUE LADIES IN A REPEAT OF LAST YEARS SEMI
This weekend pits Mark Grennell’s 11890 Killester's Superleague Ladies against North-side rivals DCU Mercy in the second of the women's Superleague National Cup semi finals on Sunday the 15th @ 2.30pm in the Neptune Stadium. It is a repeat of last years semi where DCU emerged as winners and went on to defend their title but it is a new season and new hope that our young Killester Ladies can upset the veteran Mercy team.
One of the reason's for optimism is the return of the teams captain Aisling Sullivan who missed basically all of the last two years with injury and having to study abroad last year.
"Being back in Ireland and playing with Killester has been great. I really missed playing with the girls and the season has been an enjoyable one so far. The atmosphere on the team is great."
Aisling then moved on to give her thoughts on the upcoming game "To be in the cup semi on the back of some of our recent performances has really made us believers. We're so hungry and determined to take this opportunity that we have, to further it and make it to the cup final. The girls have worked really hard and I couldn't think of a better group of girls that deserve it more."
The Ladies have been in good form recently having won 6 of their last 7 games and really feel that loss against Glanmire was one that got away holding a double digit lead for most of the game. It should give them a completely different mindset going into this years semi final game,
"Last year we were a very different team compared to the team we are this year. Throughout last season we were plagued with injuries, frequently missing players like Fiona Carrick, Kate Gillen, Fiona Ward and myself. This prevented the team from gelling as well as we would have hoped on the court... This year, we have remained reasonably healthy, we welcome back Ash Sullivan and have strengthened our inside game with the addition of Eimear Naughton." said Elaine Stone, who has been one of the shining lights this season for the Ladies team.
Elaine knows what a huge task the team faces this Sunday, facing a team that has won the last two national cups but she is firm in her belief "The experience of last year's cup semi final is also something we have learned a lot from. These factors, combined with a tough preseason schedule, commitment and dedication to training throughout the season and our strong team bond have lead us to improve and perform solidly as a unit. I believe we are going into this game thoroughly prepared and we are confident that our hard work will pay off."
Fiona Carrick who also missed the whole of last season through injury is really looking forward to the game, she was very upbeat "I think our team is very well capable of winning and we are extremely determined to beat DCU on Sunday". While accepting that DCU are favourites going into the game, Fiona was determined to stress the confidence she has in her team mates. "Our team has progressed hugely over the past few years under the great coaching of Mark. It will be a very tough game, there is no doubting that. I think with our balanced fully fit team and the preparation we have, I've every confidence in us that we can do it!"
Coach Darren O’Neill summed up the mood in the camp. “It was so important for us to bounce back after our controversial loss to DCU Saints last Thursday week. We were 17 down at one stage in yesterdays game but we showed great character, changed our defense and grew in confidence and we are now so much looking forward to playing Eagles in the semi final of the cup next weekend back in Cork again” said O’Neill.
Killester’s opponents next week UL just scraped through 59-58 against Moycullen and Mark Keenan knows how lucky his side was.
“We got out of jail in this one, we have a huge amount of work to do before we meet Killester, our scoring has to improve if we are to beat them but defensively we were solid”
UCD Marian had a weekend of mixed fortune. On Saturday they acounted for Belfast Star 71-60 but went down 64-59 to DCU Saints yesterday while Star lost their second game of the weekend 83-61 to cup semi finalists Bord Gais Neptune whose coach Mark Scannell was happy with the points.
“We had a good win against Star and we managed a clean bill of health ahead of the cup derby against Demons next week at our place”
There were no surprises in the NIVEA women’s superleague with the top four and the cup semi finalists all winning.
UL made the trip to Waterford and beat WIT 57-46. UL coach James Weldon had not been looking forward to the game but came away with a win. “It’s always tough in Waterford, they gave us a really tough game and certainly it was what we needed before the cup semi next week”
DCU Saints were much too strong for Liffey Celtic winning out 77-34. Mark Ingle was glad to get the win ahead of a semi against 11890 Killester. “Everyone played well but we know that it will be tough next week, Killester are an improving side and had a good win in Cork yesterday”
11890 Killester were 75-67 winners away to SuperValu Brunell, Hotel Montenotte Glanmire saw off the challenge of Ulster Rockets 82-60 and Meteors were 55-48 winners against Oblate Dynamos.
The refurbished Mardyke Arena in Cork hosts the match of the weekend in the NIVEA for Men Superleague as UCC Demons play 11890 Killester.
Killester have had the better of things between the sides so far this season but Paul Kelleher’s Demons are the team of the moment and must be favourites to win tomorrow.
“Killester are still one of the best teams in this country and we will have to be very focused against them as they blew us away in the early stages when we played them recently in Dublin, we are in a rich vein of form at this present time and it is imperative we get a win before we take on Neptune in the national cup semi final next weekend.” Says Kelleher.
Darren O’Neill was so disappointed after the loss against DCU Saints last Thursday that he could hardly speak afterwards but he admits that his side has trained really well this week.
“Last Tuursday was like two different games we were superb for most of the first three quarters and were as much as 16 up but the eight minute delay certainly affected us more than them and we were awful in the 4th quarter. Sunday is a crucial game ahead of the cup semi’s against UL. There is no doubt that we are up for it but Paul (Kelleher) has a really strong squad and they are blowing people away at the moment. We will have to be at our very best as this game will be such a confidence booster for both teams with games against UL and Neptune just a week away” said O’Neill.
UCD Marian are in action twice over the weekend against Belfast Star tonight and they then have a huge Dublin derby against DCU Saints. Star are also in double action, after tonight’s game against UCD they host Bord Gais Neptune in Belfast tomorrow.
Elsewhere tonight Moycullen are at home to UL Eagles who are having an up and down season.
In the NIVEA Women’s Superleague, runaway leaders UL should have too much in the tank for WIT Waterford even on their own court while Hotel Montenotte Glanmire have a tough road trip against the Ulster Rockets.
DCU Mercy are at home to Liffey Celtics and should run out comfortable winners while their opponents in the cup semi final next week 11890 Killester are away to Supervalu Brunell and Meteors host Oblate Dynamos in a Dublin derby.
11890 Killester’s women’s and men’s team are in Cork for their NIVEA Superleage games on Sunday ahead of the Cup semi finals next weekend.
Darren O’Neill’s men have a really tough one against the ever improving UCC Demons who will be hoping for a first win against Killester this season while O’Neill will be trying to get a win after last Thursdays shocker against DCU Saints where they led by 16 and following an incident lost their composure and went down by 2 in overtime.
O’Neill was so disappointed after the loss that he could hardly speak but he admits that his side has trained really well this week.
“Last Tuursday was like two different games we were superb for most of the first three quarters and were as much as 16 up but the eight minute delay following that incident certainly affected us more than them and we were awful in the 4th quarter. Sunday is a crucial game ahead of the cup semi’s against UL. There is no doubt that we are up for it but Paul (Kelleher) has a really strong squad and they are blowing people away at the moment. We will have to be at our very best as this game will be such a confidence booster for both teams with games against UL and Neptune just a week away” said O’Neill.
Mark Grennell’s girls have not had the best preparation ahead of the visit to SuperValu Brunell who they meet in the Parochial Hall ahead of a cup semi final against DCU Mercy as the young coach explains.
“It hasn’t been great, we had a big gap before Christmas and a number of the girls were away over the Christmas and New Year and that didn’t help our preparations. Added to that Michelle Clarke who was superb when we beat Brunell at our place is very doubtful with a back injury. Car oline Flynn and Ciara Flaherty will only arrive into the country on Saturday from South Africa and California respectively. Eimear Naughton has been looking good in practice and that is a boost but it is really a tough ask” said Grennell.
DCU Saints came from 16 points down in the third quarter to edge an overtime thriller at a packed IWA 86-84 in the NIVEA for Men Superleague last night.
Unfortunately the game which was a classic will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. An incident involving a Saint’s player within feet of the officials table and in full view of a sizeable majority of the crowd led to the game being held up for over eight minutes and left a sour taste with the home fans.
11890 got off to a flying start and went into an early 9-2 lead. SAINTS clawed it back and it was 16 all at the end of the first quarter.
Killester went back into the lead in the second quarter only for the visitors to come back again, 11890 Killester led 39-36 at the break.
The home side had their best patch in the third and were as many as 16 up. Darren O’Neill’s side led 62-49 at quarters end but unfortunately the afore mentioned incident while adding spice to the game took a lot of steam from the home side.
Saints took the lead for the first time in the game 68-67 with just over three minutes to go and led 75-72 with seconds remaining when Jermaine Turner hit a three to bring the game to overtime.
It was nip and tuck in that overtime period and perhaps the turning point was an UNUSUAL charging foul on Turner as he was in full flight and appeared to be being dragged.
It was level at 84 apiece when Saints had a chance to win it but failed. Turned grabbed the rebound with 7 seconds to go. The ball squirmed out of his hand and found it’s way to former Killester favourite Keith Anderson who sealed it.
As ABBA’s Happy New Year was playing in the arena after the game the main topic of conversation was that third quarter INCIDENT that left the home team, officials and fans seething.
