U18 Men -

KILLESTER 68 - Kildare Gliders 38

The Under 18 mens side continued their winning start to their Dublin
league campaign with a resounding 30 point victory against visitors
Kildare Gliders in St. Davids on Friday evening!
Despite a delay to the start of the match due to the late arrival of
Kildare, Killester struggled to put up an early lead! A combination of
some good first half 3-point shooting by Kildare and some poor
finishing by Killester allowed Kildare to stay within touching
distance and Killester lead by only 14 at the half! One bright spark
of the first half was the pin point shooting of Rob Donohoe who
managed to keep Killester noses in front at the very start.
Kildare came out and cut the lead to single figures at the start of
the 3rd but they soon ran out of steam as Killester upped the
intensity on defence and forced some turnovers! Good offensive
rebounding and put-backs from Tiernan Dunne, Mark Bolger and Conor
McCormack and some good shooting from Craig Clarke on his return from
injury broke the back of the visitors and Killester ended up winning
by a comfortable margin.
Afterwards coach Ian Barrett said he was happy with the performance
especially from the bench players which he felt highlighted to them
the role expected of them for the rest of the season! Nevertheless, he
still feels the team have a lot to work on if the season is to be as
successful as is hoped!

UNDER 18 BOYS - SEASON TO DATE.....

Preparations for the new season began with a trip to Ghent in Belgium
in the middle of August, where, despite some unfortunate results on
Day 1, the lads managed to win both games in some battling (literally)
displays on Day 2 to finish 21st out of 28.
These preparations were aimed at the National Cup Qualifiers which
took place in Castleisland, Co. Kerry, on the 22nd and 23rd of
September. A squad of 11 travelled down on Saturday morning to face
North Dublin rivals, Swords, in what proved to be a nail-biting
encounter. The team suffered from the loss of inspirational guard
Craig Clarke in the opening moments of the game with the recurrence of
an old ankle injury which, unfortunately, ruled him out for the rest
of the weekend! Illness to starting centre Conor McCormack also threw
a minor spanner in the works but Conor battled past this to put up
some impressive numbers over the course of the weekend. Tired legs
were obvious at the start as Swords rushed into an early lead but the
team pulled it back to lead by 10 points in the 3rd quarter, helped by
some good rebounding from Under 17, Tiernan Dunne, and tough defence
from old boy Kody Quinn. However, it was then that Swords decided to
take their shooting boots back, allowing them into a position to hit
what proved to be the winning shot with 3 seconds remaining to record
the narrowest of victories. It was rough justice on the lads who
deserved more after battling back from a slow start!
This meant the squad had the tougher of the two semi-finals as they
now had to face the winner of Pool 2 who turned out to be a very
impressive Belfast Star side (who counted former Killester player,
Adrian Fulton, among their coaching staff)! Killester were unable to
match the firepower of Star who took an early lead which they never
looked like relinquishing. The final score of 82-65 was the closest
game Star had all weekend and was testament to the spirited 2nd half
defensive display off all 11 squad members who got a run!
Although disappointed wih the outcome of the weekend, coach, Ian
Barrett, can look at the progress the team has made after an
unsettling start to the campaign in which the team lost several key
members. The lads showed they are capable of stepping up into any
gaps left and we now look forward to challenging for honours in the
coming season.