Action from the game between Coláiste Éanna and St Mary's Portlaoise
Photos by ©INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon
Éanna U19s are class act
COLAISTE Eanna have been crowned All- Ireland Champions with a 68-59 victory over St Mary’s Portlaoise in the U19 ‘A’ Boys All-Ireland Schools Cup.
The game began with Eanna setting a rapid pace early on with Charles and Adam McCarthy hitting a three in the opening two and a half minutes along with Augustine Farrell to help propel Eanna to an early 11-0 lead.
Portlaoise attempted to fight their way back into the quarter and at one stage had the scoreline brought back to a more respectable 13-7, still trailing by six points.
It would actually be Eanna however that would finish out the quarter stronger and with four minutes left on the clock went on a scoring spree with Karl Walsh hitting a three in the final 30 seconds to make the scoreline 24-13 in their favour as they headed into the second quarter of the game.
Walsh picked up in the second where he had left off in the first and hit another big three pointer in the opening minute of the second quarter to make it 27-13.
Eanna started to step up their intensity and stopped Portlaoise in their tracks on multiple occasions with a steal leading to a quick counter attacking score from Aodhan O’Neill which gave Eanna their largest winning margin of the game at 18 points midway through the second quarter with the scoreline 33-15.
Eanna were unable to keep up this relentless pace however and slowly but surely their opposition began to work their way back into the game.
Desmond Ogedegbe converted free throws to bring the score back to 35-24 for the side from the midlands while Jayden Umeh hit a crucial three pointer with one minute left on the clock to bring the score to 38-34 at half time.
In only a matter of minutes Eanna’s 18 point lead had vanished and they were now only four points ahead with all the momentum going against them.
Indeed there was certainly a storm to weather at the start of the third quarter as Eanna saw their four point lead reduced to just a single score between the two sides thanks to further free throws converted by Ogedegbe.
It was a storm that they would successfully weather however and they would soon go on a 9-0 scoring run with Patrick Walsh capping off the streak with an excellent finish to give Eanna a 50-40 lead with just over two minutes left in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter began with everything still to play for and Portlaoise went on the attack, finding most success from getting to the free throw line.
Two of these free throws brought the game to a nine point difference midway through the fourth quarter with the score reading 54-45.
Harry Lynch hit a vital three pointer in the corner for Eanna to bring them back to being 10 point leaders.
Their opposition would not roll over however and soon enough the score was brought back to a difference of seven with two minutes left to go in the final.
While St Marys threw the proverbial kitchen sink it would be Eanna who would prevail on the day thanks to final minute free throws from Augustine Farrell and MVP Adam Charles.
An Irish international, the game was Charles final appearance at schools cup level and he managed to rack up an impressive 16 points being the game’s top scorer.
