Firhouse Community College celebrate their U16 Basketball Dublin and East final win against Greystones
Firhouse CC claim U16 basketball title in style
FIRHOUSE Community College emerged victorious in their recent U16 Basketball Dublin & East final against Greystones winning by an impressive margin.
The side have reached their third consecutive final with performance getting progressively better. Losing their first in overtime, winning the second in overtime before the decisive victory in the most recent final.
The side is an amalgamation of third years and TY students and many clubs from around the area are represented with players lining out for St Kevins Knights, Eanna and Dublin Lions, interestingly there are some players on the team who do not play for any club.
Daniel Agbaisere is one of the many talented players at Firhouse and represents Ireland at underage level as does Dara Sweeney.
Basketball coaching in the school is undertaken by Nessa Davey and Nicola Maher.
Greystones were tough opposition for Firhouse with the Wicklow side having been in finals themselves in recent years.
Firhouse would emerge victorious on the day thanks to defensive performances from Sergio Franco and Andrew Lee as well as the skilled shooting from the aforementioned Agbasiere and Sweeney.
The final score of the game was 56-37 in Firhouse’s favour.
Coach Nessa Davey spoke on the status of Basketball in the school.
“There’s a surge of interest in the school now. An awful lot of players now have joined local clubs because of it. At senior level we’ve had to field two teams because of the interest. All the students in the school and parents at home are just so supportive.”
The team now finds themselves through to the All Ireland Pools section. A group stage that will see them compete against a number of teams from around the country with only the best progressing to the next phase of the All Ireland Championships. It remains to be seen who the school will be drawn against to play.
“We got there last year and we didn’t get into the next round. We really hope because we have improved and strengthened our team that we can go past the pool stage and get further than any team from the school has ever gotten before. That’s our aim.”
The staff of the school must be thanked for totally getting behind the team as well as the coaches of the various clubs that the players are involved with, this year could be a big one for Firhouse as they look to progress on a national scale.
