First Super League title for Éanna
“THIS is what we’ve been working for, whether it was this (Super League) or the Cup, I didn’t really care which one it was, as long as we got something in the door,” said Griffith College Éanna head coach Darren McGovern after his teams Super League title success.
“We won our Division One the first year we were there, but we needed to kick on and win one of the big one’s and to be honest this is probably the better one, because it is harder to win.”
The Ballyroan side won their first ever InsureMyVan.ie Super League title, thanks to a 93-61 win over Pyrobel Killester in the final at the National Basketball Arena on Sunday.
They led from start to finish in this contest, establishing a 10 point advantage at the end of the first quarter, 31-21, Sean Jenkins and Josh Wilson making excellent starts with 14 and 12 points respectively.
Kason Harrell closed the gap to five points with three and a half minutes to go in the second quarter.
Griffith College Éanna kicked on in the closing stages of the second quarter, three’s from Kristijan Andabaca and Matthew McClain, either side of Gregorio Adon put back for Killester, had them 42-33 up with two minutes to go.
MVP Jenkins then downed a beauty from long range to get the Éanna support off their feet, they were ahead 45-33 at that stage and would hold a 49- 33 lead by half-time.
Griffith College Eanna players celebrate their win. Photos by INPHO/Bryan Keane
Paul Dick started with third quarter with five points to help close the gap to 51-40 two minutes in.
But it looked to be Griffith College Éanna’s day with everything seeming to land, including Stefan Desnica’s shotclock buzzer beater with four minutes to go in the quarter, which put them 59-42 up.
They were 23 points ahead by the end of the third quarter, a fast break and layup from Josh Wilson made it 69-46.
Pyrobel Killester suffered a blow when Paul Dick bowed out early in the fourth quarter after he picked up his fifth foul, they were 70-48 down at that stage.
Éanna’s shooting was exemplary, Matthew McClain’s three was followed by another long range one from Jenkins, to put them 82-50 up by the midpoint of the quarter and they’d close it out to win 93-61.
Darren McGovern, Griffith College Éanna head coach, said: “I can’t believe it, I am sort of lost for words.
“Consistency was probably the reason why we’ve won it.
“We’ve been here, we’ve practiced really hard, consistently really hard over the last 10-15 weeks.
Credit to the players, they were absolutely exceptional today, every task, every defensive assignment I just thought they were unbelievable and credit where credit is due.”
