John Coughlan Under 15 Tournament
The John Coughlan tournament for Under 15 Boy’s took place last Saturday the 4th of January at the Parochial Hall and Neptune Stadium. The past year saw the passing of our honorary President Mr. John Coughlan, so this was a special year for the Cork County Basketball board and their organisation of the event.
Much like the Under 16 Boy’s tournament before Christmas the Under 15 tournament was under threat of a weather warning, with this in mind we tipped off our games with Youghal v. Titans and Blue Demons v. Limerick Lions in the Parochial Hall and Neptune v. St Brendan’s Tralee and Sligo All Stars v. Portlaoise Panthers. With the board making the decision to condense the gaps between games we had our quarter-final pairings shortly before 2 p.m., where we saw the following pairings:
Eanna v. Limerick Celtics
St. Mary’s Castleisland v. Cobh
Titans v. Sligo All Stars
Portlaoise Panthers v. Limerick Lions
Similarly, to the Under 16 tournament two of the quarterfinals were tight affairs in particular the St. Mary’s Castleisland and Cobh game. Castleisland started the game and built a comfortable lead before late third/early fourth quarter comeback which saw the lead reduced to four points at one point before they reasserted their authority to tack on a further seven points to win by eleven. The semifinals saw Galway and Laois meeting in one semi and what is a perennial fixture in another code, Dublin v. Kerry with Titans v. Portlaoise and Eanna and St. Mary’s Castleisland meeting.
Court 1 saw Panthers come flying out of the traps with Senan O’ Connell and Noah Barbour to the fore for Portlaoise, two three pointers from Titans kept them in the tie and narrowed the Panthers lead to thirteen points at the quarter. If the first quarter was Portlaoise then the second was all Titans and particularly Einiris Miltinis with nine of Titans seventeen points and some incredible intensive defence saw Titans reverse the deficit and take a 28 to 26 points lead at the half. The third quarter saw both teams going tit for tat with Prince Iheme for Panthers and Conor Potito for Titans to the fore. The defensive changes that coach Xabi Pedrena for Titans initiated in the second quarter eventually told in the fourth with a number of steals and layups from Miltinis and Daniel Loughlin giving Titans a seventeen to nine quarter and sixty points to forty-seven points win.
With the game on Court 2 tipping off simultaneously, it saw Eanna open with two 3-point plays from Michael Dempsey and Dan O’ Sullivan which gave Eanna an early lead before Joey Kelly responded with two 2 pointers for St. Mary’s. The second quarter began in the same fashion for Eanna with another three pointer from Michael Houlihan which was then followed by a few more from Jamie Charles which helped the Dublin side build their lead. A three pointer from Olly O’ Shea kept St. Mary’s hopes up, but they trailed by a double-digit lead at the half on a scoreline of twenty-eight points to fourteen. The exertions of St. Mary’s quarterfinal win over Cobh were catching up with them as they noticeably tired in the third quarter. Despite Eanna extending their lead Coach Neville Charles continued to put the pressure on this team by looking for them to do the right things in their play, particularly their offence. With the chance to rotate their bench they extended their lead to twenty-three points at the end of third quarter. Again, Eanna opened with a three-point play in the fourth quarter this time from Jamie Charles before he added two 2-point plays, their lead having been extended again, Eanna ran out comfortable winners on a scoreline of fifty-five points to twenty-six.
With thanks to everyone involved, we were able to start the John Coughlan Under 15 final fifty-five minutes ahead of what we had scheduled, this did not matter to Eanna as they were ready for the final whatever time it was scheduled. They powered to a first quarter lead with Bobby Doyle and Dan O’ Sullivan to the fore. What O’ Sullivan did in scoring he matched it in everything else, his defensive intensity, rebounding and point guard play were a joy to behold. Titans despite playing the same high tempo defence from previous rounds could not get play going on the offensive end and the first quarter finished on a scoreline of fifteen points to four. Whatever Coach Pedrina said at the break seemed to work as Titans started to get going on the offensive end with Mavelose Agbinavia finding room in the key on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, they could not stop the points scoring escapades of Jamie Charles who stepped up with three from outside the arc and a further two-point play from inside the paint.
With the margin slightly reduced, those in attendance hoped for a big second half from Titans. Unfortunately, with Dan O’ Sullivan of Eanna being rotated back in for the third quarter, again his intensity to the fore, we were also treated to his offensive skills on show in this quarter as he accounted for ten of his teams fifteen points. Like in the first quarter Titans offence deserted them and the fifteen to sixteen points lead that Eanna held throughout stayed in place as we entered the fourth. Titans however were not going back to Galway without a fight and Einiris Miltinis who made some crucial scores in the third came flying into the fourth quarter with able assistance from Conor Potito. With Eanna slightly stumbling from their winning position, Coach Neville Charles took a timeout to settle the nerves. This allowed his charges to compose themselves and they came out of the timeout with purpose. Two players who had been to the fore throughout the game stepped up again with Dan O’ Sullivan and Jamie Charles scoring the majority of Eanna’s fourth quarter points to take the John Coughlan Final on a scoreline of fifty-eight points to forty-two.
As another fantastic day of youth basketball came to an end, Chairperson of the Cork County Basketball board thanked all those in attendance, he told both teams and supporters that this was a particularly poignant running of this tournament as it was the first since Mr. Coughlan’s passing and he explained he was a founding member of Blue Demons and administrator for both club and County Board. Our chairperson said that Mr. Coughlan would have been delighted with our final as we had two fantastic teams who play the in right way and in right spirit, particularly our winners Eanna whose whole club whenever they have come to Cork at whatever age group have displayed the qualities that Mr. Coughlan and the Cork County Basketball Board want from game. Eoin Lynch of Blue Demons Basketball as part of the presentation party thanked the County Board for their organisation of the event and reminisced on Mr. Coughlan saying that he would sit in the corner of the hall and that it would not all be about how you play but about your appearance and attitude while on the court. Following this we then presented the M.V.P. who displayed the attributes above and the playing ability to add to it. As one person said “you could see who was going to the award from nine that morning” and as selection committee indicated it is not all about getting the most points, even though he contributed on that end as well, the M.V.P went to Dan O’ Sullivan of Eanna.
Our thanks again go to all the volunteers, table officials, venue official and the C.C.B.O.A who provided the referees on the day. Huge thank you to the sixteen teams from all over the country who travelled to and from Cork in poor weather condition. Our thanks to Eoin Lynch and Gordon Kearney who represented Blue Demons Basketball Club and the family of the late John Coughlan and presented the cup, trophies and M.V.P to the finalists.
Results of the Day