John Coughlan Tournament recap
On cold and icy Saturday morning eighteen clubs descended on the northside of Cork City for the annual John Coughlan Under 15 Boys tournament and what a fantastic tournament it was.
With an eighteen-team tournament, the pools consisted of two groups of five and two groups of four. Carrigaline v Blue Demons and Ennis Rock v Killarney Cougars tipped off first at the Parochial Hall. With Portlaoise Panthers v Neptune and Oblates and Limerick Celtics starting things in Neptune Stadium. From talking and listening to coaches and managers everyone attended this tournament with something different in mind, from winning or trying to winning, through to being competitive or just being there for the learning curve. It would appear that all goals were achieved.
As a busy morning followed into a busy afternoon, we reached our quarter finals where we saw Blue Demons and Titans and Limerick Lion and Killarney Cougars meet in Parochial Hall and St. Mary’s Castleisland v Oblates and Portlaoise Panthers v Eanna in Neptune. This writer was in attendance at the games in Neptune and observed two fantastic tight games of basketball that were only decided in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter. The Oblates and Castleisland game began with St. Mary’s pulling out a big lead with Oblates chipping away slowly by half time they were back in the game, and it was nip and tuck all the way through with Oblates coming out two-point winners. On court two it was a different story as both teams had periods of dominance throughout the game with both teams holding six to eight point leads throughout the before tactical adjustments by coaches Glynn and Carroll would draw the teams back however one final period of dominance pulled Portlaoise clear to win by six. The quarterfinals in the Parochial Hall were different to those in the stadium as the winners in both were able to build leads against their opposition particularly Blue Demons who shutdown Titan and went comfortably into semifinals winning by twenty. Limerick Lions followed them into the semifinals with a thirteen-point win over the Cougars.
All the action moved to Parochial Hall for the semifinals and on Court 1 we saw the meeting of Blue Demons and Oblates. Demons started very strongly with Sean Walsh to the fore ably assisted by Sean Kelleher as they built a lead up that they would never relinquish leading nineteen to eleven points at the break. Oblates slowed their attacking prowess somewhat after that as quarters two and three were nip and tuck with box scores of 12-10 and 8-8 which meant the lead narrowed to six points at the start of the fourth quarter. With Charlie Barry playing some strong defence and scoring an excellent three-point play, Blue Demons moved into the final of the tournament on a scoreline of 39-46. That all important scoring burst in the first quarter being the difference. On Court 2 we began with a tight first quarter with Lions in ascendancy with Lions leading by two by the end. Portlaoise Panthers throughout the day when they appeared to be trouble just seemed to grind down the opposition with tough defence and in this second quarter sixteen points from play. With only fourin reply from Limerick, a smaller bench and the team slowing down from the exertions of the day, Panthers through Noah Finn and Evan Brannigan took the game away from the Lions running out fourteen-point winners on a scoreline of 31 to 45.
After a competitive day’s basketball and both teams six from six, we had a competitive final game. Portlaoise probably started really well from probably the first time all the tournament between Zeik Pullos scoring prowess and Kris Volchocks work prowess at both ends pushed Panthers into the lead with Demons gamely hanging through Sean Kelleher and Sean Walsh, unfortunately for Walsh the rigours of the day caught up with him and he retired injured but he should be happy with his performance. Coaches Estela and Barry had a lot of motivating and tactical changes to make at the break in quarter in particular their defence. This showed in the second quarter with Charlie Barry particularly effective but unfortunately finding him some foul trouble. As they narrowed the gap to single figures the crowd in attendance were looking forward to the second half of our final. At the half and the narrowing of the gap both coaches made necessary adjustments going into the third quarter, with someimpressive rotation and a team effort from all the bench, Demon in particular through Sean Kearney and Stephen O’ Connell began to narrow the gap. Following a quick timeout from Coach Glynn, two of Portlaoise’s totems throughout the day brought them back into the game with Kris Volchocks and Evan Brannigan to the fore the eight-point lead was heldgoing into the fourth quarter. We began our fourth quarter with both teams’ hopeful of success unfortunately for Charlie Barry he was fouled out early in the fourth quarter as they still took the fight to the Panthers with Sean Kelleher in particular to the fore. This time it was Portlaoise’s rotation to the fore with Finn, Lumanlan and Brannigan chipping in with points to again extend their lead. The final nail in the coffin came with a three-point play from Zeik Pullos to close out the game. A delighted Panthers team finished out the day seven from seven and took home the John Coughlan cup on a scoreline of 47 to 59.
Our congratulations to Portlaoise Panthers who were crowned winners who along with all the other produced outstanding basketball all day after going from seven wins from seven games. Evan Brannigan took home M.V.P honours who in the judge’s opinion performed not only in the final but throughout the day, there were a few other standout performers in the knockout stages but including his performance in the knockout stages Evan took the honour. This win continues a fantastic run at Cork tournaments following successes at the Michael Heffernan, Under 14 tournament and a runner up finish at our Under 16 tournament. I am sure the club will be trying to target success at the forthcoming Billy Kelly Tournament in April also.
Once again thanks to the caretakers, volunteers, table officials and fellow board members for an extremely successful tournament. Our thanks also go to Gordon Kearney and Eoin Lynch from Blue Demons who presented the trophies and medal and spoke wonderfully about Mr. Coughlan at our presentation ceremony.
