Leinster title for Ashbourne boys

Ashbourne Community Schools claimed the Boys u-19 Schools Leinster Basketball title when they defeated Holy Child CS, Sallynoggin in the semi-final before overcoming Lucan CC in the final at the National Arena, Tallaght. This was the first boys provincial title achieved by the school. Last year the senior team were runners-up in a Leinster final making this victory all the sweeter. The Ashbourne boys earned their place in the decider when they overcame their Sallynoggin counterparts in an intensely-fought encounter. The Meath side suffered an early setback in this contest when Eric O'Carroll injured an ankle in the opening seconds. However, his injury served to bring the team closer together and Ashbourne, coached by Ronan Hobbs, started playing as a unit. Without hitting top gear Ashbourne conjured up scores from Lauraynas Repecka (17), Karolis Stankivicius (11) and Giedrius 'Greg' Petraukas (six) to keep the opposition at bay. Darragh Curran registered six points while O'Carroll, Brady and David Moloney each contributed two points. Moloney's introduction in place of the injured O'Carroll served to further energise the team. There were however, some close calls and pressure plays for Ashbourne to deal with, but with Darragh 'Big D' Curran a tower of strength Ashbourne cleaned up every rebound. Holy Child just couldn't get close enough to threaten the Ashbourne side who ran out winners on a 46-37 scoreline. Ashbourne were pitted against fierce rivals Lucan CC in the final. These sides had already qualified from the same group and when they met previously Ashbourne won by 10 points. With the memory of that match in the players mind they headed into the final with confidence. David Moloney's display in defence really set the tone early on, and allowed Lucan no breathing space to play their normal fluid style. Moloney scored with two excellent baskets however, after some early fouls he had to revert to the bench. The other players had to up the tempo with Petraukas and Repecka scoring 10 and eight points respectively in the first-half to leave Ashbourne leading 30-18 at the interval. The concern for Ashbourne at the break was that Lucan had not yet hit full pace. The toll of playing two matches in quick succession began to catch up with the Ashbourne players as Lucan began to run riot on the resumption. Sebastian Deska and Matthew Brady stepped into the fray as part of the changes made by Ashbourne however, Lucan continued their revival to level the scores at 40-40 at the end of the third-quarter. The fourth-quarter was make or break time for Ashbourne. In times of need a team always looks to their captain for leadership and Stankivicius again rose to the fore with his stylish and decisive play. Scoring 10 points of the team's 16, along with setting up two of the other three baskets, Stankivicius exemplified what a leader and captain should be and he ended up top scorer with 17 points. The other point scorers were: Repecka (16), Petraukas (15), Moloney (six) and Brady (two). Lucan had no answer to Ashbourne's tempo which was raised a few notches in that final quarter and it was they who claimed the prize on a 56-49 scoreline. Ashbourne CS - S Murphy, J Heffernan, S Deska, A Zwidryn, K Stankivicius, M Brady, D Curran, R Vasconcelos, E O'Carroll, D Moloney, L Repecka, G Petraukas