Rampant Glanmire take first title

Vienna Woods, Glanmire 69 Mercy, Coolock 38

The win gave Irish international Sinead Leahy her fourth successive medal after her three-in-a-row with UL Aughinish.

A couple of weeks ago, Mercy beat Glanmire for the regular season title, and that performance, coupled with their clear-cut victory over UL in the semis, sent them into yesterday’s decider as hot favourites.

But, in truth, they were never in the hunt as Glanmire, after a somewhat nervous start, drew clear in the second quarter to lead 29-14 at half time.

MVP Michelle Foley took control of matters in the third quarter with a 12-point contribution that put the game out of Mercy’s reach. They led 50-26 at the end of the third quarter and from there on in it was just a matter of keeping on course as coach Mark Scannell ran his bench.

Scannell had already availed of the opportunity to blood some young players including his daughter, Jessica, a member of the Irish Under-15 team.

Mercy, also bidding for their first title, applied some ferocious pressure in the opening five minutes of the game, but Glanmire held their defence together and, after six minutes, they were tied on four points apiece.

“We applied a lot of pressure throughout the opening quarter, but the shots just would not fall for us,” Mercy coach, Mark Ingle, said. “I think when they saw this happening, their heads dropped while Glanmire grew in confidence.”

That confidence was reflected on the scoreboard in the second quarter as captain Denise Walsh had two inspiring baskets. Karen Habrukowich struck with a big three-pointer. When Donna Buckley landed another basket, Mercy were never going to recover.

“It was all about team performance today and they were incredible,” Scannell insisted. “Their defence was just amazing and to hold a team like Mercy to 38 points was just fantastic.

“Everybody, from the youngest to the oldest, played their part. Jessica (Scannell), Amy (Stewart), Kathryn (Fahy) all came on and played their part.

"We have a lot of experience from the older girls, but we have a very young team and there was a lot of nerves early on. However, we weathered the storm and once we got into a rhythm everything else kicked in.”

“We have progressed a lot over the past few years. We have had three fantastic coaches in the national league. Seanie (O’Regan) brought us the extra step last year and before that Kieran (Doherty) did the preliminary work and then Mark got us over the line,” assistant coach, Timmy Murphy, said.

Top scorers for Glanmire: M. Fahy 16, M. Breen 8, D. Walsh and K. Habrukowich 7.

Mercy: T. Gahan 19, R. Kelly and S. Maguire 7.