Donaghy sparkles as Saints deliver

AN AWESOME display by Kerry All-Star Kieran Donaghy ensured St Brendan’s claimed this Premier Men’s Final before a huge crowd in the 41st annual Castleisland Christmas Basketball Blitz last night.

Donaghy was not the only star on show as Micheal Quirke faced off against Limerick midfielder John Galvin, while an interested spectator was Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney.

St Brendan’s made the better start with Donaghy and Quirke strong under both boards while Jason Quirke and Eoin Quigley also impressed for the Tralee side.

Team Garvey’s never got going despite the vociferous home crowd trying to lift them as they struggled to score inside against Quirke and Donaghy and Declan Wall despite two three pointers.

Donaghy was sublime with two early buckets and then he set up Jason Quirke for another with a reverse pass as St Brendan’s raced 7 -2 clear.

Even the introduction of John Teahan could not curb Donaghy as he excelled from the free throw line scoring four from six and with Quirke curbing the threat of Galvin, it took a three pointer from Declan Wall to keep Team Garvey’s afloat as they trailed 16 -12 at the interval.

Baskets from Dan Griffin and Galvin saw the home side rally briefly as they closed the gap to 20-16 but then Donaghy four more from the charity line and young Eoin Quigley draining two more baskets, St Brendan’s 34 to 21 in front with Donaghy bringing his tally to 17 with just under 2.00 left on the clock.

Quirke was awesome at the defensive end as St Brendan’s rescued some silverware for the season while Team Garvey’s who never got going, have a National Cup semi final meeting against Titans on January 15th to look forward to.

Top Scorers: St Brendan’s — K Donaghy 20, J Quirke 8, E Quigley 5

Team Garvey’s: J Galvin 7, D Wall 6, D Griffin 4 MVP K Donaghy

THERE were 24 finals played involving 177 games at two venues over five days, in what must be the most enduring sporting events in the country and a credit to Donal Duke O’Connor and his hard working committee. In the Division 1 Men’s Final, a more experienced Cordal side proved too strong for youthful St Mary’s 24-14 with Eamon John O’Donoghue the games MVP with a seven point haul.

In the Senior Ladies, St Mary’s beat local rivals St Paul’s thanks to the brilliance of Eileen O’Connor 21- 16. Kerry All-Star goalkeeper Edel Murphy helped Tommy K’s beat Blazers 22-21 after overtime with Kerry footballer Joanne Brosnan top scoring with nine.