Jack O'Leary plays through the pain as UCC Blue Demons beat Ballincollig

Ben Horgan top scored with 19 points, while O’Leary scored 14 points in a commanding performance from the Demons captain

Jack O'Leary of UCC Blue Demons in action against Hugh Murphy of Ballincollig BC during the Basketball Ireland Men's U20 Cup semi-final match between UCC Blue Demons and Ballincollig BC at Neptune Stadium in Cork. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

UCC Blue Demons are into the U20 Men’s National Cup final after defeating Ballincollig BC 80-64 in a Cork derby at Neptune Stadium on Sunday. 

Ben Horgan top scored with 19 points, while Jack O’Leary scored 14 points in a commanding performance from the Demons captain.

Horgan opened the scoring with a three for Demons and they had a five-point advantage midway through the first quarter, 11-6, thanks to a Horgan layup. With three minutes to go a three-point jump shot from Ballincollig’s Areminus Kremenskas saw them trail 12-9. Luke Sutton was shooting well early on for Demons and he had the final points of the quarter to make it 21-16.

It was a low-scoring start to the second quarter but it exploded into life in the last four minutes. Horgan had eight points, including two three-pointers, and Blue Demons had an eight-point advantage at 34-26 with three minutes to go. For Ballincollig, Colm Blount, brother of Ireland senior international Jordan Blount, was having a fine game - his layup made it 37-30. Blount scored 15 points before the break but it was Demons who led 39-30 at half-time.

Sean O’Flynn’s three-pointer gave Ballincollig the perfect start to reduce the deficit to 39-33 but Demons opened up a 15-point lead midway through the quarter, 51-36, after Mathew McCarthy converted one of his two free throws. A Jake Orji three with four minutes to go in the quarter made it 54-36 to Demons. 

With 30 seconds left in the quarter, O’Flynn landed a big three to see Ballincollig trail 60-47 but the last word went to Orji, with a lovely buzzer-beater to hand Demons a 62-49 advantage.

O’Leary was consistently pulling the strings for Demons and created some space for Horgan to land another three-pointer with two and a half minutes gone in the fourth quarter to open up a 15-point gap again, 69-54.

A three from Kremenskas reduced the deficit to 76-62 late on but Demons managed the game out to win 80-64.

Demons head coach Shane McCarthy said: “I'm absolutely over the moon with the performance. The club is in good hands, we had three 17-year-olds out there playing today which is unbelievable and most of the team are underage again next year, so to get to the final this year, ahead of the curve of where we want to be, I'm absolutely thrilled.

“To me, I don't care what you say, Jack O'Leary is the best guard in the country, at under-20 level there's no one near him. We'd a bad injury scare with him last night and he played through the pain today. We'll get him into physio straight away in the morning and see how we go for the next two weeks. We'll take care of him. It's been a big weekend for Jack; he's a big part of the senior team, but he's a huge part of my team, so we'll see how it goes.” 

They will play either UCD Marian in the final after they defeated Killorglin 81-67. Ruairi Murphy was the main man for Killorglin, he had eight points in the first quarter and would finish with 22 points, while UCD Marian’s scoring was evenly spread, as Colm O’Reilly (22) and Paraic Moran got the late scores to wrap up the victory.

In the U20 Women’s National Cup, Portlaoise Panthers beat Singleton Supervalu Brunell 47-39, earning them a spot in the finals at the National Basketball Arena in two weeks' time. The game’s top scorer, Sarah Fleming, helped seal their victory, with 11 points.

They will meet Waterford Wildcats, who cruised past DCU 68-48. Irish international Sarah Hickey recorded 25 points to help seal the victory.