Ballincollig sweat their way to OT Cup semi-final win
FINAL SPOT BOOKED: Ballincollig's Latavious Mitchell performs a slam dunk. Picture: ©INPHO/Tom Maher
THE only trouble with long, unbeaten runs isn’t losing them – it’s worrying about losing them. Ballincollig came into Friday night’s National Cup semi-final as the hottest team in the game – 12 wins on the bounce, setting them top of the Superleague and steaming favourites to book passage to the Cup final.
That brings its own frets and sweats, but Limerick Celtics needed to ask the right questions at Neptune Stadium. Tony Hehir’s Superleague new boys needed to break out into an early lead and hang around long enough to sow seeds of doubt.
They started tentatively, and though Limerick were only a point down heading into Q2, it said more about the poor opening than their abilities to stifle Ballincollig. With 19 ticks left in the first quarter, Ballincollig’s leading light Latavious Mitchell took flight to stuff the lead score and win the bonus for a 16-13 lead. A capacity hall roared not just respect, but relief. It has been a brick of a start to the Cup semi-final. With six minutes played, Limerick Celtics had cobbled together five points. Ballincollig were at it on defence but 2/10 on outside shooting and only 4/11 in the paint. Clinical they were not. Nervous they were.
Mitchell and the silken Josh Steel improved matters in Q2, the latter putting his name on the only pair of successful three point efforts out of 18. Mitchell made a big steal under the opposition basket for the stuff and grabbed a rebound off a Steel outside shot for another. He would finish the half with 16.
Ballincollig player coach Ciaran O’Sullivan chipped in too with a pair of scorers, the nice fallaway jumper with 1.05 left in the first half edging the Ballincollig lead out to ten 32-22. Limerick’s Ruairi Cronin – along with Finn Hughes – were hanging tough though, the former’s three keeping it honest and interesting at the half, 34-26 Ballincollig.
Things would get better for Cronin in Q3, and all the more interesting as he struck for a pair of outside scores to reduce it to a four point game (50-46) as the clock ran down on Q3. He went into the last quarter at Celtics’ top scorer on 11. There were five minutes remaining in the third quarter when his colleague Sean Antonio Hauser became the first Celtics player to reach double digits. Generally not a positive indicator.
Were Tony Hehir’s side deterred? Not even close. Getting up a head of steam, they gradually reeled in the favourites. From a 46-36 deficit, they closed out the quarter 52-50 in front with a score from Philip Kearney. Game on now.
Mitchell got the stuff off a Cairns assist, but Limerick weren’t fazed at all. Adrian O’Sullivan turned it over and AJ Williams punished to edge Limerick in front again, 54-52. Ballincollig’s Cairns got called for a midcourt foul – their need of a steadying pair of hands grew more evident with every play. Mitchell got checked at one end, Celtics guard Williams made it pay at the other, 56-52 Celtics. When he repeated the dose with 6.22 left to make it a six-point game, the whiff of a Cup upset spread from the Celtics bench around the Arena. O’Hehir’s side are 4-8 in the League, but in Williams, Hughes, Cronin and the American pair, they have a lot of blue collar about them.
Ballincollig looked rattled, but were given a leg up by Cronin who fouled Mitchell in the act of scoring – a deficit halved with the bonus (58-55). Wurie responded with the drive for Celtics, and Williams nailed a huge three with 4.11 left to go 62-57 in front. Now the handbrakes were off.
Cronin had a three bid stick in the jaws and Hughes was off too but Ballincollig were getting desperate. They needed a pair of free throws from Adrian O’Sullivan and he delivered to tie it up at 64-64 with 1.45 remaining. MVP candidate Williams drove for the lead Celtics score but missed the bonus, but a Jossell three bid for the lead wouldn’t drop for Ballincollig. One minute left. Mitchell levelled it and Steel picked up a crucial loose ball before a Limerick time out set us all up for the grandstand finale.
It didn’t come. Steel, untypically, fouled the ball, and Cronin’s hurried shot to win it for Celtics was well shy. Overtime would be required. It was scratchy and frantic, as extra periods often are. Shots weren’t dropping, and with 1.21 left, we had two Mitchell FTs and nought else, 68-66. Steel was as guilty as anyone, but Ballincllig's error count was off the charts.
With 0.43 left, Celtics' Wurie was fouled and made one. But they couldn't nose in front. Ballincollig's Jossel was fouled with 4.7 secs left. He iced both.Â
Amazingly neither side scored from open play in OT
: Latavious Mitchell 31, Josh Steel 11, Adrian O’Sullivan 9.
: AJ Williams 20, Sean Antonio Hauser 13, Ruairi Cronin 13.
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