Students from Colaiste Bride recently won U16 B Girls All Ireland Schools League Final at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. A nervous start to this U16 B Girls school league final saw both teams miss some early attempts before Colaiste Bride got going with some excellent shooting. Aoibhin Dunne had two big threes to go with her opening lay up to give Colaiste Bride an eleven-point lead midway through the quarter. Abbey O’Keefe and Sarah Bulough also chipped in but a lot of fouls particularly while trying to stop the excellent offensive rebounding of Madeleine Duplo of Manor House were a worrying sign. Colaiste Bride led 7- 20 going into the second quarter.
Manor House came storming out in the second. Duplo was excellent inside as was Rachel Allen and Onome Akpotar. They worked hard and got some great looks that they finished. Emily Brady had three three’s in her eleven points this quarter and with thirty seconds to go it was all tied up. Colaiste Bride were getting the same looks they were making in the first but the shots weren’t dropping. Dunne and O’Keefe did get a couple of scores as did Eimear Quinn but the quarter belonged to Manor House, it was 29 – 29 at the half. The third quarter saw defences tighten up on both sides and scores were hard to come by. Duplo and Emily Payne found the bottom of the basket for Manor house as did O’Keefe and Katie Flanagan for Colaiste Bride. It was 37 – 39 Colaiste Bride going into the fourth. Manor House battled hard but it was Colaiste Bride who started the brighter, Flanagan and Yusuf got them started before Dunne and O’Keefe found their range. Brady did all she could with five points in the quarter but it wasn’t enough and Manor House won on the scoreline of 53 – 64.
Lisa Kelly, teacher at Colaiste Bride commented “I am so proud of my tutor group TYB who had 3 members Katie, Abbey and Alison represent Colaistebride so well by becoming All Ireland Champions at the U16s Basketball Final. Well done Abbey on receiving MVP too!”
The final score was Manor House School, Raheny 53-64 Colaiste Bride. MVP: Abbey O’Keefe, Colaiste Bride.
Watch the game back on the below;
In main Image: Colaiste Bride team pictured: Katie Flanagan 16, Abbey O’Keefe 19, Lucy Cullen, Eimear Quinn 6, Aoibhin Dunne 15, Grace Cleary, Bolu Hammed, Alison Stewart Maher, Sarah Bulough 6, Aaliyah Yusuf 2, Ruth Goodhead.
