Presentation Castleisland Basketball teams made the long journey to the National Arena at 6:45am for the U-14 National Cup semi-final against Loreto, Dalkey at 12 noon.
If successful the final was to be played at 2pm.
Rarely Achieved Double
Presentation Castleisland had won the cup in 2018 and the travelling party looked to complete a rarely achieved double at this level.
After a slow start, the Pres Girls took control and ran out convincing winners 51-19 with all players making a good contribution to the win.
Close rivals, Portlaoise awaited in the final. Portlaoise had also won their semi-final convincingly so a tight game was anticipated by all.
Up 15 at the Break
This was not to be the case as Presentation dominated from the start and excellent full court defence prevented Portlaoise from finding any rhythm, Presentation lead by 15 points at the break.
The same pattern dominated in the second half and the Castleisland girls won 56-27. This was a fantastic team performance and the hard work put in at training since September paid off handsomely.
Early Start for U-15s
On Thursday February 14th once again the team left for Dublin at 6.45am. The U-15 team had beaten Portlaoise in the quarter final and a tough semi-final against Regina Mundi of Cork was eagerly anticipated.
The semi-final was a great game with the Pres girls eventually pulling away in the last quarter to win 39-31.
Meanwhile Virginia College, Cavan had won the other semi-final against Loreto Dalkey. Unfortunately, the first quarter was lost 10-2 and the rest of the game was spent chasing down that lead.
Nip and Tuck
Presentation Castleisland took the lead for the first time late in the third quarter to go one point up but this was immediately answered by a three pointer from Cavan.
The game was nip and tuck all through the fourth quarter and Presentation to their credit never gave up but Virginia ran out 35-31 worthy winners in the end.
After a successful cup campaign, both Presentation Castleisland teams remain undefeated in the Kerry League and can now look forward to progression to the National League play-offs in April.
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