Schools and Mayo underage leagues take centre stage

WITH both the schools and the Mayo underage basketball leagues underway, it has been a busy few weeks for the sport in Mayo.

At schools level, St. Joseph’s Secondary School, Castlebar, produced a double victory in their opening games at home in An Sportlann, where they defeated St. Nathy’s in both the Under 16 and Under 19 Schoolgirls Leagues, the Under 16s winning 36-32 while the Under 19 eased to a 50-24 win.

Glory Issac scored a superb 17 points to help the St. Joseph's team to the victory over St. Nathy’s in the Under 16 game.

The sides were well matched in the opening quarter, St. Nathy’s leading by two thanks to some good baskets from Leah McHugh and Annie Mae Regan.

The second quarter went to the home side – 8-5 – as Sonia Moduwwba hit some good scores, while Glory Issac took over the third and fourth quarters, with St. Joseph’s taking control of the game.

The St. Joseph's Under 19 girls had an impressive win over St. Nathy’s and were always in control of the game.

Siobhan Kilkenny’s charges shot from the blocks and took a commanding 18-8 lead in the opening quarter.

The second quarter was shared eight apiece, as was the third quarter, but another strong final quarter secured an impressive 50-24 victory for the Castlebar school.

There was some excellent finishing by the locals, who hit 18 points in the first quarter and added another 18 in the fourth.

Eimer Cunningham, Glory Issac, Annamaie Clarke, Joanne Touhy, Lillimai McLoughlin and Sarah Heneghan hit some excellent scores in what was fine team performance from the Castlebar school. It represents a good start to the new season for coach Siobhan Kilkenny.

For St. Nathy’s, Sarah Brett nailed 13 points in an impressive display.

UP AND RUNNING

The Mayo underage leagues are up and running, with some very good games involving the Under 14 and Under 16 boys and girls.

Ballintubber Under 16 boys had a big win to boost their league hopes by beating Belmullet 36-27.

Jack Diffily, Luke Lydon and Phillip Walsh were dominant in the scoring department, with Ballintubber very strong under both the offensive and defensive boards.

Crossmolina also look to have a solid Under 16 boys team and they had an impressive win over Ballina Braves. Kobe McDonnell, Josh Moyles, Dylan Flynn and Eoin Dyra were in hot form for Crossmolina but Ballina Braves, despite missing a lot of scoring chances in the first two quarters, stayed the pace until the final quarter. They found it difficult to compete under the boards against a physically stronger Crossmolina team.

Kiltimagh Giants have a nicely balanced team and they were too strong for Castlebar Comets at a recent meeting at the De La Salle Hall in Castlebar, where it finished 42-24 in favour of the visitors. Castlebar found it hard to handle the towering Liam Smyth, who did huge damage under both offensive and defensive boards, finishing the game with 12 points, while Joseph Heneghan and Owen McGovern nailed some good baskets for the winners.

Shea Golden, Rodrigo Ramirez and Cillian Walsh kept plugging away for Castlebar, who picked off some nice scores of their own.

In the Mayo Under 14 boys league, Castlebar Comets had a fine win over Kiltimagh (24-18) with a good scoring spread among the team.

The game marked the debut of newly qualified referee Nathan McHale, who had fine game, assisted by Cathy Kilkenny.

Crossmolina’s Under 14s proved too strong for Ballina Braves, while Ballintubber Under 14 boys also edged Charlestown.

In the Mayo Under 16 girls league, Westport produced something of a shock by beating Kiltimagh to win their first league game – and deserving winners they were too.

It was close game right through, with Westport failing to close down Kiltimagh in the opening quarter, which they lost 6-2, Kate Byrne doing all the damage with a string of baskets. However, Westport had a much better second quarter, Grainne Muldoon and Nubia Beiritxinaga scoring some fine baskets.

The third quarter saw Westport really come back into it, winning it 9-4, Muldoon and Beiritxinaga turning up the heat with some good scores as Westport tightened their defence.

The game went right to the wire, with Kate Byrne scoring a late basket to put Kiltimagh ahead by a point but in a dramatic finish, Beiritxinaga sealed it for Westport from the free-throw line to grab a sensational one-point win, giving a great boost to all involved in promoting basketball in Westport.