Double delight for Coláiste Choilm basketballers in the Post Primary Schools South A finals at Neptune Stadium.
The U19 and U16 teams produced brilliant displays to land both titles in the same season for the first time.
Tadhg Murphy delivered 36 points to take down Coláiste Mhuire 57-53 in the U19 decider where they held off a huge second-half comeback from a gutsy Crosshaven, who trimmed a 20-point gap to two coming down the stretch.
The team captain nailed two late free-throws to ice a game where his younger brother Daithí Murphy contributed 15 points, including four three-pointers, and Cork U20 footballer Darragh Clifford’s power on the boards was a key factor.
In the U16 final earlier in the day, Coláiste Choilm avenged a heavy loss in last year’s U15 decider to Patrician Academy, Mallow with a 51-37 victory. Joint-captains Daithí Murphy (24 points) and Ellis James, also in double digits, led the way on the scoring front but the team’s defensive structure was notable.
Éanna Ó hUrnaí, who along with James and Murphy played both finals, had an incredible seven blocks. Cian Lacey was also a standout with some brilliant baskets but made his mark at both ends of the court.
Conor Carroll and Charlie Casey kept battling to the end for the Mallow school, who trailed 15-8 after the first quarter and 27-14 at half-time and never fully fired. They couldn’t break down the Coláiste Choilm defense inside and weren’t able to knock down enough shots outside the arc to compensate.
The U16 success set the scene for a double tilt by Francis O’Sullivan and Ciara Rahilly’s charges.
They carried that momentum into the first half of the U19 final, up 9-7 after a typically tense first quarter before coming alive in the next eight minutes, as Tadhg Murphy’s 16 points in that period saw them go 28-13 clear.
Ballincollig got the first five points of the second half too, Tadhg Murphy with a floater and a Daithí Murphy three. It looked like it was game over.
Crosshaven had other ideas.
Irish international Adam Kiwanuka sparked to life, ably supported by Max Heaslip and Senan Buckley and at the end of the third quarter it was 37-26. Early in the fourth, a Darragh Clifford lay-up and another Daithí Murphy three appeared to have quelled the revival but Crosshaven simply refused to yield.
Kiwanuka, who plays his club basketball in Ballincollig, kept the scoreboard ticking over but Tadhg Murphy forced his way through the traffic for a pair of and-one lay-ups putting his side 55-48 ahead with 24 seconds remaining.
With the game slipping away, Mikey Grey went on a scoring burst, punishing Coláiste Choilm turnovers to the tune of five points in a welter of excitement only for Murphy to get to the line and sink his free throws and put the trophy out of reach.
The Murphy brothers finished with a combined 51 points in the U19 decider, having landed 60 in the 67-65 overtime semi-final thriller against Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG when Coáiste Choilm were decimated with injuries and illness but found a way to win against all odds.
Having fallen short in a series of U19 semi-finals in recent years made this a particularly sweet success for the school which has a strong tradition in basketball producing Irish internationals like Dylan Corkery, Ciarán and Adrian O’Sullivan, and Neptune’s Conor and Darragh O’Sullivan.
Tadhg Murphy 36, Daithí Murphy 15, Jack O’Sullivan 3, Darragh Clifford 2, Krzysztof Sebiech 1.
Adam Kiwanuka 20, Mikey Grey 15, Max Heaslip 8, Senan Buckley 6, Oisín Buckley 4.
Fionn O’Donovan, Adam Kiwanuka (c), Joe O’Connell, Max Heaslip, Senan Buckley;
Oisín Buckley, Rory Deane, Joey Middleton, Nikola Martinez, Cameron Reardon, Bobby Layan, Mikey Grey, Shane Casey, Fionán McSweeney, Damien McCauley.
Tadhg Murphy (c), Darragh Clifford, Éanna Ó hUrnaí, Daithí Murphy, Krzysztof Sebiech;
Ellis James, Rian Milner, Conor Chung, Dylan Buttimer, Jamie Griffen, Conor O’Donovan, Ciarán Murphy, Jack O’Sullivan, Finn O’Sullivan, Caoimhín Egan.