Great start to season for U15 boys

The Celtics U15 boys had a great start to the season as they won their pre-season tournament this past weekend. This is the second year running the tournament and there was a good crowd throughout the day in Confey to support the boys. The standard was excellent with four of the very best teams in the country at this age group getting back into the swing of basketball after the summer break! Celtics played Kubs in the opener as the top two teams in Dublin went at it again. Kubs had an early set back with the loss of Donal McKay through injury. Celtics passed the ball well and picked up an early lead which Kubs couldn’t claw back with Celtics winning out on a scoreline of 34 – 17.

Portlaoise were next up taking on a strong looking Malachy’s team from Belfast. The game was end to end and thoroughly exciting to watch. There was nothing to separate the sides after the fourth quarter as we headed for overtime. Belfast made some big shots in overtime to take the game by a basket. Next up Celtics took to the floor against Portlaoise. Again the boys picked up an early lead behind some heavy scoring from Tiernan Howe. Defense from the whole team was excellent and boys ran out eventual winners 44 – 34.

Belfast took on Kubs in the next game and Kubs struggled without some of their injured players as Belfast shot the lights out with a barrage of 3 pointers to take the game. With Kubs beating Portlaoise to take 3rd spot the final was to be a repeat of last year’s tournament final. Celtics played an up tempo game from the first whistle and were able to cut through Malachy’s press with ease. Defense was excellent throughout the final stopping the 3 point shot of Belfast on a regular basis. With eight Celtics players on the scoresheet and Kabir Akanbi scoring a game high 26 points Celtics went on to beat Belfast on a scoreline of 67 (K.Akanbi 26, T.Howe 16, B.Travers 8, J.Maguire 7) – 49 (C.Cooke 21, CJ.Fulton 10, C.Ryan 10, J.Summersgill 4).

Even with the competitive nature of basketball at this level it is great to see teams and players interact and the friendships between teams and players was evident throughout the day! We would like to thank all players, coaches, managers, parents and table officials who all volunteered their time to make the tournament a success.