Celtics do enough to see off Oblates in DLBB Under 20 Cup Final
Liffey Celtics U20s celebrate with the cup
Liffey Celtics inflicted enough damage in the opening half to weather an attempted second-half revival by Oblates, as the Leixlip side ran out nine-point winners and raised this season’s DLBB Under 20 Women’s Cup in Inchicore on Sunday.
Liffey had carved out a 16-point advantage by the halftime break, but had to negotiate a much improved display by their Dublin rivals in the second period, during which Sophie Staunton served up 19 points on her way to a game-high 24.
Yet Celtics, themselves, finished with four players in double digits, including Clara Boyce who, only the day before had carded a Super League career best tally of 11 points for the club’s first team in their clash with University of Galway Mystics.
She put up an impressive 18 for the Under 20s on Sunday, while Katie O’Sullivan and Sarah Bradley each carded 12.
It was the Leixlip side who were first out of the blocks with a Boyce free-throw and deuce quickly followed by a bucket from O’Sullivan and shot off the three-point arc by Shauna Curran to see their side 8-0 up.
Oblates did get up and running with a Layla Ryan three, but Kelly Bracken responded in kind for Celtics who ended the opening quarter with a 15-8 lead, Hannah Byrne draining a much-needed basket from downtown to help keep Oblates in the reckoning.
That gap was reduced to three, thanks to scores from Staunton and Diana Mirt early in the second period, but three six-point runs for Liffey that featured big efforts from distance by Boyce and Curran, saw them carry a 35-19 lead into the second half.
Oblates, however, dug in the third and served up nine unanswered points compliments of Staunton, Faye Sutcliff, Byrne and Mia McEntee to reduce their arrears to as much.
O’Sullivan landed a big effort from beyond the arc while Sarah Bradley served up two buckets in quick succession to leave 18 points between the sides, although Staunton made some in-roads into that deficit to narrow the gap to 52-40 heading into the final quarter.
A Georgia Munnelly score from downtown was followed by points from Boyce, Bradley and Bracken as the Leixlip side moved clear by 20.
Oblates, however, were not done yet and strung together an 11-point run fuelled largely by Staunton that saw the gap cut to nine, but the clock was not on the side of the Dubliners, who were unable to seriously threaten their opponents’ grip on this tie.
Katie Bracken, Kelly Bracken, Ciara Farrell, Clara Boyce, Sarah Bradley, Shauna Curran, Georgia Munnelly, Janka Smalec, Katie O’Sullivan.
Top Scorers: Clara Boyce (18), Sarah Bradley (12), Katie O’Sullivan (12), Kelly Bracken (11).
Leah Kelly, Layla Ryan, Hannah Byrne, Alanna Fennell, Mia McEntee, Diana Mirt, Meaghan Carr, Zoe Dunne, Aoife Quinn Nealon, Faye Sutcliff, Kate O’Neill, Sophie Staunton.
Top Scorers: Sophie Staunton (24), Mia McEntee (14), Hannah Byrne (8).
