St. Conleth’s CC storm to victory in All-Ireland Under 16C Boys Schools Cup decider
St. Conleth's CC celebrate their All-Ireland success Photo: Tyler Daly
All-Ireland Under 16C Boys Schools Cup Final
St. Conleth’s Community College 54
Galway Community College 25
St. Conleth’s Community College delivered a dominant performance that saw them storm to an emphatic 54-25 victory over Galway CC in the final of the 2025/26 All-Ireland Under 16C Boys Schools Cup in the National Basketball Arena on Thursday.
The Newbridge side won every quarter in a game that saw Joshua O’Neill land three attempts from beyond the arc on his way to a game-high 25-point haul, while Aleksandras Sulinskas also inflicted some damage from downtown, as both he and Areel Nokhaiz each weighed in with a further eight apiece.
Mavelose Aginbovia, with 17 points, was Galway’s stand-out performer, but even that significant contribution could not spark a revival by the Connacht side.
St. Conleth’s got off to a blistering start in this decider, O’Neill and Nokhaiz each putting up a deuce before Sulinskas struck from downtown to fire them into an 8-0 lead with less than two minutes gone.
A treble from Ehijie Odigie got Galway off the mark, and they finished the opening quarter with two free-throws from Aginbovia to cut the gap back to three (12-9).
But St. Conleth’s really cut loose in the second quarter, hitting 18 points without reply in a surge that included trebles from O’Neill, Sulinskas and Jack Murray.
That served to propel the Kildare side 21 points clear and, while their opponents did recoup six before the break through Aginbovia and Odigie, they still faced an uphill task in rescuing this game.
And that became an impossible ask by the close of the third, during which they were confined to just three points and outgunned by 12, as O’Neill converted from all areas of the court to see his side take an insurmountable 45-18 advantage into the final period.
Credit to Galway, they kept on battling over the final minutes, Aginbovia serving up six down the stretch, but a St. Conleth’s victory was never in doubt, as Eanna Rochford, Jeremy Yamuteba and Adam Farid also got in among the scorers for the champions.
Ryan McCabe Scully, Clint Rubis, Conor Waters, Eanna Rochford, Adrian Glowacki, Areel Nokhaiz, Jeremy Yamuteba, Jack Murray, Aleksandras Sulinskas, Mateusz Reszka, Dylan Kavanagh, Adam Farid, Joshua O’Neill, Rhys Kerrigan.
Joshua O’Neill (25), Aleksandras Sulinskas (8), Areel Nokhaiz (8).
James Dean Cleary, Ehijie Odigie, Ayman Alkout, Maksym Noskov, Vladyslav Lehutski, Kyrylo Sukhi, George Mgeliashvili, Heorhii Matvieiev, Noah Mboup Dominguez, Martin Veszpremi, Mavelose Aginbovia.
Mavelose Aginbovia (17), Ehijie Odigie (5).
