Colaiste Ide agus Iosef Abbeyfeale held off a rally from defending champions, Holy Faith Clontarf, to win the All Ireland U19 A Girls Final at the National Basketball Arena last Thursday.
The West Limerick girls controlled the game throughout and ran out convincing 59-42 winners. Kerry intercounty player Eibhlis Dillon put on a star performance for the Abbeyfeale school and accounted for 23 of her side’s total. A commanding opening saw the winners in the ascendancy 16-3 at the end of the first quarter, a lead that at half time had been stretched to 41-21.
Holy Faith dominated for periods in the second half but were unable to make any serious dent on the Coláiste Ide agus Iosef lead and the Abbeyfeale side held out for a famous victory.
The Colaiste Ide agus Iosef squad was Sorcha McNulty, Aislinn O’Connell, Eibhlis Dillon, Tina Mangan, Leanne Mangan, Laura Broderick, Katie O’Connell and Sarah Curtin.
The team was coached by Clare Sheehy, a former assistant coach to the Ireland Under 16 team.