Blue Demons Juvenile Boys had a busy weekend of games this past weekend. It started with 3 games out in Douglas on Saturday against Fr Mathews.
Our U11s opened in Douglas and played excellent fast break and defensive basketball.
Next up were Stephen O’Leary’s U12 team who had a tough game against a much bigger Mathews side. Mathews started strong in the first quarter but Demons were leading by 4 points at half time. Demons stretched the lead in the 3rd quarter to 10 points with excellent passing from Colin Hannigan and finishing from Derek Foley, John O’Sullivan, Conor Murphy and Emmett Roche. Fr Mathews pushed hard in the 4th quarter but Demons ran out winners by 5 points.
Our U14’s then followed and put on an exhibition of basketball with defensive organisation being the key. Demons lead by 8 points at half time but really took off in the 3rd quarter and ran out convincing winners by 22 points after clinical execution on the offensive end.
On Sunday morning, we hosted 4 games in the Parochial Hall with a large attendance even with the early start of games at 9:30am. 3 of the games were against well coached Limerick Celtics. First up were our U12’s again who started slowly but were 18-9 up at half time after a tough defensive performance. They continued the scoring in the 3rd & 4th quarters with Eoin Carmody, James Dillon, Mathew McCarthy, Ruairi O’Mahony, Evan O’Connor and Jack O’Leary to the fore and ran out convincing winners on a scoreline of 48-21.
Our U14’s coached by Dave Lehane and Dermot Looney were also playing @ 9:30 against Celtics and they continued their fine form from Saturday and controlled the game from the tip off. They were 24-14 up at half time and stretched that lead in the 3rd quarter before easing off in the 4th to win 49-39.
Next up at 10:30 were our U13’s against Skibereen. The 1st quarter was tough going and Demons lead 8-4 at the end of the quarter with team defenses on top. Demons came out a different team in the second quarter and held Skibereen scoreless to lead 20-4 at half time with good scores from Anthony Butler, Dylan Hayes and Tom Griffin. Stephen Hannigans & Donal Constant’s troops continued to keep the pressure on in the 3rd quarter(26-4) and ran out winners on a scoreline of 30-12 with a good overall team performance with everyone contributing.
Our last game of the morning was our U16’s against Limerick. Demons giving up a lot of height battled hard in the first quarter but trailed 15-5. Demons pushed hard in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and managed to get it back to 4 points (19-23) with good outside shooting from Blake Murphy but Limerick pushed hard and ran out winners by 9 points. I am sure Demons will look for revenge in the repeat fixture.
We finished off Sunday morning in the Parochiall Hall with over 50 kids attending our Boys Academy under the expert coaching of Sean Murphy, Ken Foley, Jamie & Jason Barry, Colin Naughton and Eoin Lynch.