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Reports on Games [2013/2014]Steelers last league games The big majority of the Blackwater Steelers teams ended their BNI league campaigns last weekend. On Saturday the boys had 4 games against the best opposition Belfast Star and lost all 4 games, but the U 12s and U 18s got to within two points of a victory. The girls’ teams on the other hand were winners on the day at 14, 16 and 18 level but Lisburn pushed them all the way apart from in the 18s. U 16 Boys BWS 16pts Belfast Star 51p The Steelers faced the league winners for their last game of the league fixtures with little hope of a victory. The away game in Belfast had Star run up a 42pt win, so this result came as no surprise. The Steelers almost had to forfeit the game due to some players involved in other commitments and some lads unavailable. Fortunately, young Ryan Treanor from the U14 Boys panel offered his services for the second quarter 5 and performed extremely well. A slight problem with late comers at the start of the game meant the Steelers had to field their big lads which left the second quarter struggling in offense. The lads did their best to contain Star in the first half and were only trailing by 12pts at the buzzer. The half-time score was Star 25, Steelers 13pts. The second half proved to be a total disaster as Star took control and ran up the points. The Steelers failed to get any baskets from open play in the two quarter and the only 3pts gained came from the free throw line. Final score Star 51pts, Steelers 16pts. With all the league fixtures complete, the result of this game has the Steelers in 3rd place, and a semi-final play-off against Lisburn next Sunday. A game the lads are very capable of taking even though they had two previous losses, but the margins were tight. With the bench up to full strength it’s quite possible that the boys could meet Star again in the final. Team and Scorers: J. Hughes 5pts, M. O’Brien 3pts, R. McAlister 5pts, M. McAlister 3pts, J. Gallagher, J. McKenna, J. Deery, M. McQuaid, B. McKenna and R. Treanor. U 16 Tables
U 18 Boys BWS 51pts Belfast Star 52pts This fixture was the final league game for the Steelers and proved to be the most exciting. The result had no bearing on Star’s position in the top four but the 3pts would have helped the Steelers into 4th place, as it stands a few remaining games need to be played before the boys know if they have a semi-final place. Both teams met earlier in the season, Star taking the game 78pts to 54pts, so to come so close to this highly rated Star team demonstrated how much the Steelers lifted their game and pushed themselves to the end. Had Mantas and Richie being available, the result might have been different. The 1st quarter five of Ramunas, Aivarus, Andrius, Davydas and Simonas got the scoring under way showing good fast offensive plays and denying Star any room with their half-court press in defences. The lead bounced back and forward between the two teams, but Star finished the quarter just 1pt ahead, Star 15pts, Steelers 14pts. The second quarter had the boys pressing Star’s offense tightly and creating some turnovers. Simonas found Ramunas with some brilliant and accurate long passes, which he converted well in Star’s basket. The Steelers were keeping point for point with Star until the last minute when Star hit a 3 pointer and a basket to take the quarter 10pts to 8pts. Half-time score Star 25pts, Steelers 22pts. The 3rd quarter got under way with conviction and determination. The Steelers had taken the best that Star could give and were still in the game. But as hard as they tired the points were not coming and Star started to inch ahead. The last minute saw the Steelers string 7pts together without reply but Star had taken the quarter 16pts to 11pts. Trailing by 9pts going into the 4th quarter the Steelers really did need to lift their game. Star were having great difficulty penetrating the Steelers excellent defence. The boys now took the game to Star and were picking up baskets on the fast break and rebounds. With 45 seconds to go and 2pts down, the Steelers called a time out to settle things down. A quick team talk and back out with an offensive play. Time was running out and at 7 seconds on the clock Ramunas got possession under Star’s board and levelled the score. This was a fantastic quarter for the Steelers scoring 12pts to Star’s 4pts. There is no draw in basketball so the game was going into 3 minutes overtime and it was basket for basket, and with 30 seconds to go, the Steelers had a 1pt lead. But a slight lack of concentration allowed Star’s No.23 into the Steelers zone who popped up a shot for a score just as the final buzzer went off. The final score after overtime was Star 52pts, Steelers 51pts. Team and Scorers: R. Ramanauskas 23pts, A. Vasiliauskas 10pts, S. Seskevicius 6pts, D. Lapinskas 10pts, A. Jastramskas 2pts, m. Takai, M. Rudanovas, and A. Fields U 18 Boys Tables
U 12 Boys BWS 20pts Belfast Star 21pts The U12 boys had their crunch game against Star on Sunday. To win the league, which would have been a first for the Steelers in A boy’s competition, they needed to beat the Belfast boys by 7 points or more. Unfortunately they came up a bit short and ended losing the game by one point. This was a tough lesson for our lads but hopefully one we will learn from. Compared to traditional Star teams this current batch is not as strong but they do possess an outrageous individual talent in their point guard CJ Fulton. He is probably the best player of his age in the country. We simply could not contain him and he picked up 18 of their 21 points. The Steelers efforts was commendable but the boys will realise they did not play to their full potential with far too many simple mistakes being made and unforced errors. Perhaps some of this was down to the big occasion. We will have an opportunity to rectify this in the final on the 23rd March against the same opposition. The final score was 21-20. Team and scorers: Ben Ryan 11pts, Ryan Murphy 7pts, Karl Gallagher 1pt, Tiernan O Rourke 1pt, Peter Douglas, Conor Mulligan, Daragh Murray, Rio Corrigan, Alistair Stewart, Josh Maguire, Liam McKenna and Cameron Liddle. U 12 Tables
U 14 Boys BWS 34pts Belfast Star 45pts This game was not going to change the outcome of the league which Belfast Star had won already with the Steelers finishing in 4th but with an upcoming semi final clash between the two only a week away it was important that the home side played well. The Steelers did play well up until the last 2 minutes of the first half when Star stole a march and they never relinquished the lead. The first quarter ended up 11 each with the highlights being 9pts from Andrew O Connor and two super 3 pointers from Conor Ryan for Star. The 2nd quarter five were doing brilliantly until they ran into team foul trouble and every foul sent Star to the line, they scored 7 from 8. Ryan Treanor had shown some lovely moves early in this period and scored 4 but the home side went into the break 6pts down. Our two big lads Gavin McPhillips and Killian McAdam had to go off injured in the 3rd quarter and we had no one to match the Star big men, they also upped their game and were deserved winners of the quarter by 12pts to 4pts. The Steelers rallied in the fourth but despite some nice offensive play we could not keep them from scoring and although the home side won the quarter we did not make any inroads into their lead. The final score was 34pts to 45pts. Team and Scorers: Andrew O Connor 19pts, Inigo Gonzalez 8pts, Ryan Treanor 4pts, Aaron Sherry 2pts, Conor McCrystal 1pt, Colin McQuaid, Dylan Maguire, Gavin McPhillips, Jason Hamill, Killian McAdam, Lorcan O Rourke and Ogie O Dhufaigh, U 14A Boys Table
U 14 Girls BWS 39pts Lisburn Phoenix 36pts On Sunday morning, Blackwater Steelers hosted Lisburn Phoenix, for the last game of the regular season. Steelers came in to this one unbeaten in all of their 11 games. This one ended with an expected Steelers win, but they by no means had it all their own way. First on to the court for the Steelers were Amy, Aisling, Kelly, Ailbhe and Nicole. Right from the off the Lisburn girls showed they meant business. They attacked with great discipline and indeed caught our girls out of position on occasion. Amy was her usual tower of strength under the boards, defending very well, and offensively getting into good shooting positions. Aisling, who is going from strength to strength in all aspects of her game, controlled the ball well, assisted by Kelly, who works tirelessly for the team and Nicole on the other wing. Ailbhe defended strongly and rebounded very well. Next 5 were Alison, Alex, Morgan, Laura and Joanna. Alison’s work rate was phenomenal, as she covered every inch of the court, dishing off passes, and controlling plays. She was ably assisted by Laura and Joanna on the wings and Alex and Morgan under the baskets. Rebounding was excellent, and it needed to be as the Lisburn girls were very good at picking off scores from rebounds. The 2nd half of the game saw the two teams matching score for score and indeed the game could have gone either way. Some sublime scoring from Morgan in the final quarter saw the Steelers take the game by a very narrow margin, 39 points to 36. Drills and plays practiced at training have been learned and worked very well for the most part. A home semi final next week is the prize for coming out top of the league. Well done girls on all the hard work and effort. Team and Scorers: Morgan McKenna 12pts, Amy Mulligan 7pts, Alex Mulligan7pts, Aisling Gallagher 6pts, Kelly McCormill 5pts, Alison McBride 2pts, Laura Nally, Nicole McClean, Joanna Lynch and Ailbhe Rooney. U 14 Girls Table
U 16 Girls BWS 62pts Lisburn Phoenix 51pts This game was not going to change the league table in any way no matter what way it ended but with a possible semi against this opposition it was important to stamp our authority over them. This turned out to be easier said than done. There was nothing wrong with the Steelers offence in the first quarter; they notched up 20 points with Natasha Hughes and Ellen Mulligan hitting 10 each but our defence could not keep a hot shooting Lisburn quiet. They kept the game even until just before the quarter end when the home side took a 6pt lead. Verity O Connor hit 10 of our 2nd quarter 14 points and Ellen Molloy shot 2 lovely scores but again no matter how hard the girls tried they could not shake Phoenix off, Hannah Byrne the main driving force played brilliantly hitting 9pts. This was a high scoring game and the Steelers had their noses in front 34pts to 30pts. The girls had stretched their lead to 9pts by the time this period was over but their defence had improved, Niamh Kieran and Rachel Gallagher worked tirelessly to help close Lisburn down. The fourth quarter started and Lisburn still had all guns blazing, they did not give up and pushed the Monaghan girls all the way. They scored 12 to Steelers 14 to leave a final score of 62pts to 51pts. Team and Scorers; Verity O Connor 24pts, Natasha Hughes 14pts, Ellen Mulligan 10pts, Ellen Molloy 8pts, Bethany Fitzpatrick 2pts, Niamh Kieran 2pts, Rachel Gallagher 2pts, Megan McKenna, Sinead McGuirk, Kathleen Connolly, Lucy McDonnell and Niamh Neeson. U 16 Girls Tables
U 18 Girls BWS 57pts Lisburn Phoenix 22pts The U18 girls played their final game in the BNI league on Sunday last against Lisburn. They were already assured second place in the league and a home semi final so the game was really a formality. The Steeler girls were too strong for their northern opponents and simply tore through them. This was a solid performance albeit against weak opposition. The real big test comes on Friday night in their grudge semi final against Blaze. This will be a battle to savour. The final score 57-22. Team and scorers: Verity O Connor 24, Ellen O Brien 14, Andrea Rafferty 10, LauraMcPhillips 4, Casey Treanor 2, Harriet O Connor 2, Rebecca Hughes, Nicole McNally and Maire McCarron. U 18 Girls Tables
Feb 15th & Feb 16th 14 B boys Secure League Win.
The weekend of Feb 15/16 was a very busy one for the Blackwater Steelers with games away on both Saturday and Sunday, it was also a very important weekend as 3 league campaigns effectively hung on the result of these games. On Saturday the U 16 girls had to beat their hosts by more than 8 points but in fact they were beaten by 8 in a game that they never really showed the urgency or eagerness to win. The U 18 girls did not reach the level they required either, got beaten and thus failed to win their league too. Both the 13s and 14 girls won quite easily. The third league that was in the balance involved the U 14 B team who if not beaten by Andersonstown by more than 8 points would win their league, they lost by 6pts on the day but won the league on point’s difference. The U 12 boys and the U 16 girls also chalked up wins on Sunday.
U13 GIRLS
Blackwater Steelers 37pts Ulster Elks/Tigers 20pts
The U13 girls travelled to Jordanstown to meet the Elks again and were probably expecting an easy win as they had beaten this team 41-23 last November. However the Elks/Tigers have obviously upped their game and were notably stronger particularly in fitness.
Starting five were Alex, Rachel, Mollie, Amy and Helen with Zara subbing in. Mollie was first to score from jump ball and Alex quickly followed with another 2pts. Despite this promising start the Elks/Tigers took us by surprise and started to match us score for score. Their tall number 10 was proving dominant on their team and she managed to score the majority of their points throughout the game. While we were marginally ahead at 10-8 at the end of this quarter it was a poor start for the Steelers and left them somewhat shell shocked.
The second five were Caoimhe, Lara, Cliodhna, Aisling G, and Derbhla with Shauna subbing in. This was a better quarter for us due to the absence of no. 10 but it still didn’t seem any easy feat as the Elks girls were very agile and difficult to pin down but were thankfully unlucky with their shots. We did manage to open a gap with Aisling and Caoimhe doing the scoring bringing us to 19-10.
Third quarter saw the return of Alex, Mollie, Lara, Aisling and Caoimhe. At this stage the Steelers were warmed up and were dominating the score board at least if not so much the court. While we were ahead it felt like we were struggling every step of the way. However some decent defending kept the Elks at bay with only 2pts in this quarter while we won a further 14. Alex was a pivotal player in this quarter and some nice team work brought further scores from Aisling, Mollie and Caoimhe. Score at end of this quarter was 33-12.
The fourth quarter was Caoimhe, Rachel, Cliodhna, Derbhla and Zara with Shauna, Amy and Helen subbing in. At this stage we knew the game was won and the Elks quickly picked up 8pts to our 4. Final score was 37-20 leaving this U13 team with a 100% record in the Ulster League this season. Congrats ladies, but as we said on Saturday we still have a few areas that we could improve on in the coming weeks so let’s not get too complacent and hopefully our next win will feel like a win!
Team and scorers: Alex Mulligan 12pts, Mollie Molloy 8pts, Aisling Gallagher 7pts, Caoimhe Ward 6pts, Helen McCrystal 4pts, Cliodhna McArdle, Lara OMáirtín, Shauna Corrigan, Rachel Lavery, Amy Deery, Zahra Farrington and Derbhla Gallagher.
U 16 Girls
Ulster Elks 46pts Blackwater Steelers 38pts
Both teams went into this game knowing the importance of it; the result would effectively decide who won the league, both teams were missing their Irish Internationals, but there is no doubt the timing of the game did not help the Steelers, with mock exams and half term nights out talking a toll on the girls, they looked very tired. The Elks did not have this to contend with, but the real reason why the Steelers did not win this game was because they did not play well enough.
The Elks started well but eventually the Steelers got to grips with them and a nice spread of scores from Amy, Rachel, Lynda and 2 from Celine left them 3 up at quarter end. Ciara Cooke had done most of the damage for the Elks; the score was 7pts to 10pts.
The home side stormed out of the traps in the 2nd period and put the Steelers under a lot of pressure. Briana Mulhern was lording the show and we were a couple of points down before we got a score. 4pts from Ellen Mulligan, 2each from Megan and Ellen Molloy was all we got from 8 minutes of play whereas the more alerts Elks hit 17pts. They lead by 24pts to 18pts.
There was nothing more than 2 points between the two sides if you take the whole of the 2nd half on its own merit, the third ended 12-10 to them and the last was even at 10 each, but the way we defended was criminal, we were out rebounded on offence and defence, our man to man defence was slow, and all around the court we were second to the ball. The Elks won too easily and with only a few games left they won’t drop any points so the league is theirs too.
Team and Scorers: Amy Hamill 14pts, Ellen Mulligan 8pts, Celine Nally 6pts, Ellen Molloy 2pts, Lynda McMeel 2pts, Megan McKenna 2pts, Natasha Hughes 2pts, Rachel Gallagher 2pts.Aoibheann McQuaid, Kathleen Connolly and Sinead McGuirk.
U 18 Girls
Sunday Feb 23rd
U 12 Boys
U 14 B Boys
A/Town Tigers 36pts Blackwater Steelers 28pts
The U14 Boys B team faced Andersonstown Tigers this Sunday in their last league game of the season. Heading north, the lads knew it was going to be a tough game but were determined to give it their best shot. Steelers were assured of their place in the Cup semi-finals, given that they hadn’t lost a game all season, but were aware that if they did lose to Tigers by more than 8 points, the league win would most likely go to the Belfast lads.
Michael, Ógie, James, Lorcan and Andrew took to the court for the first quarter, with the bit between their teeth. Michael won the ball from the throw-in, laying off to Lorcan, who finished well, for the first score of the game. Ógie’s fast break and pass connected with Lorcan to set him up his second and Lorcan got another from a rebound. Steelers kept up the pressure on Tigers all the way through the period and Kai joined the battle half way through the quarter. All the Monaghan men, working tirelessly, closed down the northern lads and defended strongly, with particular credit going to Ógie who managed to seriously subdue Tiger’s star player. James finished the scoring for Steelers in the first quarter to leave us 8 – 4 ahead.
The second quarter brought Hubert, Conor, Michael M, Lukie and Ieuan to the court, with Dylan stepping in during the period. Another hectic 7 minutes followed, with fast breaks and strong defence from both teams as the game seemed to switch constantly from one end of the court to the other. Lukie was first to score for Steelers with a lovely jump shot. This was followed by Michael, who, spotting a gap managed to sneak inside to score and having been fouled, got another point from the free-throw line. Hubert took a further score before the end of the quarter which left Steelers winning at half time, 15 points to 12. But the game was far from over!
As the second half burst into life, Ógie was tasked with keeping their number 8 in check and managed to control him well with quick feet and fast hands. Despite best efforts from the visitors though, this very skilful young Belfast lad was almost impossible to control and Tigers pulled ahead. Over the third and fourth quarters, Steelers continued to defend tirelessly and attacked at speed. There were scoring opportunities aplenty but the ball didn’t seem to want to drop. Nevertheless the Monaghan men fought on and scores from Hubert, Lukie, Michael, Lorcan and Conor kept Steelers within the magic 8 point deficit. The final frantic minute saw Ógie being fouled out of the game and at 14 seconds to go, Tigers, 6 points ahead, had the ball for one last play. As the last few seconds ticked away, Steelers defended with all their might, putting number 8 under pressure. The shot went up, but missed. Steelers grabbed the ball and the buzzer sounded. Tigers had won the game 32 points to 26, but Steelers, having beaten them earlier in the season by 8 points, win the league on point’s difference. Many congratulations to our young U14 B’s.
Team and scorers: Lorcan Ó Rourke – 8 points, Luke Coyle – 6 points, Michael Mc Donnell – 3 points, Michael Meehan – 3 points, Conor Mc Kenna – 2 points, James Hughes – 2 points, Hubert Schienbach – 2 points, Ógie Ó Dufaigh, Ieuan Williams, Andrew Lyden, Dylan Mc Kenna, Kai Mc Caffery.
U 16 Girls
A/Town Tigers 17pts Blackwater Steelers 45pts
The U 16 girls were back out on the Sunday for their 2nd game of the weekend and this was always going to be an easier affair than the day before and that’s how it played out.
The Steelers were slow to find their rhythm in the first quarter and struggled to take their chances, the Tigers had no big threat but they worked hard and made it difficult for the Monaghan girls. 3 free shots from Lynda and a basket each from Celine and Natasha left them leading by 7pts to 3.
They stretched their lead well in the 2nd period when they got the fast break going. The defence was tighter too restricting the Tigers to 2pts, Amy and Ellen got all our 16 points and the Steelers led by 23pts to 6pts at half time.
The first quarter girls went out again in the third but got beat up by the home side, mainly just because of very poor defensive work and lost by 10pts to 4pts, Lynda being the only Steelers scorer.
The 2nd quarter girls went out in the last and blew the Tigers away 18 to 1, this was a much more respectable scoreline to be going home with, and the final score was 45pts to 17pts.
Team and Scorers: Ellen Mulligan 16pts, Amy Hamill 14pts, Lynda McMeel 7pts, Megan McKenna 4pts, Natasha Hughes 2pts, Celine Nally 2pts, Bethany Fitzpatrick, Ellen Molloy, Kathleen Connolly, Niamh Neeson, Rachel Gallagher and Sinead McGuirk.
Feb 22nd 2014
Steelers U 13 Girls Are Champions
Last weekend the 21st/22nd February was the busiest yet for the Blackwater Steelers as far as games were concerned, we had 2 girls’ games on Friday night in Coláiste Oiriall against Blaze with one of them turning out to be very exiting. Then it was off to Dungannon on the Saturday where all 4 girls teams won with a bit to spare, in contrast the boys did not do quite as well on Sunday with only the U 12s coming home with a victory. Those two wins for the U 13 girls sealed the BNI league title for the Monaghan club.
U 13 Girls
Blackwater Steelers 33pts Blaze 17pts
The U13 girls had two games this weekend. The first was against Letterkenny Blaze at home, in Coláiste Oiriall on the Friday night, and really they were the only team going to trouble a 100% win season so far. Blaze fell well short of the mark and did not trouble the Monaghan girls at all. This victory crowns these girls as League Champions with one more game left to play which was in Dungannon the next day.
True to form, these U13 girls played their hearts out and blitzed Blaze right from the off, making the game look easy has become a habit and they have been streets ahead of any opposition in the league. Well done girls!
Team & Scores: Mollie Molloy 13pts, Aisling Gallagher 8pts, Caoimhe Ward 6pts, Aisling Mc Anespie 4pts, Alex Mulligan 2pts, Cliodhna Mc Ardle, Gemma Johnston, Lara Ó Máirtín, Helen Mc Crystal, Rachael Lavery, Amy Deery, and Zahara Farrington.
U 18 Girls
Blackwater Steelers 34pts Blaze 32pts
The U18 girls played their first Friday night game of the season last week and what a game it was. There was a fair amount of tension and apprehensive about this fixture as it would decide semi final places and the Steelers had a few ghosts to exorcise after the disappointing recent defeat to the Elks. But any doubts or questions that had been raised recently in relation to these girls; work, desire, commitment, effort, character were answered emphatically. In a hectic battle where the Steelers had looked just about in control, the final quarter produced a brilliant come back from Blaze which sent the game into overtime, but more about this later!
The Monaghan coaches had stressed the importance of an intense work rate and good on court communication as we knew the Donegal girls were really up for this match and are no bad outfit. The first half was mostly owned by the Steelers but their poor conversion prevented them from pulling away. The most impressive aspect was the work rate of the girls in defence which kept the Letterkenny team to a miserable six points in the first sixteen minutes, a remarkable feat. While Verity O’Connor picked up the majority of the first half scores, she was having an off night. While her effort in defence was undeniable too often she was forcing the offence leading to turnovers and missed opportunities. She was also running into foul trouble leading to anxious moments of the Monaghan bench. Luckily for the Steelers, Ellen O’Brien, Rebecca Hughes and Casey Treanor were in no mood to be bullied by any team and while each of the Steelers girls gave everything they had, these three stood out. Going into the fourth quarter Letterkenny were trailing by 8 points and the Steelers looked as if they had weathered the storm and would push on for a comfortable victory. Blaze had other ideas. The previously tight defence of the Steelers was displaying tired legs and Clodagh Brennan who had been very quiet all evening suddenly sensed an opportunity as she sprang to life hitting 7 unanswered points. Verity picked up her fifth foul leaving the game tied and 3 minutes left. The lead changed hands in the final frantic 3 minutes and Blaze edged ahead by one point with 3 seconds remaining. Ellen was awarded two free throws as she was fouled going to the basket. Everything hinged on this. Ellen has often stepped up to the line in pressure situations over the years and very often she has delivered. Unfortunately this time both shots were missed. Game over – but no one told Ciara McCarron who powered to the rebound on the second shot and pushed the ball towards the basket as the buzzer went. The shot was missed but fouled in the attempt. Two more shots but this time more pressure. As the time was up there would be no line up and no chance of a rebound. With an enthralled crowd looking on, Ciara stood to the line. The first shot was missed, everything hung on the second shot. Ciara may have been shaking but nothing in comparison to how the Coláiste Oiriall hall shook as the second shot dropped as the place erupted. Ciara’s trademark smile lit the building. The game had three minutes of overtime to play which the Steelers were simply not going to lose. Momentum was with them at this stage and Rebecca wrapped up the match with one of her jump shots. The game finished 34-32 to the Steelers. We now have a home semi final to look forward to against – yes Blaze! Book your seats early. Team and scorers: Verity O Connor 10pts, Ellen O Brien 8pts, Ciara McCarron 6pts. Casey Treanor 4pts, Celine Nally 4pts, Rebecca Hughes 2pts, Laura McPhillips, Maire McCarron, Harriet O Connor, Andrea Rafferty and Lynda McMeel. Saturday U 18 Girls Towers 15pts Blackwater Steelers 45pts The following morning the girls travelled the short distance to Dungannon to play Towers in their penultimate league fixture. After the excitement of the previous evening it was going to be difficult to recreate the intensity and energy of battle all over again. But to the Steelers credit they continued just as they had left off and albeit against poorer opposition they steamrolled to a convincing victory 45-15. Tom O’Connor was coaching for the game as the usual coaches were absent (recuperating from the previous evening’s exertions!) The girls were simply too strong, too fast and outworked the Towers girls completely. A great all round performance with the girls playing good defence and interestingly for the first time this season, all players getting on the score sheet. Team and scorers: Verity O Connor 13pts, Ellen O Brien 12pts. Rebecca Hughes 6pts, Casey Treanor 5pts, Ciara McCarron 4pts, Harriet O Connor 3pts, Laura McPhillips 2pts. U 13 Girls Tyrone Towers 35pts BWS 58pts In the second game of the weekend for the U 13 girls they came up against Towers from Dungannon but they were no match for the Monaghan girls. The Steelers wrapped up their league campaign with another win to complete their 100% record this season. This team look like they have a wonderful future in basketball and should go on to add loads of silverware to this years BNI league title. However we are not finished yet and training continues every Tuesday in preparation for the Top 4 Cup competition which will take place mid March.
Team & Scores: Alex Mulligan 14pts, Caoimhe Ward 13pts, Helen Mc Crystal 12pts, Aisling Gallagher 8pts, Lara Ó Máirtín 4pts, Amy Deery 3pts, Derbhla Gallagher 2pts, Gemma Johnston 2pts, Zahara Farrington, Rachael Lavery and Shauna Corrigan.
U 16 Girls Towers 22pts Blackwater Steelers 58pts The U 16 girls were up next and they routed the Towers team too. The Dungannon side were just simply no match for the Monaghan girls as they conceded 24pts in the first quarter. The Steelers were rampant and they did not allow the home side a single score. With the game practically won, and Towers trying to salvage some pride it was very difficult for the 2nd set of girls to maintain that level of intensity but they still won the quarter by 9pts to 5. The third period was won as well and the fourth finished even. All in all a very comprehensive win that absolutely secured 2nd place in the league with one game left and a home semi final, but there were no celebrations as this team should have really won the league. Team and Scores Verity O Connor 27pts, Niamh Kieran 10pts, Ellen Mulligan 8pts, Natasha Hughes 7pts, Amy Hamill 6pts, Aoibheann McQuaid, Ellen Molloy, Kathleen Connolly, Megan McKenna, Niamh Neeson and Sinead McGuirk. U 14 Girls Towers 16pts BWS 44pts The last game of the day featured the under 14 girls. The two previous meetings of these two sides saw the Steelers win comfortably on both occasions, and so they travelled to Dungannon quietly confident of another victory. And with a final scoreline of 16 points to 44, that confidence was well founded.
The first quarter 5 of Alex, Caoimhe, Kate, Laura and Amy got the girls off to a flying start, with Alex controlling the play well, assisted by Caoimhe and Kate on the wings. Amy and Laura played very strongly under the baskets and let the opposition away with nothing. Passing and movement off the ball was good and they led by 19 at the end of the quarter.
Second 5 were Alison, Aisling, Nicole, Ailbhe and Rebecca, and joined later by Joanna. Alison was super on the ball, passing well, but the scores were proving very hard to come by. The defence was a bit problematic as the girls just got caught out of position on occasion, which let Towers in to score. The quarter was lost by 7 but the Steelers were still up by 12 coming into the second half.
Throughout the second half of the game, the Steelers were dominant. The positional mistakes were corrected and each and every girl gave 100 per cent on the court. Towers only managed 6 points which displayed the great defensive game these girls can play. Well done girls.
Team and Scorers; Alex Mulligan 12 pts; Amy Mulligan 11pts, C. Ward 7pts, A. Gallagher 6pts, L. Nally 2pts, K.McEvoy 2pts, A. McBride 2pts, R. Ward 2pts, A. Rooney, N.McClean and J Lynch.
Sunday U 12 Boys Lisburn 15pts BWS 38pts The Steelers played their penultimate game in the BNI league last Sunday against Lisburn. The boys continued their impressive form of late, with a fine performance, resulting in a comprehensive victory. The game itself was over as a contest shortly after the throw up, but the Monaghan boys played the game with a composure and understanding that belies their age and is very encouraging for their coaches. Like their recent league games have shown, there is a great team ethos emerging from this squad and the work rate is a credit to the boys. There is a huge emphasis on passing at training and it reaping dividends at matches. Some of the best team scores of the season were recorded as the boys unselfishly found each other in better positions with sharp passing and movement. Well done boys. The first quarter finished up 14-5 with Ben picking up most of the scores from steals and fast breaks. By half time the Steelers had powered into 24-7 lead with all the Monaghan boys contributing well in defence and offence. Ryan Murphy and Conor Mulligan who have had quiet games recently played a major part as did Kelvin Hackett, Jake Hughes and Cameron Liddle. Ben Ryan was his usual self with excellent work rate and in total control of the offence. But Karl Gallagher probably had his best game of the season so far, not only with his super work in defence but more noticeably his vision and decision making in offence as his unselfish passing led to so many scores for his team mates. The final score was 38-15. Team and scorers: B. Ryan 18pts, K. Gallagher 6pts, R. Murphy 4pts, J. Maguire 4pts, J. Hughes 2pts, C. Mulligan 2pts, C. Liddle 2pts, F. Slater, P. Douglas and K. Hackett U 14 Boys Lisburn 35pts BWS 23pts As Lisburn warmed up, someone asked if we were on the wrong court as these guys looked more like under 16s than 14s, this home team were big-really big. So from the start the Steeler boys would have to very good if were to snatch a victory. After the first quarter we were in with a shout as Lisburn only led by 2pts, 10-8 but they did give notice to just how good they were with some excellent shooting including a 3 pointer. The Steelers had to work harder to get heir scores. In the 2nd period Lisburn stepped up the pace and we just did not stay with them, they were quicker to the ball and we were too slow to close down their shots, we conceded 19 and only scored 7pts so now the game had a completely different complexion After some straight talking during half time the boys went out with a strong determination to be better in defence, and so they were, Lisburn only managed 1pt in this quarter as the boys closed down a lot quicker. Unfortunately they only managed to score 6pts and that was just too low a total. The last quarter was low scoring too with the home side coming out on top by 4pts to 2pts. The 2nd half was a victory of sorts as we only conceded 5pts, in comparison to the 29pts in the first half and hopefully this will show the boys the workrate needed to apply a good defence. Team and Scores Inigo Gonzalez 5pts, Andrew O Connor 4pts, Dylan Maguire 4pts, Ryan Treanor 4pts, Aaron Sherry 2pts, Conor McCrystal 2pts, Killian Maguire 2pts, Colin McQuaid, Gavin McPhillips, Jason Hamill, Lorcan O Rourke and Ogie O Dhuffaigh. U 18 Boys Lisburn Phoenix 56pts BWS 52pts The Steelers were favourites to take this away fixture, having taken the home victory against Phoenix 64pts to 60pts last November, a game in which the boys showed good control throughout even with the tight score. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that they let this one slip away. Unfortunately the big loss against Blaze two weeks ago might have depleted their spirits. The Steelers started well taking the 1st quarter 16pts to 11pts.This should have lifted them, but their play became static and they did not push the advantage as they let Phoenix back into the game. Half time score Steelers 23pts, Phoenix 27pts. A good team talk at the half-time interval sent the Steelers out to take control of the game but again they were having trouble and lacked the motivation seen during the season. Phoenix took advantage of their lead and pressed ahead adding 17pts to Steelers 11pts. The boys had a lot to do going into the 4the quarter as Phoenix had an 11 pt. lead. Some good control and focus had them back in the game as they began to reduce the lead. But sadly it came a little too late. As happened in previous games, simple inbound plays, as the quarter was running out, were not executed well. The boys did take the quarter 18pts to 12pts, and had they lifted themselves earlier in the game they would not have struggled so much. The full time score was Steelers 52pts, Phoenix 56pts. Team and Scorers: R. Ramanauskas 15pts, M. Zalikas 15pts, R. Wilke 10pts, A. Jacques Rios 3pts, A. Vasiliauskas 5pts, A. Jastramskas 2pts, D. Lapinskas 2pts, M. Takai and S. Seskevicius. U 16Boys Lisburn Phoenix 36pts BWS 32pts This was the last game of the day and the last game of a very busy weekend and The Steelers had high hopes of returning home with a win from this game. The previous meeting last November had Phoenix taking the 3 league points by a tight 6pt margin. As the season comes to the final games these wins and losses will determine the play-off fixtures and this was one game that the boys needed. The bench might not have been as strong as the home game but the work rate and commitment was equally impressive. The first five of Robbie, Shane, Emmett, Ben and Eric did not get off to a great start. The Lisburn No3 was causing a lot of trouble and the boys were finding him hard to contain as he took most of the points for Phoenix in the 1st quarter. The Steelers 7pts in this quarter was shadowed by a Phoenix score of 14pts. The 2nd quarter five of Michael McAlister, Michael O’Brien, James Gallagher, James McKenna and Matthew McQuaid needed to turn this game around. The quarter turned in favour of the Steelers as they picked up scores and defended well under the board. The boys took this stage of the game by 5pts. Half time score, Steelers 18pts, Phoenix 21pts. Both teams started the 3rd quarter as strong as they could. Phoenix opted to press the Steelers and try and force the boys into errors. The boys handled this very well but points were hard to come by. At the end of the quarter, the Steelers were only 1pt down, Steelers 27pts, Phoenix 28pts. The 4thquarter became highly charged as both teams were pressing the ball to gain possession. This was another quarter that the Steelers let slip with unconverted rebounds and sad to say some very poor calls by the Refs. Phoenix took the quarter by 3pts and the game, Phoenix 36pts, Steelers 32pts. Team and scorers: R. McAlister 11pts, S. Gilbane 6pts, M. O’Brien 6pts, J. McKenna 4pts, M. McAlister 3pts, B. McKenna 2pts, J. Gallagher, Emmett Campbell, Matthew McQuaid and Eric McElmeel. Feb 15 & 16Th 2014 Feb 9th 2014 Blaze Burns Steelers U 18 Boys Letterkenny Blaze 103pts Blackwater Steelers 44pts
U 14 Boys Letterkenny Blaze 41pts Blackwater Steelers 25pts If you look back to the home fixture with Blaze and see that the Steelers hammered them by 62pts to 14pts then this result is really a surprise but under closer scrutiny you will discover that it is practically a different team with 6 different players from the team that travelled to Monaghan. None the less the Steelers have no one to blame but themselves and really they know they should have won this game but certainly not with that performance. This slip up may cost them a top four semi final place. The first quarter started off at a frantic pace with Steelers breaking the ice first through Andrew O Connor but Blaze danger man McGettigan showed what he could do too and soon replied. In typical Letterkenny fashion the Refs were picky and the table people were over officious for a junior game applying the shot clock that few other teams apply. After the Steelers picked up a number of fouls, they fell behind but good work from Dylan, Killian, Ryan and Aaron kept them in the game. The score was 9pts to 8pts. The 2nd quarter lads after a slow start kicked into gear and scored 10pts to 2 in reply. Conor McCrystal was central to all that was good about the Steelers and scored 8 of our 10pts. He was ably supported by Lorcan, Gavin, Jason and Colin with Ogie subbing in. Our big problem was the lack of movement and penetration when the Blaze defence got set and that would hurt us later on in the game. At half time we led by 18pts to 11pts. During the 3rd period the Steelers tried different combinations but were unable to hold back the black and orange tide. With McGettigan and new man McBrearty linking well together they started to pull back in the game, meanwhile the Steelers were making all the wrong decisions and turning over a lot of ball, it seemed to from bad to worse. We made Blaze look really good as they stormed into a 27pts to 24pts lead. This game could be switched around, a full quarter left with only 3pts between them, but it would take good defence, intelligent offence with movement and with finishing power. Unfortunately all those good traits belonged to the home team on the day and they grew stronger during the last. They racked up 14pts to our one point and were deserved winners by a scoreline of 41pts to 25pts. The boys were shell shocked but you can take no one for granted in this U 14 league, the question is can the come back stronger to beat Lisburn in Lisburn to win a top four place. Team and Scorers: Conor McCrystal 10pts, Andrew O Connor 9pts, Killian McAdam 2pts, Dylan Maguire 2pts, Jason Hamill 2pts, Aaron Sherry, Colin McQuaid, Gavin McPhillips, Lorcan O Rourke, Ogie O Duffaigh and Ryan Treanor. Saturday U 14 Boys Blackwater Steelers 44pts Star B 14pts The Steelers played hosts to Belfast Star’s B team on Saturday in Coláiste Oiriall and won convincingly. The performance was not great and an honest assessment would have been that they made very hard work of an easy job.
The first quarter was slow with not enough movement, guile or imagination in the boys play, they made chances but did not convert and in general were a bit sloppy all over the court, however they did score 9pts to a return of 4 and were in control of the game. The 2nd was pretty similar but with a meaner defence, they racked up 9pts with Inigo, Jason and Ogie all scoring. They conceded nothing and really limited the opposition to very few scoring chances; they led by 18pts to 4pts at half time. The third quarter improved as the boys upped their efforts but to their credit Star refused to roll over and they made the home side work for everything. The score board might have said 29 to 6 but the court play was much tighter with the Steelers executing better. The Steelers ran into foul trouble in the fourth and the visitors’ converted 6 free shots to give Star a more respectful score line to take home. The final score was 44pts to 14pts and was another 3pts on the board. Team and Scorers: Conor McCrystal 8pts, Jason Hamill 7pts, Inigo Gonzalez 6pts, Killian McAdam 6pts, Andrew O Connor 5pts, Ryan Treanor 4pts, Ogie O Duffaigh 3pts, Colin McQuaid 2pts, Gavin McPhillips 2pts, Dylan Maguire 1pt, Aaron Sherry. Junior Academy Blitz The Blackwater Steelers ran a basketball blitz for their Junior Academy in the SEM recently where for two hours nearly 70 kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves “balling”. There were no scores kept as all the games were non competitive, boys and girls were mixed and they all had great fun. Under the directorship of Bronagh Hamill there were a large group of coaches and parents helping out and the whole evening was a great success. Thanks to all who helped out on the night with a special mention for young referees Enda Callery and Anthony O Brien, old referee Enda O Brien and photographer Keith Murphy.
Feb 2nd 2014 4 Wins from 4 for Steelers The Blackwater Steelers had four games at the weekend and won all four. The U 16 boys were away in Dungannon on Saturday and won comfortably, the U 14 girls continued their unbeaten run as league leaders as did our U 14 B boys’ team and our U 12 boys remain hot on the heels of Star with another win. U16 BOYS Tyrone Towers 19pts Blackwater Steelers 26pts The Steelers headed to Dungannon for the away fixture with thoughts of a victory to try and secure a home semi-final in the end of season play-offs. Towers had taken the home game by 3 pts last November so this meeting was very much winnable. A good start from Michael McAlister, Shane, Johnny, Ben and James McKenna had them take the quarter 12pts to 2pts. This lead was a repeat of the game in the SEM and on that occasion Towers came back in the 2nd quarter to 1pt down. But thankfully the Steelers 2nd five of Xavi, Michael O’Brien, Robbie, Jack and James Gallagher did not let this happen again. They lost the quarter only by 2pt so the game was still looking good for the Steelers. The halftime score was Steelers 18pts, Towers 7pts. In the second half the Steelers used their strongest five as did Towers but unconverted lay-ups and rebounds by both teams produced the weakest quarter with only 4pts scored by either side. Towers elected to press the Steelers in the 4th quarter and were successful in causing turnovers and steals due to some poor passing and dribbling. As the quarter progressed the bench could see Towers were not going to get near the Steelers lead, so a few changes were made to give the boys more court time. This was a good win for the Steelers which will help towards that place in the semi-final, as the next three games are going to be tough. The final score was Steelers 26pts, Towers 19pts. Team and Scorers: J. Hughes 6pts, B. McKenna 6pts, M. O’Brien 4pts, J. McKenna 4pts, J. Gallagher 2pts, J. Deery 2pts, S. Gilbane 1pt, M. McQuaid 1pt, X. Salate, R. McAllister and M. McAlister U 14 Girls Blackwater Steelers 46pts Lisburn Phoenix 14pts Another great win for the under 14 Blackwater Steelers girls, as they played host to Lisburn Phoenix in the first home game of the day, on Sunday 2nd February. Having beaten them earlier in the league, the players and coaches were confident of another win, but with a couple of good players on the Phoenix team, it is never good to be complacent Steelers took control of the game right from the tip off, with Phoenix posing no real threat. In the early stages of the game though, it was slightly worrying how easily one of their players broke to the base line and put up some shots. A readjustment in the defensive positions soon put that to right. All the girls put on a tremendous display of basketball with Aisling Ní Ghallchóir in superb scoring form. They were excellent on defence, covering every break, and with Amy, Mollie, Morgan, Kelly and Ailbhe covering the area under the baskets, kept the Phoenix girls out of their shooting range. In the second half our more inexperienced girls got more court time, and they dealt with the pressure very well. It is very hard to come into a team with players who have played basketball for their club for a number of years, but with the support of their teammates, they are fitting in very well indeed. Team and Scorers: Aisling Ní Ghallchóir 14 pts, Amy Mulligan 6pts, Kelly McCormill 6pts, Mollie Molloy 6pts, Alison McBride 6pts, Morgan McKenna 4 pts, Ailbhe Rooney 2pts, Joanna Lynch 2pts, Rebecca Ward, Kate McEvoy and Lee Saunders. U 14 B Boys BWS 46pts V Queens B 12pts The young men of the Blackwater Steelers U14 B team had their first home game since Christmas this Sunday when Queens B’s travelled south to play them in the Sem. The ball went up at 12:15 with Conor, Bradley, Andrew, Michael M and Ógie starting for Blackwater while Cathal came in for his brother later in the quarter. Ógie opened the scoring driving to the basket and took another from the free throw line. Conor stepped up to the free throw for one point, while Andrew clocked up two more from a fast break. All the Monaghan men worked hard in defence and held the Belfast lads to a single score while Steelers finished the quarter with Ógie, combining with Conor, posting up and laying off again to leave Steelers ahead, 8 points to 2 at the buzzer. Dylan, James, Kai, Lukie and Ieuan took up the baton for the second quarter, ably supported later by Damien. They settled into the game quickly and James, playing out of his usual wing position, found it an easy transition to move down to the post. The points came thick and fast for the Monaghan lads at the Queens basket while every man defended well at their own end. There were scores from Lukie, James, Ieuan and Dylan each taking their points when open and selflessly laying off passes and supporting the others to push Steelers lead to 23 points. The third and fourth quarters were a more even affair, as Steelers seemed to go off the boil a little and Queens upped their game somewhat. The Monaghan men, however, found their rhythm again a few minutes in and finished each of the last two quarters well. The game ended with a convincing win for Blackwater Steelers, 46 points to 12. Team and scorers: James Hughes 10 points, Luke Coyle 10 points, Ógie Ó Dufaigh 9 points, Dylan Mc Kenna 8 points, Ieuan Williams 4 points, Conor Mc Kenna 3 points, Andrew Lyden 2 points, Kai Mc Caffery, Damien Treanor, Cathal Meehan, Michael Meehan, Bradley Maguire. U 12 Boys Blackwater Steelers 30pts Queens 18pts The U12 boys played their fifth league fixture in the Ulster league last Sunday after a long lay off, and their performance showed evidence of this in a lacklustre flat game. The end result was a win for the Steelers, but more questions than answers were provided in relation to the Monaghan boy’s capability of winning this competition. The boys had beaten Queens in their match in Belfast in a very one sided affair and perhaps this led to a complacency that was apparent in the Steelers performance. The first quarter started well with the Monaghan boys racing into a 10-0 lead. However, Queens had one young player who had not been at the previous game and he was proving quite a handful. The Eastwood boy comes from a strong basketball tradition and he was causing all sorts of difficulty to the Steelers defence. The half time score was 18-10 in favour of the home team. While the result was never really in doubt the Monaghan boys did not press home their dominance, did not convert nearly enough of their offensive opportunities and were extremely poor in defence. A better team would have punished us severely. We hope to learn from this game. To be fair this was probably just a blip in what so far has been a very impressive campaign, with attitude and performance at matches and training being excellent. The composure that Ryan Murphy normally brings to this Steelers team was missing in his absence, leading to a lot of frantic, forced basketball. However, we are still in a great position with three leagues games remaining. The final score was 30-18. Team and scorers: K. Gallagher 18, B. Ryan 8, A. Stewart 4, J. Maguire, K. Hackett, R. Corrigan, L. McKenna, C. Mulligan, F. Slater, T. O’Rourke and D. Murray. The next game is away to Tigers in Belfast on Sunday Feb. 16th. Jan 26th 2014 With all the basketball action centred up in Dublin last weekend at the National Basketball Arena where the national cup finals were drawing huge crowds The Blackwater Steelers had just 3 matches but achieved 3 good away victories. One of these for the U 14 girls was quite significant against their chief rivals and all but secures the league. U 14 Boys Tyrone Towers 14pts Blackwater Steelers 57pts When Towers travelled to Monaghan back in the autumn they did not provide much of a challenge for the Steeler lads and nothing had changed for the return game, after a slow start the Steelers got into their stride and proved much better than the Tyrone team. With referee McColgan in a pedantic mood, Killian, Andrew, Aaron, Conor and Dylan struggled to get off to a good start. After missing a few easy chances and getting pulled up on some strange calls the lads got frustrated as they knew they should have been further ahead. Lorcan came on after a time out and the game settled down with few fast breaks from Conor. The score was 13 – 8 at the end of the quarter. Jason, Inigo, Gavin, Colin, Ryan and Ogie had no such difficulty in the 2nd. They defended very well keeping Towers scoreless and racking up 14 pts in the quarter. Gavin was on the end of a lot of these scores with Inigo giving a most disciplined defensive performance. The score was 27pts to 8 at half time. The first quarter boys played the 3rd and they found their stride outscoring the home side by 16pts to 4, the 2nd quarter lads played the last and it turned out to be similar 14pts to 2pts. Apart from the first quarter it was no real competition and the final score was 14pts to 57pts. Team and Scorers: Gavin McPhillips 12pts, Conor McCrystal 10pts, Andrew O Connor 8pts, Inigo Gonzalez 8pts, Killian McAdam 6pts, Lorcan O Rourke 4pts, Jason Hamill 4pts, Ryan Treanor 4pts, Aaron Sherry 1pt, Dylan Maguire, Colin McQuaid and Ogie O Dufaigh. Belfast Star B 18pts Blackwater Steelers 50pts The boys were on the road for the second day running when they travelled to Belfast to take on Star’s second string lads who were deemed too good to play in the B league. In hindsight this was a poor decision as really they would be better suited to the B league. Of course none of this was worrying our lads, they just wanted to play. The first quarter went to form with good performances all round, they defended well and attacked on the break. Conor and Andrew picked up all the scores in a 10pts to nil wipe-out. The 2nd quarter boys struggled a little letting Star in for 5pts but they scored another 10pts and Star’s second quarter boys were better. Ryan showed some good moves to hit 6 of the 10pts. The 3rd and 4th quarters went to plan with the Steelers hitting 30pts to the home side’s 13. The only downside on the day was some poor execution when unchallenged in front of the basket, in tougher games this would matter. One big upside was the appearance of Michael McDonnell and Luke Coyle in the A side who filled in for a couple of sick regulars at short notice and played very well. Team and Scorers: Andrew O Connor 12pts, Inigo Gonzalez 9pts, Conor McCrystal 8pts, Ryan Treanor 8pts, Gavin McPhillips 4pts, Michael McDonnell 4pts, Lorcan O Rourke 2pts, Jason Hamill 2pts, Dylan Maguire 1pt, Ogie O Dufaigh and Luke Coyle. U 14 Girls Ulster Elks 27pts Blackwater Steelers 34pts (aet) On the Sunday it was the girls turn, and the under 14s travelled to Jordanstown to play Ulster Elks, the team to beat in this league. The Steelers were top of the league at this point, and we needed to consolidate our position there. It was with some trepidation that we made the journey, as we knew there was one girl on the Elks team, Enya Maguire, who could knock us off our perch, with her blistering pace and accurate shooting skills, especially from out wide. However, the coaches had instilled a confidence and belief into the girls, and so it was with a grim determination that they entered the court to do battle with their rivals. The first 5 for the Steelers were, Amy, Kelly, Alison, Laura and Caoimhe. Having won the tip-off, the girls failed to capitalize on the early possession to take an early score. Indeed it was Elks who put up the first score of the game. It was very hard for either team to get into their rhythm as the nerves were showing. Poor passing and turnovers by both sides meant the early stages of the game were a scrappy affair, and not pretty to look at from a neutrals point of view. Offensively the girls were guilty of some slack passing and the plays, practiced at training just weren't coming off. The referee didn't help much either as some fouls were left unpunished. As the quarter went on, the girls grew into the game, and the scores started to come. On defence, the girls were excellent, as they mopped up the Elks attacks. Kelly, who had been given the job of marking Enya, did an unbelievable job. She hustled and hassled, and turned over the ball on occasions and basically took her out of the game. Any time Elks got in close, Amy and Laura were immense under the boards and kept the scoring opportunities to a minimum. Alison and Caoimhe worked tirelessly up and down the court with some superb ball handling skills from Alison. Practice is really paying off. Kate came on mid way through the quarter and she kept up the good work. The Steelers finished the quarter up by 7pts. Out next were Alex, Aisling, Ailbhe, Morgan and Mollie, with Joanna coming on half way through. These five found it hard to penetrate the Elks defence. Mollie and Morgan both fought hard for position under the boards where they are good at picking off baskets, but it was tough going. Defensively again this 5 were very strong with Aisling, having her best game to date, tracking her player and not letting her away with much. On many occasions she found herself fighting and winning rebounds under the boards. However the Steelers went in having scored 10pts to Elks13. Going into the 2nd half, the Steelers needed to be putting the scores away if they were going to come out on top. The defence for the most part was excellent and so the offensive plays had to come off. All the girls gave everything they had on the court. Alex came into her own in the 3rd and took some lovely scores. No nerves under pressure! The game was so close in the final quarter that it could have gone either way. There was never more than a basket between the sides. Alex scored, and then again, and Amy scored. The buzzer blared. The sides were level at 27 points each and this meant he dreaded overtime, 3 minutes more to play. Could the Steelers do it? Of course they could. The Elks were well rattled by now and some unsportsmanlike behaviour had edged its way into the game. To the credit of the Steelers girls, they dealt with this with great dignity, preferring to let their basketball do the talking. They blitzed the Elks in the overtime 3 minutes, scoring 7 points to no score, with Morgan and Alex doing the scoring. Each and every one of the girls should be so proud of their performance. The vocal support from the bench surely spurred on the girls on the court. Well done to all of you! Team and scorers: Amy Mulligan 10pts, Alex Mulligan 9pts, Morgan McKenna 6 pts, Mollie Molloy 4pts, Kelly McCormill 2pts, Caoimhe Ward 2pts, Alison McBride 1pt, AislingNiGhallchoir, Ailbhe Rooney, Laura Nally Kate McEvoy and Joanna Lynch. Jan 15th 2014 2 Wins in Newry for Steelers The U14 B team travelled with the U 18 boys the relatively short distance up to the Abbey Grammar School in Newry, and found themselves in a great gym in what looks like a brand new school. The 14 boys were worthy winners in an easy enough game whereas the 18 boys had to fight every inch of the way to gain a 2pt victory. U 14 B Boys Newry Fliers 16pts Blackwater Steelers 32pts Conor, Dylan, James, Michael M and Ógie were first to face the northern lads and were joined a little later by Damien. Steelers got off to a great start, everyone working hard, passing, moving and finding space. With great support from Michael, James and Damien, our men clocked up scores from Ógie, Dylan and Conor and left the Monaghan men ahead 10 points to 2 after the first quarter. Bradley, Michael, Kai, Lukie and Ieuan started the next period with Cathal subbing in during the quarter. Again the men from Monaghan got down to work quickly and kept up the pressure. The Newry lads put up a fight and managed to close the gap but scores from Ieuan, Bradley, Lukie ensured Steelers lead at half time 18 points to 6. During the third quarter the game seemed to hit a bit of a lull with few scores from either team but the pace picked up again in the last period. Even though Steelers had a comfortable lead, the lads kept the pressure on, turning over the play when the opportunity presented itself and taking their scores to win 32 points to 16. That’s 9 wins from 9 for these U14 B boys with 3 games to play so this leaves them in a very strong position and without doubt in the semi final positions. Team: Luke Coyle – 10 points, Dylan Mc Kenna – 6 points, Conor Mc Kenna – 6 points, Ógie Ó Dufaigh – 4 points, Ieuan Williams – 2 points, Damien Treanor – 2 points, Bradley Maguire – 2 points, Michael Meehan, Michael Mc Donnell, James Hughes, Cathal Meehan, Kai Mc Caffery. U 18 Boys
Newry Fliers 50pts Blackwater Steelers 52pts A Hard fought win for The Steelers as the New Year return matches begin. This game was going to be strongly contested as the Steelers only managed a home win against Newry by 8pts. The 1st quarter starters of Ramunas, Mantas, Dara, Christopher and Andrius worked well as the boys got off to a good start with good passing and fast breaks. Newry were having a good quarter too as they almost matched point for point. The Steelers finished the quarter with 22pts to Newry’s 17pts. Simonas and Aivarus came in for Chris and Dara at the start of the 2nd quarter. A better period for Newry as the Steelers defences started to let them down and Newry were finding a lot of room under the basket. At the other end of the court Newry’s defences tightened up, reducing the Steelers to some outside shooting but they were not having much success. The boy’s only managed to add 4pts to their score but Newry had taken the quarter with 10pts and the lead by 1pt. Halftime score now had the Steelers concerned, Newry 27pts -Steelers 26pts. The 3rd quarter had both teams struggling to get an advantage as the 1pt lead went back and forth. The Steelers defensive was still a bit weak allowing Newry space on the base line and had they converted everything the Steelers would have been in trouble. An equal score of 14pts was added to the score line as the Steelers went into the final quarter still trailing by 1pts. The use of the half court man to man by the Steelers created some turnovers and got them slightly ahead but Newry stayed in the game and fought on. This was a very tense and highly charged quarter with the Steelers just 2pts ahead going into the last minute. There was a bit of luck for the Steelers when they were awarded a foul with 26seconds to go, a timeout was called which gave them the advantage of an inbound ball on Newry’s extended free throw line, the boys passed the ball around to run the time down and only took the shot as the buzzer sounded and won the game. Team and Scorers: R. Ramanauskas 28pts, M. Zalikas 13pts, A. Jastramskas 11pts, D. Bell, C. Kerr, T. O’Gane, A. Vasiliauskas, A. Fields, M. Takai and S. Seskevicius. Schools Basketball Congratulations to Coláiste Oiriall who qualified for the U 16 All Ireland B Girls Schools League semi final when they negotiated their way through the play offs in Dublin at the weekend. They won all three games, so well done girls! St. Louis Convent Monaghan were also in the U 16 All Ireland A Girls School play offs in Dublin last Saturday but just lost all 3 games narrowly and miss out on the semi-final play offs in March. St Macartans hosted one of the U 16 All Ireland B Boys schools play offs on Sunday but unfortunately did not progress to the semi-finals. All 3 schools teams are populated with Blackwater Steelers players so well done everyone. Jan 11th 2014 Steelers too strong for Titans Magherafelt Titans 19pts Blackwater Steelers 53pts The Steeler U 16 girls travelled to Magherafelt last Friday evening to play what is the weakest team in the league, and without any great surprise they won with ease. There is nothing to learn from these sorts of games but they have to be played and you have to arrive with at least 10 players. The Steelers arrived with 11 and for a while it looked like none of the home team were going to turn up but when they did they had no answer to the Steelers superior pace, skill and power. The first quarter was a whitewash 15pts to nil but the home side got off the mark in the 2nd but still went down 19 to 5. The 3rd ended 10 – 4 to the Monaghan girls and in the fourth the Titans got a small 1pt victory as the game petered out. All 11 girls got on the scoresheet which was great and they did what they had to do, turn up and win. There will be a break in the games now as the mock junior certificate is due to start so good luck with that girls! Team and Scorers; Verity O Connor 15pts, Lynda McMeel 8pts, Natasha Hughes 6pts, Kathleen Connolly 6pts, Aoibheann McQuaid 4pts, Clodagh Kerr 4pts, Niamh Kieran 3pts, Sinead McGuirk 2pts, Ellen Molloy 2pts, Rachel Gallagher 2pts, Niamh Neeson 1pt.
DEC 21 & Dec 22nd 2013
U18 Boys ‘A’ Blackwater Steelers 64pts Queens 66pts A vast improvement by the Steelers against a Queens’s team that beat them in Belfast at the start of the season 60pts to 40pts. A very exciting and trilling game to watch as The Steelers lifted their game and gave Queens a lot to worry about. As Ramunas, Mantas, Richie, Andrius and Aivaras quickly jelled together in the first quarter; Queens found themselves struggling to keep up and trailed throughout the period. Great work from the boys had them 21pts to 15pts ahead as the quarter finished. Simonas and Dovydas were subbed in at the start of the 2nd quarter to join Ramunas, Richie and Andrius. Not as good a quarter for The Steelers as Queens had come back within a basket in the first 2 minutes. The boys were able to put away 4 baskets without reply from Queens which helped to steady their game and lead. Half time score, Steelers 35pts, queens 27pts. Going into the 2nd half The Steelers needed to increase their lead significantly to secure a home semi-final in the play-offs. As it turned out, The Steelers had their worst quarter only adding 10pts to the score, while Queens had their best with 22pts. The Steelers were now behind, 45-49, going into the last quarter. A man to man half-court defence by The Steelers proved very effective as they put pressure on Queens which produced some turn overs and got them back into the game. As the quarter played out, it was basket for basket with The Steelers just staying ahead by 2pts. With just 9 seconds to go, The Queens No. 7 who had up to now had gave The Steelers some trouble, brought the score equal. The Steelers bench called a time out which gave them the advantage of an inbound ball at the free throw line in Queens half. A simple play to get Ramunas under the board was lost as Queens stole the ball and had a very easy lay-up under The Steelers basket. A great display of basketball from The Steelers and were unlucky not to have a victory. Fulltime score, Steelers 64pts, Queens 66pts. Team and Scorers: R. Ramanauskas 18pts, M. Zalikas 18pts, R. Wilkie 12pts, A. Jastramskas 8pts, A. Vasiliavskas 4pts, D. Lapinskas 2pts, M. Rudanovas 2pts, S. Seskevicius, A. Fields, T. O’Gane and M. Takai. U16 Boys ‘A’ Blackwater Steelers 48pts Queens 20pts Queens were never going to be any threat to the Steelers. An away win in Belfast for the first game of the season had The Steelers running through Queens with a 41-16 victory. The first half was a period of good defensive work by the boys but they lacked any structure in their offense and made hard work of the baskets they scored. The half ran out with The Steelers running up a 25pt to 11 pt. advantage Unfortunately, the team talk at half time didn’t seem to improve their performance as The Steelers still made everything look like hard work. The game was out of reach for Queens but The Steelers seem to treat the Occasion like a training session. A more able opposition would have taken The Steelers to the cleaners. The boys did manage a respectable 23pts, to Queens 9pts. Full time score – Steelers 48pts, Queens 20pts. Team and Scorers: M. O’Brien 13pts, J. Hughes 12pts, B. McKenna 7pts, J. Deery 4pts, J. McKenna 5pts, S. Gilbane 4pts, E. Campbell 2pts, M. McAlister 1pt, R. McAlister, X. Salate, J. Gallagher and M. McQuaid. U13 Girls 22nd December 2013 Blackwatersteelers 52pts Queens 8pts U13 girls had another spectacular win over Queens at this away game in Belfast.
First five were Alex Mulligan, Amy Deery , Lara OMáirtin, Aisling McAnespie, and Rachel Lavery .This five got off to a great start and won most possession of the ball. Lara, playing on the wing, picked up two sets of free shots in this quarter scoring 3 out of 4. Aisling McAnespie, playing low today, scored a basket and free shot and displayed great speed and fitness. Good team work shown and it was obvious from the start that the Steelers had a stronger team. The 2nd quarter brought Caoimhe Warde, Gemma Johnston, Mollie Molloy, Aisling and Derbhla Ni Ghallchoir, and Shauna Corrigan subbing in. Steelers totally dominated this quarter, scoring 24pts to nil. Mollie was in flying form today scoring the majority and helped by more scores from Gemma, Caoimhe and Aisling, there was no threat to their game.
Third quarter saw the return of Alex, Amy, Derbhla, Rachel and Aisling Mc Anespie. There was less scoring here but still Queens failed to get through the Steelers defense. As this was a comfortable lead for the girls, we decided to leave Amy and Derbhla in for the final quarter along with Shauna and Gemma to give them a chance to challenge themselves and although maybe a bit overwhelming for some, was valuable experience at the same time! Lara, playing point guard for the first time really stepped up to the mark and has proved herself as an all rounder. Well done to the whole team and now you can all have a well deserved rest over Christmas. Ho Ho Ho! Team and Scores: Mollie Molloy 16pts, Lara ÓMáirtin 11pts, Aisling Mc Anespie 9pts, Caoimhe Ward 6pts, Gemma Johnston 6pts, Aisling Ni Ghallchoir 2pts, Alex Mulligan 2pts, Rachel Lavery, Shauna Corrigan, Derbhla Ni Ghallchoir and Amy Deery. DEC 14th 2013
Successful Weekend for Steelers
The Blackwater Steelers had one game down in Omagh on Saturday last for the boys under 14 b team and 3 games in Lisburn on Sunday for the girl’s teams. All four teams were winners so it was a very successful weekend indeed. U 14 b Boys Omagh Thunder 31pts Blackwater Steelers 36pts A cold, wet and windy Saturday morning and the U14 Boys B team headed north to take on Omagh. The last time they met proved to be a difficult game and, while Omagh won, Steelers still took the points, as Thunder had a few over aged players on court. So, with that defeat in mind, Conor, Michael Mc D, Kai, Cathal and Ógie took to the court for the first quarter to be joined later by Damien, all knowing they had a job of work to do, not to suffer the same fate again. Although Omagh were playing with only a seven strong panel, they had a very strong ball handler and two very tall and strong posts. The Omagh boys defended hard and won most of the rebounds of both boards. It took the Steeler lads a few minutes to settle. Managing to steal the ball and drive to the basket, Ógie put our first points on the scoreboard. Conor followed suit with another driving score. Ógie turned over the ball twice more and then scored his fourth with a lovely post-up and pass from Michael. All the while they were supported well by Kai, Cathal and Damien. Steelers went to the break 3 points up, 10 – 7. Dylan, Lorcan, Michael M, James and Lukie were next to face the big men from Omagh. Given that this is a development league, teams with fewer players than the required 12 of a panel are permitted to play their players for up to three quarters of a game. As a result, our second five had also to face down the big lads from Thunder. Their size and strength was again off-putting at first but gradually Lorcan and Dylan got a handle on them. James and Michael supported Lukie up top in his first game as ball handler. Dylan was first to score for the Monaghan men, driving back up from a rebound. Lorcan assisted James on two different attacks and James chalked up four points for Steelers. Lorcan took a further three for himself, with nice little side-steps around the tall Omagh men and shooting six points in total. At half time the score board read Steelers 22 points to Thunder’s 15, but the game on the court had felt much tighter. The second half of the game continued in the same vein. Every play was hard fought and the game remained tight throughout. The lads from Omagh got on a run in fourth and managed to string a number of scores together. They steadily crept up on us until they were, at one stage, a mere point behind. All of our lads continued to give of their best, marking well, passing and moving into space, turning over plays where they could and fighting hard for every ball. Particular mention must be given, however, to Lorcan, Ógie and Lukie whose work rate and effort were highly commendable. In the final minutes of the game, Steelers started to pull away again and finished the quarter with a 5 point lead. Blackwater Steelers 36, Omagh Thunder 31. All of our boys should be proud of their individual and collective performance - they are really coming together well as a team. It is also great to see all the newer players developing their skills and building in confidence as the season unfolds. Well done all! Players and Scorers: Lorcan O Rourke - 12 points, Ógie Ó Dufaigh - 10 points, Luke Coyle - 6 points, James Hughes – 4 points, Conor Mc Kenna – 2 points, Dylan Mc Kenna – 2 points, Michael Mc Donnell, Kai Mc Caffery, Damien Treanor, Michael Meehan, Cathal Meehan. Sunday U 16 Girls Lisburn Phoenix 27pts Blackwater Steelers 52pts The 16 girls were first out on Sunday morning and with a good few cry offs due to the festive season two of the U 14 girls were asked to play up, both Amy Mulligan and Kelly McCormill had no hesitation in doing so and both played well. The Steelers first quarter girls, Ellen Molloy, Ellen Mulligan, Aoibheann McQuaid, Rachel Gallagher, Lucy McDonnell and later Amy Mulligan met a very confident home side who were well up for the game and they struggled a little. In fact we went 8pts down before we settled and clawed our way back into the game with great fighting spirit shown by all. The end of quarter score was 14pts to 10pts with Ellen Mulligan getting all our scores. The next six players Verity O Connor, Natasha Hughes, Kelly McCormill, Niamh Neeson, Kathleen Connolly and later Bethany Fitzpatrick had to fight hard for everything they got too. Lisburn had good structure to their game but found it harder to get scores this time around. The Steelers edged into the lead with 10 from Verity and one from Natasha and lead by 21pts to 19pts at half time. The third quarter changed the course of the game as the Steelers powered in front, their defence was better and they broke down the court at speed. They went 10 in front without reply and pushed the score to 38pts to 25pts by the quarter end. Tactical changes were made throughout. The fourth reinforced the Steelers dominance with a score of 14pts to 2pts with all the girls playing their part. Team and Scorers: Verity O Connor 29pts, Ellen Mulligan 18pts, Lucy McDonnell 2pts, Amy Mulligan 2pts, Natasha Hughes 1pt, Aoibheann McQuaid, Bethany Fitzpatrick, Ellen Molloy, Kathleen Connolly, Kelly McCormill, Niamh Neeson and Rachel Gallagher. U 14 Girls Lisburn Phoenix 28pts Blackwater Steelers 44pts Another good day at the office for the under 14 Blackwater Steelers girls team with a 44 points to 28 win against the toughest opposition to date in Lisburn Phoenix. From the tip off the girls displayed some very good skills. Passing, which had let them down on occasions, was fast and accurate, and good positional play by the team had Phoenix chasing the game from start to finish.
Out first were Alex, Alison, Caoimhe, Morgan and Mollie. Alex dominated with her powerful dribbling and excellent distribution of the ball, ably assisted by Alison and Caoimhe on the wings. Morgan and Mollie were superb under the boards, making space for themselves and picking of some very good scores. In defence they played tight and hustled very well, keeping their opponents to just 8 points, while scoring 18 themselves.
Out next quarter were Amy, Kelly, Rebecca, Ailbhe and Laura with Lara subbing mid way through. Amy and Kelly had just played an under 16 game but you would not have guessed with the fast pace of the game and the intensity of the play. This Phoenix five were no doubt a stronger five but the girls were more than able to contain them. Amy and Kelly dictated things in offence with great support from the other girls, making good cuts and runs to the basket. In defence Laura and Ailbhe protected their basket well with Ailbhe having her best game to date. Rebecca and Lara, when she came on hustled well and more than made sure that Phoenix scoring chances were kept to a minimum.
The second half was played at a less furious pace with all girls getting plenty of court time. These last two quarters were much closer. Phoenix dealt better with Steelers offence, while they themselves made better use of screens, catching our girls out on occasions. Steelers won the third and fourth quarters by just one and two points respectively.
The girls should be proud of the determination and the quality of the basketball they played, as the coaches certainly are. Good to see that when the going gets tough, they get tougher still!
Once again many thanks to Lara who togged out at very short notice to help strengthen our squad.
Team and Scorers: Amy Mulligan 12pts, Morgan McKenna 10pts, Alex Mulligan 6pts, Kelly McCormill 6pts, Mollie Molloy 4pts, Alison McBride,2pts, Lara O Mairtin 2pts, Caoimhe Ward 2pts, Ailbhe Rooney, Rebecca Ward and Laura Nally
U 18 Girls Lisburn Phoenix 28pts Blackwater Steelers 59pts The u18 girls travelled to Lisburn to complete the first round fixtures of the Ulster league. Although the Monaghan girls were missing a few regulars, they dealt quite comfortably with their northern opponents and ran out easy winners. The Steelers simply had too much power, pace and basketball ability and the result was never in doubt from the tip off.
They built up a strong lead in the opening quarter and never let Lisburn eat into it. At the 8th minute they lead 19pts to 6pts. The second quarter was even as both teams scored 13 points to leave the half time score 32-19. Verity O’Connor was applying her usual stamp of class to the proceedings and Ellen O’Brien was having her performance of the season so far for the Monaghan girls. Ellen owned the defensive boards, which we have come to expect but this time she was much more of an offensive threat which was great to see. Her rebounding and outlet passes are of the highest standard and make our defence a formidable one. Ciara (she-hoops) McCarron and Harriet O’Connor were working extremely hard and rarely made mistakes. Maire McCarron and Nicole McNally put in a good afternoon’s shift and worked very unselfishly for the team. And then Casey, well she was just Casey! Her work rate, interceptions and steals are inspirational and she is invaluable to this Steelers outfit.
Coincidentally the third quarter score ended the same as the first, 19-6 to the Steelers. The highlight of that quarter was a buzzer beating 3 pointer from Verity at the end of a fast break. The shot from way outside the 3 point line drew a huge applause from all who seen it. Even the Lisburn coach stopped and applauded. The game finished up 59-35 to the Monaghan girls. They have now played five games and won five with every team played once – the perfect start. They are well positioned to push on and win this league but work will be required and I am sure our northern rivals will have something to say about that. Next up is Queens on Sunday.
Teams and scorers: Verity O Connor 25, Ellen O Brien 17, Casey Treanor 11, Harriet O Connor 4, Ciara McCarron 2, Nicole McNally and Maire McCarron. Church Gate Collection A big thank you to all who supported our recent church gate collection in Donagh, it is much appreciated. It was a very busy weekend on the court for the coaches so can we also take this opportunity to thank those parents who helped out at the collection. Dec 8th 2013 Blackwater Steelers took 4 boys’ teams up to Belfast to play Star on Sunday but came away with nothing. Star still lead the way in boy’s basketball in the BNI region but the Steelers can take some heart in that they got relatively close to them in the U 12 and 14 brackets. U 16 Boys
Star 66pts Blackwater Steelers 24pts
The Steelers knew that this game was going to be toughest to date but still didn’t expect to be beaten by so much. The boys were unable to lift their game and lacked the confidence and work rate seen in previous games. A lot of turnovers by Star due to bad passing and forced errors by The Steelers showed the difference in the level of skill and control that the Star players had. Our lads found it hard to play on the smaller court where the game was a lot tighter. The 1st Quarter of Shane, Ben, Jack, James McKenna and Michael McAlister was the best part of the game as it finished only trailing by 4pts, Star 10pts, Steelers 6pts. The Steelers at this stage were feeling confident as Xavi, Robbie, Ciaran, James Gallagher and Michael O’Brien began the 2nd quarter. But this is where it all went wrong. With poor passing and lack of rebounding, uncontrolled offense and slow defence, Star ran up 22pts to the Steelers 4pts. The half time score had Star well ahead, 32pts to 10pts. The 3rd Quarter was a little bit better for the Steelers as the strongest five on the bench took on Star’s best five. The boys managed a respectable 11pts, but Star still took the quarter with 16 points. With the score now at 48pts to 21pts, this game was out of the Steelers hands with the last eight minutes to play. The quarter was played out with the lads that hadn’t had their share on court, but again Star took advantage and ran up another 18pts to the one and only basket that The Steelers produced, a 3 pointer from Xavi. Final score Star 66pts, Steelers 24pts. Team and Scorers: J. Deery 7pts, M. O’Brien 4pts, X. Salate 3pts, R. McAlister 2pts, J. McKenna 2pts, J. Gallagher 2pts, S. Gilbane 2pts, M. McAlister 2pts, M. McQuaid, B. McKenna and J. Hughes. U 18 Boys Star 78pts Blackwater Steelers 54pts Having won the last three games, The Steelers were feeling very confident of putting on a good display of basketball against the highly rated Star team, but unfortunately, as with the U16 boys, some quarters were strong while others proved weak. The 1st quarter saw Star very strong taking a 25pt to 14pt lead ahead of The Steelers. Ramunas and Mantas were playing to their strengths and giving the Star boys a lot of worry. The Steelers second five gained a bit of strong hold in the second quarter, reducing Star’s lead to 8pts. The half-time score had Star ahead by 43pts to 35pts. The 3rd quarter was low scoring with 10pts going to Star and 8pts to The Steelers. This resulted in only a 10pts Difference going into the 4th quarter. This game was very much within The Steelers reach. But the boys allowed Star to much room and the game started to slip away from them. Star hit another 25pts to the Steelers 11pts. There is no doubt that The Steelers will perform to their strengths and lift their game next time they meet Star at home in the Sem. The full-time score was Steelers 54pts, Star 78pts. Team and Scorers: M. Zalikas 17pts, R. Ramanauskas 14pts, A. Vasiliauskas 6pts, R. Wilke 11pts, C. Kerr 2pts, A. Jastramskas 2pts, D. Lapinskas 2pts, M. Rudanovas, K. McGuirk and S. Seskevicius. U 14 Boys Star 41pts Blackwater Steelers 31pts It was half way through the last quarter and the sides were level, all to play for in a great sporting game, Star brought back on their U 12 wonder kid CJ Fulton and within a couple of minutes he had 8pts and 2 assists and there was 10pts between the sides and the game was lost. The Steelers had started off brilliantly, Andrew, Aaron, Conor, Dylan and Killian dominated from the tip, they passed with speed and precision and took their chances when they could. 6 from Andrew, 2 from Dylan and a free shot from Killian propelled the Steelers into a 9pts to 3pts lead. The 2nd quarter was very different, this was the CJ show and Inigo, Jason, Ryan, Colin and Lorcan and later Ogie could do very little to stop him. He is small in stature but very quick, with feints, fakes, swerves and a lethal shot, he helped himself to 13 pts and set up another 4 baskets. A basket from Jason and a free shot from Ryan was all the Steelers managed, Star led by 24pts to 12. The five lads from the first quarter went back on to try and reduce the deficit; they played some great basketball and patiently chipped away at the home sides lead. The passing and shot selection was super, the defence was brilliant because the work rate was brilliant and they held Star to 6 and CJ to four of them. The Steelers scored 12 and now they were back in the game. With Ryan coming in the only change made, the Steelers went after Star. 3 baskets in a row-(2 from Conor and 1from Killian) levelled the game at 29 each and the boys felt confident but Star called a time out and reintroduced CJ Fulton to blistering effect as described above. The final score was 41pts to 31pts which is certainly a touch flattering to Star. Team and Scorers: Andrew O Connor 11pts, Conor McCrystal 10pts, Killian McAdam 3pts, Ryan Treanor 3pts, Dylan Maguire 2pts, Jason Hamill 2pts, Aaron Sherry, Colin McQuaid, Inigo Gonzalez, Lorcan O Rourke and Ogie O Dhufaigh. U 12 Boys Star 26pts Blackwater Steelers 20pts The Blackwater Steelers u12 were the last game of the day against Star. The Monaghan boys were always going to be up against it as the Steelers have never beaten Star in any age group and we were missing one of our strongest players. Star have a history steeped with success with constant winning teams being produced through their school set up. For instance, last year Star won the four boys’ underage competitions and this is a regular enough occurrence. As if this is not enough they have now unearthed a new prodigy in the form of CJ Fulton who is possibly the best basketball player in Ireland at his age group and probably beyond. Luckily for us he had just played in the u14 game or the damage he can inflict would have been greater. The Steelers started strongly and ran into an 8 point lead keeping Star scoreless. Karl Gallagher picked up all 8 points but in truth the Steelers should have been much further ahead as they were very wasteful in offence and they ultimately paid the price for this. In the second quarter the Monaghan boys did not score and CJ drove the Star boys single handed and unfortunately despite Ryan Murphy’s excellent efforts defensively the half finished Star 13 -8. The third and fourth quarters were very even but the Monaghan boys were having a nightmare in offence and were finding it almost impossible to stop young Fulton. The overall effort was good but this young team has much to learn and there is no better place to get a lesson than St. Malachys. Even a very mediocre side was able to dominate and intimidate us. The absence of Ben Ryan and the presence of a very unwell Karl Gallagher had a major influence on our boys’ performance and the result. The final score was Star 26 Steelers 20 We do hope to rectify this result in the return fixture in the SEM but we will have to be much better and smarter. Pat and Enda have a lot to do. Team: Karl Gallagher 10, Conor Mulligan 4, Tiernan O’Rourke 4, Ryan Murphy 2, Kelvin Hackett, Cameron Liddle, Josh Maguire, Liam McKenna, Peter Douglas, Rio Corrigan, Jake Hughes and Finn Slater Nov 30th 2013 Three different clubs constituted the opposition in St Macartans on Saturday last. The first game involved the Omagh Thunder club, in the second game the U 14 girls took on Queens and Magherafelt were the U 16 girl’s visitors. All three games ended in home wins but the 14B boys actually lost the game but won the points because Omagh played 3 overage players and surrendered the points voluntarily. U 14 B Boys
Blackwater Steelers 24pts Omagh Thunder 35pts Our under 14 Boys B team have had a great run since the beginning of the season winning every game so far, but as they took to the court on Saturday, it was clear they would have a challenge on their hands - the boys form Omagh looked strong. Lorcan, Michael Mc, Lukie, Cathal and Ógie showed first for the Steelers, and Bradley joined them, for only his second game with the club. It was a slow and shaky start for both teams but we seemed to be chasing the game from the off, with many incomplete passes and numerous shots that just wouldn’t seem to drop in the hoop and the Omagh boys were very quick on their fast breaks. Nevertheless, our lads continued to work hard and we managed to finish the quarter ahead 9 points to 7. Dylan, Conor, Michael M, James and Ieuan were up next for the Steelers being joined by Luke half way through the quarter. This period brought more of the same for the Monaghan men – all working hard but Thunder marked our lads tightly and they were, once again, quick on the break. Our passes were often loose and Omagh capitalised on this. In defence Steelers were doing all the right things and kept the opposition scoring chances to a minimum, but it was hard to defend against a couple of their physically strong and skilful players. Going into the break we trailed by 2, 15 points to 17. The second half of the game still didn’t seem to flow for Blackwater Steelers. In the third quarter we were held to a mere 2 points from the free throw line and although we had scoring chances, the ball just wouldn’t drop. The last quarter brought more scores but Thunder had begun to pull away by then. This gave our lads the opportunity to try out a few different moves, but again, even though the plays worked well, the scores still wouldn’t come. The final buzzer sounded and Thunder won 35 points to 24. With every game, we learn and sometimes we learn more from a game lost. Our lads can come away with heads held high - they lost to a team with three over aged players and Steelers still take the points, along with the valuable lessons learned. Team and scorers – Luke Coyle – 6 points, Lorcan O Rourke – 5 points, Conor Mc Kenna – 4 points, Michael Mc Donnell – 4 points, Ógie O Dufaigh – 3 points, Michael Meehan – 2 points, Cathal Meehan, James Hughes, Luke Brennan, Ieuan Williams, Dylan Mc Kenna and Bradley Maguire. U 14 Girls Blackwater Steelers 45pts Queens 6pts This was another big win for the under 14 Blackwater Steelers girls. Queens were no match for them and just couldn't compete with them on the court.
The starting five were, Alex, Alison, Rebecca, Amy and Ailbhe, with Nicole subbing in. Right from the start the girls worked well and soon opened up the scoring, and it was to continue that way until the end. Steelers came in at end of 1st quarter 13pts to 2 up.
Caoimhe, Aisling, Kate, Morgan and Lara started the 2nd quarter with Joanna coming in. These girls kept up the pressure and they stretched the lead by another 22 pts, while denying the Queens girls any score.
The 3rd and 4th quarters were more about keeping the girls focussed and playing out the moves and plays learned at practice. Some work needs to be done there but all in all a good performance by everybody. A special word for Lara O Mairtin who made the step up to under 14 level and seamlessly fitted in with the older girls. Well done.
Team and Scorers: Morgan McKenna 14pts, Amy Mulligan 10pts, Caoimhe Ward 8pts, Aisling Ni Ghallchóir 4pts Alex Mulligan 4pts, Rebecca Ward 2pts, Lara O Mairtin 2pts, Alison McBride 1pt, Kate McEvoy, Joanna Lynch, Nicole McClean, Ailbhe Rooney
U 16 Girls Blackwater Steelers 71pts Magherafelt 14pts This was a mismatch really but you have to commend a very young Magherafelt team for travelling so far and putting in a really good effort. The Steeler girls were also very good in everything they did. The first quarter was a 24-3 wipe out with Amy Hamill and Celine Nally getting 10 and 12 pts respectively and Nuria hitting the other 2. The general half court pressure defence was good and the execution of scores was ruthless. The 2nd quarter continued on the same path, it was a 22-3 demolition and all 6 girls got on the score sheet with Lynda and Natasha to the fore. The second half didn’t change anything, the home side remaining dominant all over the court. All 12 girls scored and all 12 contributed greatly all through the game Team and Scorers: Celine Nally 12pts, Amy Hamill 10pts, Lynda McMeel 10pts, Ellen Molloy 6pts, Lucy McDonnell 6pts, Natasha Hughes 6pts, Megan McKenna 5pts, Niamh Neeson 4pts, Kathleen Connolly 4pts, Rachel Gallagher 4pts, Bethany Fitzpatrick 2pts and Nuria Molist 2pts. Nov 24th 2013 Basketball Drama St Macartans College was the venue for another group of home fixtures for the Blackwater Steelers last weekend and there was a massive contrast between the two days. On Saturday Lisburn boys were the opposition with the U 14 game providing most of the drama. The u 16 and u 18 games were close but the 14s went to 2 exiting spells of overtime. On Sunday Tyrone Towers travelled up with their 4 girl’s teams but there was none of the previous day’s drama as the Steelers won each game comfortably U 14 Boys Blackwater Steelers 45pts Lisburn Phoenix47pts (AOT x 2) The under 14 boys had won their previous two home games and in truth they probably expected to maintain that home form against a Lisburn team who hadn’t really troubled the Monaghan men at this age group for a few years, though during the warm up alarm bells were ringing about their height advantage and shooting accuracy. After a few misplaced passes Andrew O Connor, Killian McAdam, Conor McCrystal, Colin McQuaid and Lorcan O Rourke found their rhythm and the basket with a lay up from Conor. Killian and Lorcan played very well in the low areas, they made space for themselves and always looked dangerous, they picked up a few free shots and scores. Defence was difficult though and the Steelers found it hard to keep the taller Lisburn lads at bay. We led by a point at quarters end with Lorcan getting 6, Killian 1 and Conor 2. The 2nd period saw Inigo Gonzales, Jason Hamill, Dylan Maguire, Gavin McPhillips and Ryan Treanor introduced with Ogie O Duffaigh coming on later. They played very well with Inigo running the show, his distribution of the ball has improved, and Dylan Maguire also had his best game to date. Gavin played really well and picked up 6 in this quarter. The Monaghan lads fought their way into a lead that reached 9pts with Ryan, Dylan and Inigo adding to Gavin’s 6. The half time score was 21pts to 12pts. Lisburn weren’t giving up though, they came out and shot a 3pointer against a Monaghan five of Killian, Gavin, Conor, Ogie and Andrew. Then the same lad Corr dropped a nice shot, with the free as a bonus. They took a firm grip of the game, went into a 3pt lead and their tails were up. Inigo and Jason came on and the home play improved, as ball handler Inigo found the big lads at low post when he could not penetrate himself. Dylan and Conor came back on too and the Steelers regained the lead all be it only by 3pts. The last period was very exiting with Lisburn on the front foot from the start, they drew level and then took the lead, it was never any more than 3pts but it left the Steelers playing catch up. Andrew was brought on again but our threat was still only coming from Inigo, Gavin and Killian. With the clock precariously close to time up and the Steelers down by a point Killian was awarded free shots. There would be only time left to get the ball back in, Steelers could win this if both shots dropped, the support from the older Lisburn teams grew very vocal, the Steelers dared to believe, Killian steeped up, the first dropped short. Could he send us into overtime- YES was the answer after a brilliantly executed second shot “cometh the hour cometh the man” 3 minutes of overtime ensued and again Lisburn stole a march on the Steelers with the number 15 travelling his way to a score (not for the first time either). Killian equalised but again the 15 came up the court and scored. With only 4 seconds on the clock Andrew stole the ball at the half way line and just hit the lay up before the buzzer went. Another 3 minutes of overtime began but this time Lisburn quickly stretched out into a 4 point lead with 2 close-in shots. Could the Steelers pull it out of the hat again, Lorcan scored to leave it within reach. With a time out called and an inbound ball from the free throw line extended, the Steelers worked out a plan for Andrew to hit a three, we got the shot away but it hit the rim and bounced away and Lisburn secured their victory. The coaches were certainly very proud of this performance which has to be commended, yes disappointed to be on the wrong side of a frantic finale but the boys will learn a lot from this game. Team and Scorers: Killian McAdam 11pts, Gavin McPhillips 11pts, Lorcan O Rourke 8pts, Inigo Gonzales 7pts, Conor McCrystal 2pts, Dylan Maguire 2pts, Ryan Treanor 2pts, Andrew O Connor 2pts, Jason Hamill, Ogie O Dhufaigh and Colin McQuaid. U 16 Boys Blackwater Steelers 51pts Lisburn Phoenix 57pts This turned out to be another hard fought game for these Steelers Lads on the back of last week’s 1pt win against North Star. The work rate and commitment shown in each quarter compensated for the narrow defeat. The starting five in the 1st quarter of Shane, Michael McAlister, Ben, Jack and James McKenna, lads that generally would not start together, proved very rewarding as they managed to pull away from Phoenix to take the lead 13pts to 7 pts at the buzzer. Emmett was subbed in during the quarter and proved confident both in offence and defence. The 2nd quarter five of Robbie, Xavi, Eric, Michael O’Brien and James Gallagher were going to have a lot more to do as Phoenix were playing their U16 Irish squad player- but one player does not make a team. Steeler scores were hard to get with Xavi’s trademark drives being closed off, Michael tried his hardest under the boards but the Lisburn defence were well drilled. The Steelers let Phoenix take the quarter 10pts to 5pts. Matthew entered the quarter half way through and like Emmett performed without fault. Half time Score had The Steelers 1pt ahead, Steelers 18pts to17pts. The 3rd quarter started with The Steelers Strongest mix up against a Phoenix strong five. The game had picked up pace at this stage and Phoenix were collecting points on their fast breaks but The Steelers were working the offensive board as Michael O’Brien closed the margin. Phoenix were controlling the game a little bit more and went into shooting mode with their No. 31 and No. 33 firing of shots from the corners. The Steelers had to introduce a 1-3-1 defence to combat this but they were not getting back in defence quick enough. This defence is highly effective but these lads are only learning and the benefits and will prove more useful later on. The Steelers added another 17pts at the buzzer but Phoenix had taken the lead with 22pts. The score going into the 4th quarter had Phoenix leading 39pts to 35pts. A 4pt lead with 8 minutes of play is not game over and The Steelers went out focused, to control their offence and to get back quicker in defence. Phoenix opted to press the inbound ball but The Steelers actually found this useful as they moved the ball up the court with speed and broke the press with ease. A highly charged quarter and even 3 pointers from Xavi, Robbie and Ben was not enough. Phoenix took 18pts to Steelers 16pts. In hindsight, as in the previous game, the bench should have introduced a press during the 4th quarter forcing Phoenix to make errors which The Steelers would have exploited. The fulltime Score was Steelers 51pts Phoenix 57pts.
Team and Scorers:- M. O’Brien 16pts, B. McKenna 10pts, S. Gilbane 6pts, X. Salate 5pts, M. McAlister 5pts, J. McKenna 4pts, R. McAlister 3pts, J. Deery 2pts, M. McQuaid, E. Campbell, E. McElmeel and J. Gallagher. U 18 Boys Blackwater Steelers 64pts Lisburn 60pts As the score might suggest this game was close, in reality The Steelers had it under control during all four quarters. A third win in a row has the boys eager for that place in the final play-offs. The bench started very strong, as little was known about this Lisburn side even though they were playing up 4 of their U16 panel. The first five went out and finished the quarter with a 19pt to 11pt lead, a settling down period in basketball terms. The 2nd quarter saw Phoenix a little stronger adding 24pts to The Steelers 20pts, a result of their shooters hitting 5 three pointers to only one of The Steelers, half time score had The Steelers leading 39pts to 35pts. The 1-3-1 defence was again deployed in the 3rd quarter, more so to get the lads to adjust when needed. Due to this play, Phoenix found it hard to penetrate or shoot and took at least six minutes to add a score. The Steelers took this quarter 12pts to 8pts with the less experienced lads doing well in defensive positions. Into the 4th quarter and The Steelers only had an 8 point lead, one Phoenix could easily claw back, but the home team played the time limits and ran the bench with confidence even though Phoenix finished the quarter 17ptsto 13pts in favour. An issue that concerns the coaches is the amount of 3 point shots that The Steelers took. Throughout the game only one was scored, which meant everything else was lost possession. Indeed, a 3 pointer shooter is a great asset but they need to be hitting that basket. Blackwater Steelers are not a treat as a shooting team so they need to do what they are good at and that is dominating the boards in defence and offence. Team and Scorers:- R. Ramanauskas 27pts, R. Wilke 18pts, M. Zalikas 13pts, A. Jastramskas 4pts, D. Lapinskas 2pts, M. Takai, M. Rudanovas, A. Fields, A. Vasiliauskas and S. Seskevicius. Sunday Nov 24 U13 Girls Blackwater Steelers 43pts Tyrone Towers 19pts This was the first of four home games in the Sem on Sunday and yet another great win by this U13 girls team who remain unbeaten so far. First five were Alex Mulligan, Mollie Molloy, Aisling Ní Ghallchóir, Cliodhna McArdle, Caoimhe Ward and Rachel Lavery subbing in. The Steelers won the jump ball, with Cliodhna breaking away and quickly passing on to Mollie, who scored the first basket. Our defence was very strong and Cliodhna, Caoimhe and Aisling put pressure up front and stole the ball repeatedly moving into fast breaks for Mollie and Alex to finish off. Towers had little opportunity for scoring against this bunch and score at the end of this quarter was 21 – 2. The 2nd quarter brought Gemma Johnston, Lara ÓMáirtín, Aisling McAnespie, Helen McCrystal Zarha Farrington and Derbhla subbing in. The Towers put out a much stronger 5 this quarter , and this time, the Steelers struggled to get through their defence. However the Towers ended up with team fouls and we got some nice scores from Aisling and Helen at the free throw line, bringing the score to 25 – 5. The 3rd quarter saw the return of Mollie, Rachel, Aisling McA , Caoimhe, Zarha and Cliodhna and Alex subbed in. Alex displayed some beautiful driving and weaving as she clocked up the points. There was some terrific defending from Cliodhna as she consistently whipped the ball from her opponents. Zarha, Caoimhe and Rachel were always on the move setting up shots for Mollie, who brought the score up to 33 – 7. In the final quarter, we had Gemma, Cliodhna, Aisling Ni G, Lara, Derbhla and Helen subbing in later. Aisling stole the ball and tried to drive in winning herself free shots. Lots of passing around and good positioning led to Lara scoring another few lovely shots and Derbhla won herself a free throw and a basket from a great steal. Well done to all the girls for the effort and another win. Team and Scores: Mollie Molloy 14pts, Alex Mulligan 13pts, Lara ÓMáirtín 6pts, Derbhla Ni Ghallchóir 3pts, Helen McCrystal 3pts, Caoimhe Ward 2pts, Aisling Ni Ghallchóir 1pt, Aisling McAnespie 1pt, Cliodhna McArdle, Zarha Farrington, Rachel Lavery and Gemma Johnston. U 14 Girls Blackwater Steelers 40pts Tyrone Towers 16pts Next on court were the under 14 girls who welcomed back the Dungannon based Towers for another crack at them, the previous meeting of these two teams early in the month saw the Steelers romp home with a comprehensive victory. In this league every one plays each other 3 times. Not taking anything for granted, the girls are training hard and anxious to give a good account of themselves in every game.
Kelly, Kate, Aisling, Amy and Nicole were the first quarter five. Amy and Kelly, combining well throughout the game, gave the Steelers their first score. Even though the Steelers were the better team on the court, it didn't really show. The game lacked something, and the defence was not as strong as it could have been. This allowed the Towers in to score on too many occasions. Offensively they were good, passing well, but in fairness to the Towers defence, they held their ground well.
Second quarter five were Caoimhe, Alex, Alison, Mollie and Joanna. They picked up the pace with Caoimhe running at the opposition and getting great assistance from Alison and Alex on the wings who were in top form. Mollie was showing well under the opposition baskets and picked off some nice baskets. In defence too they were very strong, tracking back quickly, and not allowing the Towers a sniff at the basket.
Coming out for the third and fourth quarters,the Steelers finished off the opposition with some very fine play from all the girls, the moves and skills that they have been doing in training, really paying off. The coaches can be satisfied with the movement off the ball and good positional play of all the girls involved. Particularly pleasing was the number of lay ups and scores, scored with the weaker hand. Well done! Final Score 40pts to 16.
Team and Scorers: Alison McBride 9pts; Alex Mulligan 9pts; Kelly McCormill 6pts; Amy Mulligan 4pts; Mollie Molloy 4pts; Caoimhe Ward 4pts; Aisling Ni Ghallchóir 2pts Nicole McClean 2pts; Kate McEvoy and Joanna Lynch.
U 16 Girls Blackwater Steelers 45pts Tyrone Towers 35pts There was never going to be a doubt about the result of this game because the Steelers U 16 team are just simply better than their Towers counterparts. But therein lies the challenge, how do you keep the girls focussed enough to play the right way and keep doing the right things. At the start of this game they looked like they were getting ready for a party not a game and that giddiness filtered into their play. I hasten to add not all the girls were like this. We were missing our two regular ball handlers and Ellen Molloy and Kathleen Connolly filled in and really did very well. They helped the Steelers take a commanding grip of the game over the first 2 quarters as we led 29pts – 14pts. Ellen Mulligan, Lynda McMeel and Verity O Connor were to the fore in the scoring but it was the defence that came up short and it needs more work. The third quarter was very poor by any standards with the home side loosing out by 10pts to 6pts. The fourth wasn’t much better but the girls pulled the victory out and won by 10pts at the finish. Team and Scorers: Verity O Connor 19pts, Ellen Mulligan 12pts, Lynda McMeel 10pts, Clodagh Kerr 2pts, Ellen Molloy 2pts, Aoibheann McQuaid, Kate Aughey, Kathleen Connolly, Lucy McDonnell, Niamh Kieran, Rachel Gallagher and Sinead McGuirk. U 18 Girls Blackwater Steelers 38pts Tyrone Towers 31pts The U18 girls continued their winning ways in the last game of the weekend beating Towers 38-31 to make it four wins from four this season. While the win was important the coaches were slightly disappointed at the patchiness of the Monaghan girls’ performance. Like previous games where the result was never really in doubt the Steelers were just not clinical enough in offence. Perhaps the coaches must shoulder some of the blame for this. On a positive note the Steelers defence was tough and hard to penetrate allowing for the fact that Towers possess possibly the best shooter in the U18 league in Emer Laverty. Casey, Maire, Andrea, Ellen and Harriet started the first quarter and while they worked very hard they let Towers dominate and win the quarter 12-6. To emphasise our weakness in offence all 6 points came from Ellen O’Brien. There is work required here. The second quarter saw Verity, Ciara and Niamh join the action and they made a difference. Verity had a particularly good quarter but again like Ellen in the first quarter she was our only scorer picking up 8 points. But at least the match was back on. Half time score 15-14 down.
In the third quarter Nicole, Lynda and Laura joined the action and the game ebbed and flowed score for score. With both teams scoring eight points the final quarter was set up perfectly at 23-22 to Dungannon. Casey Treanor’s tireless, unselfish work caused many turnovers in a vastly improved fourth quarter and one of these steals led to the score of the game as Casey threw a full court pass to Verity who scored on the run. This seemed to lift the Monaghan girls and they finished off the job by double scoring Towers in the last quarter 16-8 points. The highlights of yet another low key performance were Harriet’s rebounding, Casey’s energy and Andrea’s work rate, and overall solid defending throughout. The composure that Rebecca Hughes normally brings to the offence was absent but the panel on the day did enough to edge the game. The final score 38-31. Team and scorers: Verity O Connor 16, Casey Treanor 7, Ellen O Brien 6, Lynda McMeel 4, Harriet O Connor 3, Niamh Kieran 2, Andrea Rafferty, Nicole McNally, Maire McCarron, Ciara McCarron and Laura McPhillips. Nov 17th 2013 Busy Weekend for Steelers Last weekend was a very busy one for the Blackwater Steelers with 4 girls’ games on Saturday and 3 boys’ games on the Sunday. Saturday saw 3 out of 4 wins achieved against the Ulster Elks and Sunday was completely victorious against North Star of Derry and that is no mean achievement. Well done again to all concerned. U13 GIRLS Blackwater Steelers 43pts Ulster Elks/Tigers 21pts This was the first game of a weekend of basketball at home in the Sem. The starting five were Alex, Lara, Amy, Zahra and Caoimhe, with Shauna as sub. Caoimhe kicked off the scores with 1 point from a free throw, and they flowed freely. This quarter put the girls well ahead as Alex scored 10pts from terrific driving and finishing off some great fast breaks. There was some very tight defending from Lara, Amy and Zahra, leaving the Elks/Tigers trailing with only 2pts in this quarter. In the 2nd quarter we had Aisling, Derbhla, Helen, Gemma and Rachel. The Steelers girls were a stronger team by far and displayed some great teamwork, pushing them well ahead in this quarter with scores from Helen, Aisling and Gemma. Score at the end of this quarter 23-8. With such a good lead in this game, it was a great opportunity for all of the new girls to get some valuable court time, in which they could build on their skills and confidence - as there is nothing like the real thing! There were more great scores in the last 2 quarters from Aisling, Helen and Derbhla. Well done to all the girls on another great win and to Shauna on her first game with BWS. The Final Score was 43pts -21pts to BWS
Team and Scores: Alex Mulligan 14pts, Helen McCrystal 10pts, Aisling Gallagher 8pts, Caoimhe Ward 5pts, Derbhla Gallagher 4pts, Gemma Johnston 2pts, Lara ÓMáirtín, Amy Deery, Zahra Farrington, Rachel Lavery and Shauna Corrigan. U 16 Girls Blackwater Steelers 40pts Ulster Elks 48pts The truth about the BNI under 16 girl’s league is that there are really only two teams who will compete for the honours at the end of the season and those two played their first encounter of the season on Saturday with a disappointing result for the Monaghan girls. The other truth was they were better than us on the day and they wanted to win more. The first quarter was good with Ellen Mulligan, Sinead McGuirk, Celine Nally, Amy Hamill and Nuria Molist starting, Ellen Molloy joined the fray later. The girls were strong and positive and crept into a lead but the Elks came back mainly through danger woman Anna Maguire. With Amy giving everything in defence and Ellen Mulligan good in offence, the home girls built up nice 5pt lead towards the end of the quarter only to be undone by a 3 pointer from Maguire. This hard fought period ended with a 12pts to 10pt lead to the Steelers. The second quarter girls were Verity O Connor, Lynda McMeel, Aoibheann McQuaid, Niamh Kieran and Natasha Hughes with Meghan McKenna coming in. Again they started off brightly and stretched out the lead but the Elks pulled them back. The Monaghan defence weren’t ever on top and again in this period we missed some very scorable chances, so we made it hard for ourselves. However they did stretch out a lead to 9pts with a minute until half time with 2 tremendous shots from Natasha, but Brianna Mulhern pulled two good drives and shots out of the hat and they went into the break only 5 down. The Elks made our defence look like they had just met in the third and scored 19pts against us where as we only managed 7pts. The Elks worked really hard, blocking out, bumping the cutters and denying any space in the zone. The Steelers had to work twice as hard as the opposition for their scores, 3 or 4 turnovers and 2 three pointers within a few minutes really scuppered any chance of a home win. The Steelers were down by 7pts. That soon stretched out to 11 as the Elks continued to dominate, but the Steelers came back at them. Verity found a bit of form again and pulled a couple back, unfortunately Ellen Mulligan was fouled out in the wrong, the foul was really Verity’s and this dampened the rebellion. The Elks saw out the game intelligently and deserved their win on the day. The final score was 40pts-48pts. Team and Scorers: Ellen Mulligan 14pts, Verity O Connor 14pts, Natasha Hughes 6pts, Nuria Molist 2pts, Celine Nally 2pts, Amy Hamill 2pts, Aoibheann McQuaid, Sinead McGuirk, Lynda McMeel, Meghan McKenna, Niamh Kieran and Ellen Molloy. On a happier note congratulations to Amy Hamill who came third in an All Ireland cross country race on Sunday after giving absolutely her all against the Elks on Saturday. U 14 Girls
Blackwater Steelers 35pts Ulster Elks 20pts Next up were the under 14 girls, and the only team to have beaten them last season were of course the Ulster Elks, so this promised to be a decent encounter too. It didn’t quite turn out that way.
Kelly, Alex, Kate, Amy and Laura were first out with Rebecca subbing in. Having lost the jump ball, Amy hustled well to cause a turnover, picked out Kelly with a perfect pass, where she scored her first of 10 points. In general though The Steelers offensive game was a little off form, and all too frequently the plays were broken down. Defensively however they were very strong with each girl sticking well to their task. Anything that got through was well dealt with by Laura and Amy under the boards.
Caoimhe, Aisling, Alison, Morgan and Mollie came out for the 2nd quarter with Nicole subbing half way through. Again their defence was the best part of their game, tracking back well and denying scoring opportunities. Offensively, a lack of good clean crisp passing was letting them down and their attack all too often came to nothing. The Steelers did finish the quarter on a high with a good strong drive from Alison who took her basket well.
The 3rd and 4th quarters were considerably better from the Steelers, with all the girls giving a good account of themselves. The passing was cleaner and Morgan Mollie and Kelly took full advantage. Again good defence by all the girls kept the Elks opportunities to a minimum and the Steelers won the game with a score line of 35 pts to 20pts.
Team and Scorers: Kelly McCormill 10pts, Mollie Molloy 7pts, Morgan McKenna 6pts, Amy Mulligan 4pts, Kate McEvoy 2pts, Alison McBride 2pts, Caoimhe Ward 2pts, Alex Mulligan 2pts, Rebecca Ward, Laura Nally, Aisling Ni Ghallchóir and Nicole McClean
U 18 Girls Blackwater Steelers 49pts Ulster Elks 39pts The u18 girls were the last team on the floor and they kept their unbeaten start to the season intact. Perhaps, the girls made slightly harder work of it than they had to but apart from the opening 2 minutes and the first minute of the fourth quarter, the Steelers lead throughout the match. Rebecca Hughes, Ellen O’Brien, Ellen Mulligan, Verity O’Connor and Lynda McMeel started for the Monaghan girls and they had to work hard to keep the prolific Anna Maguire at bay who was getting great support from B. Mulhern. In a very even first quarter the Steelers edged ahead 10-8 points with Verity picking up 8 points and Ellen O’Brien hoovering up most of the defensive rebounds. In the second quarter the Steelers pulled away and opened an 11 point difference. Casey Treanor, Katie Curley, Laura McPhillips and Ciara McCarron had all joined the action and Casey was at her brilliant best defensively. Her tireless work out front caused turnovers and poor passes keeping the much vaunted Elks ball handlers on their toes. Katie and Laura won their share of rebounds particularly Katie but were unfortunate not to convert these chances after having all the hard work done. Harriet O’Connor and Celine Nally were added to the mix and while Elks did close the gap at the end of the third to 1 point, the Steelers coach Kellie McCabe was never really worried. The Elks scored first at the start of the fourth quarter but from there on the Monaghan girls took control of their own boards and became more clinical in offence. The Steelers ran out winners by 10 points but perhaps the coaches must shoulder some blame for being a little too casual. On a different day this could prove costly. On a slightly flat performance due in part to Clones and the Awards night in the Hillgrove there were a number of highlights; Verity’s class, Katie’s rebounding, Casey’s fight and spirit and Ellen O’Brien’s absolute refusal to show fear to highly rated opposition, traits which are infectious. The final score was 49 – 39. Team and Scorers: Verity O Connor 31, Casey Treanor 8, Ellen. Mulligan 4, Ellen O’Brien 4, Harriet O Connor 2, Nicole McNally, Ciara McCarron, Lynda McMeel, Katie Curley, Laura McPhillips, Rebecca Hughes and Celine Nally. Next up are our old friends Towers. U 14 B Boys Blackwater Steelers 27pts North Star 26pts The U14 Boys B team’s opposition were North Star who travelled down from Derry on Sunday morning and although unbeaten so far in the league they made very hard work of this game. Michael Mc Donnell, Lorcan O Rourke, Luke Coyle, Luke Brennan and Ógie O Duffaigh were the first five out for Steelers and Damien Treanor came in later in the quarter. From the off, North Star made it hard for our lads to settle into any kind of rhythm. The northern lads had a distinct height advantage in defence and attacked with speed. The Monaghan men struggled to keep a lid on their opponents and this low scoring period finished with Steelers just edging ahead with 4 points from Lorcan, to 2. Conor McKenna, Hubert Schienbach, Andrew Lyden, Michael Meehan and Ieuan Williams started the second quarter with Kai Caffery joining them half way through this session. Although Steelers upped the scoring in this period we still struggled to take control of the game. Hubert put 5 points on the board, while Andrew and Conor took one each but then took their mind of the job and let North Star in for some easy scores. The half-time buzzer sounded with both teams on 13 points. The second half brought some better play from the Monaghan lads but North Star weren’t letting up and stayed with us score for score during the third quarter, matching Lorcan’s 4 points and Luke C’s 2. With the final 7 minutes on the clock and the blood pressure rising, it was all to play for! North Star pulled ahead. Ieuan brought us even again. Lorcan took another, while Luke C got one point from the free throw line and another two points from play. Ógie put two more on the board for Steelers. The Northern lads kept pace with us all the way and with only 9 seconds to go, we were one point ahead and they had possession! A frantic few seconds followed but Steelers managed to turn over the ball and hold out to the final buzzer. A lucky win for Blackwater Steelers, it ended 27 points to 26. Team and scorers: Lorcan O Rourke: 9 points, Hubert Schienbach: 5 points, Luke Coyle: 5 points, Andrew Lyden: 2 points, Ógie O Dufaigh: 2 points, Ieuan Williams: 2 points, Conor Mc Kenna: 2 points, Michael Mc Donnell, Michael Meehan, Luke Brennan, Kai Mc Caffery, Damian Treanor. U 16 Boys Blackwater Steelers 35pts North Star 34pts After last weeks tough 3pt loss at home to Towers, The Steelers were hoping for an easier challenge so all the lads could get some court time, but this was not to be as the game went to the wire. The bench was still a little light on players, so the first two quarters had to have the right balance not too strong or too weak. The Steelers did not want a repeat of last week, where all their points and advantage won in the 1st quarter were lost in the 2nd quarter. A Good performance from the starting five had The Steelers trailing against an equally strong North Star five. Shane and Michael O’Brien were taking a lot of defensive rebounds but some errors in offence had North Star 4pts ahead until M. McAlister hit a 3 pointer to finish the quarter, Steelers 10pts, North Star 11pts. Another good performance from the second five saw The Steelers match North Star point for point in the 2nd quarter. Xavi was finding his way into North Star’s zone and giving them trouble and Jack fired off a 3 pointer to finish – Steelers 19pts, North Star 19pts. The 3rd quarter kept both defences working hard as each team added 10pts to their score. With both teams on equal points, it was all to play for in the last quarter. A few passing errors by The Steelers could have seen a different result but thankfully North Star failed to convert. This was the lowest scoring quarter but The Steelers just had the 1 pt. lead as North Star put on a full court press. The lads kept their cool and moved the ball around as the final buzzer went. Hopefully the rest of the season won’t be as intense as this game. The final score was Steelers 35pts, North Star 34pts. Team and Scorers:- M. O’Brien 10pts, S.Gilbane 6pts, J. Deery 6pts, X. Salate 4pts, M. McAlister 3pts, B. McKenna 2pts, E. Campbell 2pts, C. Winsryg 2pts, R. McAlister and E. McElmeel. U 18 Boys Blackwater Steelers 53pts North Star 46pts This was a second win for The Steelers 18 boys but not the performance they are capable off. With the height of Ramunas, Richie and Dara, these boys should have dominated the boards but most of the points came from outside shooting. The 1st quarter of Ramunas, Mantas, Richie, Andrius and Chris was very unsettled. North Star opened up the scoring and had led until mid-way through when the boys started working and ran up some baskets with no reply from North Star, ending the quarter 14pts to 9pts ahead. The threat from North Star was their shooters, so going into the 2nd quarter The Steelers’ went to a 1-3-1 defence. Again, there was a little confusion with the players but it served its purpose keeping North Star under pressure and making errors. The Steelers only gained a 1 point advantage in this quarter but the half time score was now 24pts to 18pts, so a lot of work was needed in the second half. Chris opened up with a 3 pointer and with Mantas hitting 2 more plus a few outside shots, the quarter was in the bag for The Steelers adding 17pts to North Star’s 9pts. The quarter ended with The Steelers up 41pts to North Star 27pts. Still, there is no time to sit back in basketball. With a lead of 14pts going into the 4th quarter the bench wanted to run a few of the lads who had not had much court time. A few errors were made but they just did enough allowing North Star to take this quarter 19pts to 12pts. The final score was Steelers 53pts North Star 46pts. Team and Scorers: R. Ramanauskas 20pts, M. Zalikas 15pts, C. Kerr 7pts, A. Jastramskas 5pts, R. Wilke 2pts, A. Vasiliauskas 2pts, S. Seskevicius 1pt., M. Rudanouas 1pt, D. Bell, M. Takai, T. O’Gane and D. Lapinskas. Nov 9th 2013: Almost Perfect for Steelers It was almost the perfect weekend for the Blackwater Steelers basketball club notching up another 5 wins across the ages and genders with only the under 16 boys coming up short against Tyrone Towers. The 14 A’s and B’s both won convincingly, and the 18s got their first win of the season. Then on the Sunday the 13 and 18 girls secured good wins in one of the toughest places to go Letterkenny. U 14 A Boys Blackwater Steelers 45pts Tyrone Towers 6pts At this age group Tyrone Towers generally produce good basketball teams but not this year, the Monaghan team steamrolled over them in St Macartans College and avenged a semi final defeat in Dungannon last season in the process. With Andrew O Connor in top form at point guard, Killian McAdam and Aaron Sherry rebounding like giants, and Colin McQuaid and Conor McCrystal hustling on the wings like banshees, Towers never stood a chance. The Steelers snuffed out any offensive aspirations they had and blitzed them for 16pts to 2 in reply. The 2nd quarter was no different, Inigo Gonzales in command, ably assisted by wingmen Dylan Maguire, Jason Hamill and Ogie O Duffaigh who come on later, and Gavin McPhillips and Ryan Treanor marshalling the backline if any threat presented itself. They destroyed the opposition playing some great ball in the process. The game was over or rather Tyrone Towers wished it was over. Half time score was 30pts to 4pts. Personnel and positions were changed for the next two quarters and everybody got a fair slice of court time, the intensity dropped a little but the lads kept trying to do the right thing and play the right way. It was 8pts to nil in the third and 7pts to 2 in the last, the final score was 45pts to 6pts. Team and Scorers: Andrew O Connor 12pts, Gavin McPhillips 8pts, Inigo Gonzales 8pts, Colin McQuaid 4pts, Ogie O Duffaigh 4pts, Jason Hamill 3pts, Dylan Maguire 2pts, Killian McAdam 2pts, Aaron Sherry 2pts, Conor McCrystal and Ryan Treanor. U 16 Boys Blackwater Steelers 31pts Tyrone Towers 34pts With a convincing win over Queens in their first game of the season, The Steelers were eager and confident going into this second game on home ground. Unfortunately, 3pts separated them on the final whistle in favour of Towers. The 1st Quarter was a runaway for the Steelers, putting them ahead 14pts to 2pts. A good strong start by the lads only to loose it all in the 2nd quarter, the bench was a little short on numbers so the mix of lads for the first two quarters probably wasn’t just right, as Towers second five took control, scoring 16pts to The Steelers 5pts. Half time score had The Steelers ahead by only 1pt, as the score line now read Steelers 19pts, Towers 18pts. The 3rd quarter was an equal match for the two teams. A low scoring stage of the game but still had The Steelers hitting 7pts to Towers 6pts, which put them ahead by one basket as the last quarter began. The lads fought hard and possibly make a few errors in offence but Towers just inched ahead in the last couple of minutes, The Steelers switched to a full court press, but it was just a little too late in the game. Maybe when they had the advantage, this should have been applied earlier. Full time score: Steelers 31pts, Towers 34pts. Team and scorers: B. McKenna 8pts, R. McAlister 7pts, M. O’Brien 6pts, M. McQuaid 4pts, M. McAlister 2pts, C. Winsryg 2pts, J. McKenna 2pts, E. Campbell, J. Gallagher and J. Derry. U 14 B Boys: Blackwater Steelers 42pts v Newry Fliers 7pts The third game of the day was the boys U14 B team who took on the Newry Fliers straight after the volatile end to the under 16 game. Michael, Lorcan, Luke C, Luke B and Ogie were out first with Cathal coming in to help later. The Newry lads put Steelers under a bit of pressure but strong defence by all the Monaghan men kept the Fliers scoring opportunities to a minimum, while strong rebounding under the board, turning over the ball mid-court and fast breaks meant our men could rack up the points. Lorcan and Ogie’s scores were made possible by a strong team performance. The second quarter began with Hubert, Dylan, Andrew, James, and Ieuan out on court, with Kai joining them later. Another good team performance here, in this period, with the defence holding strong. In offence, some of the shooting was off and the majority of scores came from the rebounding of Hubert, Dylan and James, while Andrew took one, driving from a pass from Ieuan. The remainder of the game continued in the same vein with good work rate from all on the Steelers team, the game finishing 42 points to 7. Team and Scorers: Hubert Schienbach - 16 points, Lorcan O Rourke - 12 points, Ogie O Dufaigh - 4 points, James Hughes - 4 points, Luke Brennan - 2 Andrew Lyden - 2 points, points, Michael Mc Donnell- 2points, Luke Coyle, Cathal Meehan, Dylan Mc Kenna, Ieuan Williams and Kai Mc Caffery U 18 Boys Blackwater Steelers 63pts Newry Fliers 55pts After two heavy defeats in the season so far, this victory is just what was needed. Each quarter was contested equally with The Steelers just staying ahead to give them the win. Ramunas opened up the scoring for The Steelers, as the lads settled into the 1st quarter. 3Pointers from Mantas and Andrius had The Steelers heading the right way, but the Newry No.7 was on top form hitting The Steelers hard with some fine outside shooting. The 1st quarter ran out with The Steelers leading 17pts to 14pts. The 2nd quarter saw The Steelers doing everything right both in offence and defence but again Fliers No.7 was proving a little difficult to contain as he got in some lovely 3 point scores which had both teams finishing the quarter scoring 17pts each. The half time score was Steelers 34pts, Fliers 31pts. The game was going to go all the way, and needed some defensive tactics to close down The Fliers and reduce their shooting opportunities. The 1-3-1 defence in the second half did exactly this. The Fliers were finding it difficult to move the ball around and get off any shots, but The Steelers didn’t gain a lot of ground in offence as the quarter finished with the lads adding 15pts to Fliers 12pts. With only a 5pt lead going into the 4th quarter, this game could swing either way. Thankfully the Steelers kept their cool and worked their defence well. Mantas was confident as he hit two 3 pointers to keep The Steelers ahead. Again a well fought quarter as the Steelers kept the lead with 14pts to Fliers 12pts. The full time score was Steelers 63pts, Fliers 55pts. Team and Scorers: R. Ramanauskas 27pts, M. Zalikas 18pts, R. Willkie 7pts, A. Jastramskas 7pts, A. Vasiliauskas 2pts, D. Lapinskas 2pts, M. Takai, T. O’Gane, A. Fields, S. Seskevicius and M. Rudanouas. U13 GIRLS: Blaze 27pts V Blackwater Steelers 40pts The U13 girl’s team travelled to Letterkenny on Sunday morning to play Blaze on their home court. They girls were very unsettled from the start and appeared to be overwhelmed by the Donegal girls who had a distinct height advantage and who were obviously very confident on their home court. Opening 5 were Alex, Mollie, Ella, Aisling and Lara, with Amy subbing in. Blaze had an excellent start with 8pts almost in a row and this definitely unnerved the Steelers. However Alex found her form as Point Guard and secured 6pts. As the scores increased so did their confidence, with further scores from Mollie and Amy, bringing the score at the end of this quarter to 11-10 to Blaze. In the 2nd quarter we had Caoimhe, Helen, Zahara, Cliodhna, Gemma and Derbhla subbed in. The Steelers managed to take the lead in this quarter with Caoimhe getting away on fast breaks, clocking up 6pts in a row, and Gemma and Helen scoring another 4pts, putting them in the lead with 20-17 to BWS. Cliodhna, Helen and Zahara worked hard in defence and were constantly on the move. The girls worked hard to maintain their lead. Mollie, giving it her best, scored from a rebound but eventually was unfortunate with her fouls. Lara showed great determination in her defence and in her movement, always finding space. Alex, Aisling and Caoimhe displayed some impressive team work on fast breaks, resulting in Lara securing another 6pts in a row. This quarter ended at 30-23 to BWS. The last quarter was very tense, and although the score board was in our favour, the girls were being constantly challenged with Blaze blocking their many attempts at shooting. Fortunately, this U13 team showed solidarity as they pulled through with a final score of 40-27. Credit must goes to Amy, Derbhla and Zahara who gave an impressive performance in what was a tough debut game. Team and Scores: Alex Mulligan 10pts, Caoimhe Ward 8pts, Lara OMáirtín 6pts, Mollie Molloy 2pts, Helen McCrystal 4pts, Amy Deery 2pts, Gemma Johnston 2pts, Cliodhna McArdle 2pts, Ella Garland 2pts, Aisling Gallagher, Derbhla Gallagher and Zahra Farrington. U 18 Girls Letterkenny Blaze 43pts Blackwater Steelers 51pts The u18 girls were next onto the court. They had been aware of Blaze’s run of results and the coaches were slightly apprehensive about the fixture. The good thing is that the girls themselves do not do apprehension and actually ran out winners much more comfortably than the score suggests. The Monaghan girls had travelled with a few short due to football commitments but those who had travelled were well up to the task. This particular Steelers team has a proud tradition in the Ulster League, as they have won the u13 and u14 league and cup doubles as well as the u16 cup. The only blemish on an otherwise excellent record was their failure to win the u16 league. These girls intend to make up for that this season! Rebecca Hughes, Ellen O’Brien, Ellen Mulligan, Verity O’Connor and Lynda McMeel started for the Steelers. While both teams settled into the game mistakes were made on both sides but the Monaghan girls were just about shading it. At the end of the first quarter they were up 14 – 9. For the second quarter Rebecca and Ellen Mulligan were joined by Katie Curley, Andrea Rafferty and Laura McPhillips. Harriet O’Connor was also introduced during this period. The Steelers started putting some daylight between themselves and Blaze as Verity and Ellen Mulligan in particular punished any mistakes mercilessly. By the end of the second it was 36 – 23 and while this is not a big lead in basketball the Steelers were always in control. Maire McCarron was taken on in the third quarter which turned out to be an exceptional low scoring affair. There were two reasons for this; high quality defending from the Monaghan girls and also poor conversion rates from the same girls in offence. In the fourth quarter the Steelers eased off a bit allowing Blaze to score 4 late baskets which had the effect of making the game look closer than it was. Overall it was a good day’s work with all 10 girls putting in a great defensive performance but we will need to be much more clinically in offence if we are to challenge for the major honours. Final score BWS -51, Blaze 43. Team and scorers: Verity 33, E. Mulligan 8, Lynda 4, E.O’Brien 4, Rebecca 2, Katie, Laura, Andrea, Harriet and Maire. A very positive note Kellie McCabe was making her debut as a coach in club and we are delighted to welcome her on board. Kellie has won many honours as a player and now she has a 100% coaching record as well so far! There was some confusion however, as wannabe coach Niamh Kieran tried to steal Kellie’s thunder by taking the timeouts over. On another very positive note I think a new club record may have been set. While I firmly believe that the player who gives the pass to the scorer is equally as important as the actual scorer, we simply cannot ignore one of the stats from Sunday’s game. Last season Michael O’Brien set a club record by hitting 31 points in an u14 game. The record lasted 5 days as Ramunas Ramanauskas hit 32 points the following Friday in an u18 game. On Sunday Verity O Connor went one better by scoring 33 points in Donegal, a statistic all the more remarkable because of the fact that Verity is still eligible to play u18 basketball for the next three years. Next game is on Saturday against our old rivals Ulster Elks.
Nov 3rd 2013 Successful Day for Steelers The Blackwater Steelers entertained 4 teams in St Macartans College on Sunday past and comprehensively disposed of 3 of them, the fourth turned out to be a real cracker in which the under 14 B boys just got the upper hand on a very handy Tigers team. The first visitors were Tyrone Towers under 14 girls, with Andersonstown Tigers filling the other 3 spots. U 14 Girls Blackwater Steelers 51pts Tyrone Towers 13pts Having won their opening game very comfortably, the under 14 girls were hoping for a greater challenge this time out. However as the score suggests, this too was a one sided affair, with the Dungannon girls unable to put up much resistance to the Steelers girls. First out were Laura, Amy, Rebecca, Kelly and Aisling Ni Ghallchóir. Amy won the jump ball and it wasn't long before she put up her 1st of 9 pts in the 1st quarter. The first few minutes were scrappy with both sides making sloppy mistakes, but after the 1st time-out, the Steelers took control with some great drives from Aisling and Kelly. Amy, Laura and Rebecca supported them very well with good positional play and were rewarded with some good scores. Joanna, who was making her 1st appearance as a Steeler came on and played well especially in defence. The 2nd five onto the court were Caoimhe, Lee, Morgan, Alex and Mollie and they continued the good work. Strong fast offensive play with a couple of good fast breaks resulted in scores from Mollie, Alex and Morgan, who were very strong under the boards. Caoimhe and Lee chased every ball and Caoimhe turned over the ball on several occasions to set her team mates up. Nicole, another girl making her debut for the Steelers came on and settled in to her task well, defending well and getting herself into good scoring positions. With the game all but won, the coaches decided to run the bench, giving all the girls plenty of game time. It was reassuring for them to see the drills being put into use and even better to see them paying off. However there is plenty more to be done at training as the opposition will get tougher and the Steelers will need to step up to the plate if they want to defend their league title. Team and Scorers: Amy Mulligan 14pts, Mollie Molloy 10pts, Alex Mulligan 7pts, Kelly McCormill 6pts, Morgan McKenna 6pts, Rebecca Ward 4pts, Lee Saunders 2pts, Nicole McClean 2pts Aisling Ni Ghallchóir, Laura Nally, Caoimhe Ward and Joanna Lynch. U 12 Boys Blackwater Steelers 48pts Andersonstown Tigers 4pts The under 12 boys were up next and they notched up their second league win of the season and again this was a walkover. The Tigers boys just weren’t up to the Monaghan lad’s standards as they ran up a 14-nil lead in the 1st qtr and built on it continuously through the quarters. There was some nice teamwork mixed with individual flair and skill from the boys and these lads might just challenge Star this year. Its easy to see the good work done in Emyvale on Wednesday nights is paying off. The Blackwater Steelers run training for 4th, 5th and 6th class primary school boys and girls every week so when the kids come to play in an under 12 league they are very competent in the basics of the game and are ready for team training. This was very evident in this game on Sunday so well done to everyone involved over the years. Team and Scorers: K. Gallagher 16pts, R. Murphy 11pts, D. Murray 7pts, T.O Rourke 6pts, B. Ryan 2pts, C. Liddle 2pts, F. Slater 2pts, K. Hackett 2pts, J. Maguire, C. Mulligan, A. Stewart and D. Douglas. U 14 B boys Blackwater Steelers 40pts v Andersonstown Tigers 32pts This was the boy’s first home game of the season and it turned out to be the best game of the day. Lorcan O Rourke, Michael Mc Donnell, Luke Coyle, Michael Meehan and Ógie Ó Dufaigh were out first, with Damien Treanor subbing in during the quarter. This game was always going to be a challenge for the Monaghan lads, but the Steelers got off to a great start and played out a tremendous first quarter - strong in defence and hard working in offence. The quarter ended with 11points from Lorcan and a further 2 from Luke, BWS leading 13 to 2. Next up were Hubert Schienbach, Conor Mc Kenna, Andrew Lyden, James Hughes and Ieuan Williams. The Belfast boys really put it up to our lads in this period, with particularly strong play from their number 8. Steelers were a little shaken and their passing and finishing was off. They continued to battle hard however, to try and close down their ball handler and Conor and Ieuan took scores when they could, to keep us ahead at half time, 19 points to 16. Tigers came out hard again in the third, they clawed the lead back and got their noses in front through great play again from their 8 Jack Summersgill. When he went off through injury for a few minutes the Steeler boys seized their opportunity, pulled it together and got back in the game. When the Monaghan men found their groove, they upped the pace and James, Michael, Luke and Andrew all took 2 points each while Lorcan shot a wonderful 3 point buzzer -beater, much to the delight of the bench and spectators. This gave the Steelers a crucial 4pt lead instead of 1 going into the last. The score was 30 points to 26. This last play seemed to take the stuffing out of the Tigers and the Steelers edged ahead with scores from Lorcan, Ieuan, Luke and Michael after the restart. They were helped by Damien, Ogie, Andrew and Michael Meehan who all played a part in a fast paced, nervy last quarter. This was a really tough battle but BWS emerged victorious 40 points to 32 and all the credit goes to the boys who played some great basketball. Blackwater Steelers U14 boys B: Lorcan O Rourke - 16 points, Luke Coyle - 8 points, Ieuan Williams - 4 points, Conor Mc Kenna - 4 points, Michael Mc Donnell - 4 points, James Hughes - 2 points, Andrew Lyden - 2 points, Hubert Schienbach, Ógie Ó Dufaigh, Michael Meehan, Damien Treanor. U 16 Girls Blackwater Steelers 64pts Andersonstown Tigers 13pts The under 16 girls got their 2nd win of the season with a tremendous show of firepower which blitzed the opposition in a very one sided game. Amy Hamill, Aoibheann McQuaid, Celine Nally, Ellen Mulligan and Nuria Molist started with Megan McKenna coming in mid way through. They played tentatively enough for the first few minutes before they found their rhythm but when they did they were all very good. Amy stole a lot of ball and notched up 8pts with Ellen hitting 3 but the overall workrate was super. The Tigers did manage 6pts but this was where their opposition petered out. Rachel Gallagher, Natasha Hughes, Niamh Neeson, Verity O Connor and Lynda McMeel were up next with Bethany Fitzpatrick coming on. The girls were strong and crushed the Tigers without mercy; they stole the ball constantly with tenacious defence and broke at speed to score. When the Steelers employed a press after the score more mistakes were forced and the home side took advantage, 29pts were racked up, Lynda hitting 8, Natasha 4 and Verity 17. The score now was 40pts to 10pts. The same combination of girls from the 1st qtr played the 3rd and the hammering continued. They tried out the press as well and again it coughed up loads of Tiger mistakes that ended in Steeler scores. Ellen hit 10pts with Celine scoring 4pts and they only conceded 2pts. The intensity level remained very high and this was pleasing. The last was a replica of the 2nd but without the very high scoring, the girls did not slack off and kept trying to do the simple things right. They scored 10pts to Tigers 2 to leave the final score at 64pts to 13pts. Team and Scorers: Verity O Connor 21pts, Ellen Mulligan 13pts, Lynda McMeel 10pts, Amy Hamill 8pts, Natasha Hughes 6pts, Celine Nally 4pts, Niamh Neeson 2pts, Aoibheann McQuaid, Bethany Fitzpatrick, Meghan McKenna, Nuria Molist and Rachel Gallagher. Steelers 14s win well Blackwater Steelers 62pts Letterkenny Blaze 14pts After losing their opening game in Queens and not playing that well in the process, the under 14 boys were determined to get a win in their first home game of the season and they did just that in a very convincing manner. Blaze did not provide that big a challenge but what pleased the home coaches was the quality of some of the play with a good work ethic very evident. Killian McAdam, Lorcan O Rourke, Andrew O Connor, Conor McCrystal and Colin McQuaid started the first quarter and really routed Blaze from the start. There was great ball pressure applied by Andrew at point and this caused numerous turnovers, if the pass or drive was good then it resulted in easy scores. The two wings Colin and Conor intercepted pass after pass and picked off easy drives. When there was any hint of a Blaze chance Lorcan and Killian read the play brilliantly and were very strong under the boards. The quarter was a wipe out 24pts to no score. Inigo Gonzales, Ryan Treanor, Jason Hamill, Dylan Maguire and Gavin McPhillips were the 2nd qtr lads and although against a better Letterkenny 5 they still pushed on and extended the lead. There weren’t as many turnovers and breaks in this period but there was some nice offensive plays that ended in scores. Blaze were attacking the wings more but Jason and Dylan were excellent, tracking and helping when required and when Ogie O Duffaigh came on he did the same. Blaze had one very tall lad but Gavin handled him brilliantly, and Ryan mopped up anything that got through. With the score at 36pts to 6pts the game was all but over. There were a number of combinations in the third quarter as the Steelers extended the lead even further. Their teamwork was good and although some patience was shown in offence there is still work to be done on that aspect of their play. The Steelers hit 20pts in this period with some eye catching scores from Conor McCrystal. The last period was really a non event as both teams had all but gone home, the Steelers had their first win and they were happy. The final score was 62pts to 14pts. Team and Scorers: Andrew O Connor 18pts, Conor McCrystal 16pts, Inigo Gonzales 6pts, Colin McQuaid 6pts, Killian McAdam 4pts,Dylan Maguire 4pts, Ryan Treanor 4pts, Gavin McPhillips 3pts, Lorcan O Rourke 1pt, Jason Hamill and Ogie O Duffaigh. U18 Boys Blackwater Steelers 40pts Letterkenny Blaze 68pts. There was no doubt for the Steelers going into this game that it was going to be one of toughest match that they would encounter in this ‘A’ League. Blaze finished last season with 12 wins from 12 games at this league, an impressive record. The Letterkenny Boys have had a number of years playing together and have developed into a well drilled and disciplined team, while the Steelers have only six players coming through from last season and the rest of the panel joining new. This massive difference was evident during the game as the Blaze offence was fast and accurate, both on the break and under the hoop. The Steelers defence still has not come together well as the switch from zone to 1-3-1 is letting them down. Some of the boys were finding it difficult to adjust and Blaze showed no mercy. These vulnerabilities were exposed throughout the game, an issue which has to be addressed quickly or this season is going to be hard fought. With a strong five going out into the 1st Quarter, both teams looked equal as they sized each other up. Blaze would have known that the Steelers also had an impressive last season, so a little caution was evident as the quarter finished, Blaze 9pts, Steelers 8pts. The Steelers readjusted their players for the 2nd Quarter, and things were going well for a while, but Blaze took the game to the Steelers as their defence broke down and the game started to run away from them. The Steelers were caught out on fast breaks and scores under their board, and had very little to offer in offence as the half time score had Blaze ahead 35pts to the Steelers 14pts. The game was over for the Steelers going into the second half, but the bench stressed to the players to keep their heads up and to carry on fighting. A good second half display would show Blaze that the Steelers are a force when they next meet for the away game in Letterkenny. All the lads got some court time during the second half, as the newer players mixed it up with the more experienced. There were some nice passing moves and flashes of inside play as the Steelers picked up their game which had them hitting 26pts to Blaze 33pts. Final score: Blackwater Steelers 40pts, Letterkenny Blaze 68pts. Team and Scorers: R.Ramanauskas 25pts, M.Zalikas 6pts, R.Wilkie 4pts, A.Vasiliauskas 3pts, A.Jaskramskas 2pts, A.Fields, S.Seskevicius, D.Lapinskas, K.McGuick, M.Rudanovas, and A.Jacques Rios. 2 wins from 3 for Steelers The Blackwater Steelers brought 3 teams up to Belfast on Saturday to complete the away fixtures against Queens. They came away with an impressive U 16 win and a complete rout by the U 14 B team but the U 14A team were well beaten by a better side. U 14A Boys Queens 46pts Blackwater Steelers 26pts This was the first outing of the season for the U 14 A boys and they won’t want many like this. The 1st quarter was only noticeable for the amount of blowing the referees did, the 2nd was pretty much the same as far as the refs were concerned but with an added ingredient, 13pts scored by Queens number 6 Matthew Rooney. The Steelers won the third but whenever we got back a few baskets Rooney weaved his magic to push the home side further ahead. Killian McAdam, Andrew O Connor, Aaron Sherry, Colin McQuaid and Conor McCrystal were first into action in a foul littered quarter, not helped by whistle happy referees. This five were better than their opponents but never really got to show it. Killian and Conor were the scorers for the Steelers but they trailed the Belfast side by 3pts. Gavin McPhillips, Ryan Treanor, Dylan Maguire, Inigo Gonzales and Jason Hamill were out next and they came up against a lad in real good form. The Queens play was all based around Rooney and if you have a player that good, why not? The Steelers had chances and if they had have put away more than the 2 from 12 free shots the sides would have been a lot closer. Rooney grew in confidence as he danced through to hit 13 of his sides 17 and Queens led by 24pts to 8pts. For the Steelers Jason hit 2 and Ryan and Dylan hit a free shot each. The Steelers made somewhat of a comeback with Inigo, Killian, Andrew, Conor and Dylan on the floor. Baskets from Killian and Andrew brought some confidence back and then the workrate in defence improved. Inigo drove the game on and picked up a couple of scores. With the deficit cut to 10pts the last thing the Steelers wanted to see was Rooney back on court but on he came and stretched the home lead to 13pts. The Monaghan lads went out determined to claw back this game in the last but Queens looked assured in their play and we never got close enough to really trouble them. There was some good play from the Steelers with baskets from Killian, Andrew and Inigo but Queens still found gaps and exploited poor defensive play which was the biggest problem throughout the game. The final score was 46pts to 26pts. Team and Scorers; Killian McAdam 7pts, Inigo Gonzales 7pts, Andrew O Connor 6pts, Jason Hamill 2pts, Conor McCrystal 2pts, Dylan Maguire 1pt, Ryan Treanor 1pt, Colin McQuaid, Gavin McPhillips and Aaron Sherry. U 14B Boys Queens (3) 2pts Blackwater Steelers 42pts The U14 Boys B squad were back at the scene of their first victory in their league this season Queens PEC in Belfast where they took on Queens 3. Ógie Ó Dufaigh, Andrew Lyden, Luke Coyle, Michael Mc Donnell and Conor Mc Kenna were first up, joined by Cathal Meehan for his début, a little later. Ogie opened the scoring with a point from the free throw line and added another 8 before the end of the quarter. Conor threw up a further 5 points to leave Steelers ahead by 14 on the whistle. Ieuan Williams, Luke Brennan, James Hughes, Dylan Mc Kenna and Lorcan O Rourke took up the baton for the next period helped by Damien Treanor. This was Luke and Damien’s first time on court for the Steelers and together with the rest of the crew, helped Lorcan clock up 5 baskets and James added another – the Monaghan men were cruising 26 – 0 at half time. During the rest of the game, Blackwater Steelers built on their lead with scores from Ógie, Conor, Lorcan, and both Luke Brennan and Luke Coyle. At the final buzzer BWS won 42 – 2. A good day at the office! Team and scores: Ógie O Dufaigh– 13 pts, Lorcan O Rourke – 12 pts, Conor McKenna – 9 pts, Luke Coyle – 4 pts, James Hughes– 2 pts, Luke Brennan – 2 pts, Cathal, Damien Treanor, Dylan McKenna, Ieuan Williams, Michael McDonnell. U16 Boys Queens 16pts Blackwater Steelers 41pts Having finished last season’s ‘B’ league so well, BNI have moved the U16 Boys up into the ‘A’ league, as happened with the U18 Boys. As the score suggest, the boys had a comfortable first game win over the less experienced Queens. A good start to the season, but on no account should the Boys sit back as they are sure to meet some very tough teams in this ‘A’ League. The first five of Shane, James McKenna, Johnny, Ben and Michael opened up the Queens offense, stealing the ball easily and producing some good fast breaks. Ben and Michael were doing particularly well in defence, setting up some easy baskets on the break. The Steelers ran out this 1st quarter with a good 17pts to 0pts lead. The second five of Ciaran, Eric, Xavi, Jack and James G. didn’t do so well, only scoring 8pts and allowing Queens to put away 6pts. With a half time score of 25pts to 6pts to the Steelers, this game was surely over for Queens. The second half saw the Steelers playing their 1st five and 2nd five in the 3rd and 4th quarter allowing all the lads equal court time. Unfortunately both quarters were played a little less eagerly than the first half, as lay ups were missed and rebounds unconverted. This was a very poor second half for the Steelers, scoring only 16pts to Queens 10pts. It would have been better for the lads to work the ball more in offense and use their team mates than go solo and take on the Queens defence on their own. With fewer errors, the Steelers could have seen 70pts on the score board. Still, there were some nice moves and passing during the game that should have showed the Boys how effective a team effort can be. The coach was pleased to see how quickly some of the lads were able to adjust to new positions on the court as experience from last season came into play. And finally a word to Matthew McQuaid, coming up from last years U14s, who played a part in every quarter and scoring the last basket for the Steelers – Well done. Team and scorers:- C. Winsryg 8pts, B. McKenna 7pts, M. McAlister 6pts, J. Gallagher 6pts, J. McKenna 6pts, J. Hughes 4pts, M. McQuaid 2pts, X. Saiate 2pts, S. Gilbane, E. McElmeel and J. Deery. Blackwater Steelers at the Tom Collins Inter Regional’s Taking place over in Galway last weekend was one of the biggest events for schools basketball during the year, where the best schools basketball players representing their regions battle it out in a two day tournament. The Blackwater Steelers had 5 players competing, 3 girls and 2 boys. The boys Michael O Brien and Robbie McAlister starred in a North East team that won the Plate Final against a strong Midlands team by 4pts- 39 to 35. So congratulations to you boys. The 3 girls from the club Natasha Hughes, Rachel Gallagher and Amy Mulligan were unlucky to be beaten by the North in the Plate semi final by just 3pts, so well done girls and the experience gained will only help in the future. Blackwater Steelers Back in Action The Blackwater Steelers basketball club swung back into action last weekend as 7 out of their 9 junior teams took to the courts. On Saturday last 3 of the boy’s teams travelled up to the Queens club and 2 wins out of 3 wasn’t bad going. Then on Sunday we hosted 4 girls’ teams from the same Belfast club in St Macartans College and the Steelers blew away the opposition in all 4 games. U 12 Boys Queens 2pts Blackwater Steelers 50pts This was a very one sided contest with the Steelers running out comfortable winners. For 8 of the 11 players, this was their first ever competitive league fixture but they showed no signs of nerves or fear and coupled with the other 3 experienced boys from last year they were much too strong for the Belfast boys. Great start to the season. Team and scorers: K. Gallagher 18, B. Ryan 14, R. Murphy 6, T. O’Rourke 6, D. Murray 4, J. Hughes 2, R. Corrigan, P. Douglas, L.McKenna and J. Maguire. U 14B Boys Queens (2) 15pts Blackwater Steelers 39pts Our U14 Boys B team are mostly made up from the successful under 12 squad from last season with some new lads joining and they are playing in the U 14 B division of the BNI leagues and their first opposition were Queens 2. Michael Mc Donnell, Conor Mc Kenna, Michael Meehan, Ógie Ó Dufaigh and Luke Coyle were first on the court with Bradley Maguire subbing in half way through the quarter. The lads worked hard in defence holding Queens to a single score. Conor opened the scoring for Steelers and Michael set Ógie up for another. Conor took a point from the free throw line and two from play while Luke closed the quarter with another score. Steelers lead, 9 – 2. Lorcan O Rourke, Dylan Mc Kenna, Andrew Lyden, James Hughes and Ieuan Williams were next up. They kept up the strong defence in this quarter and conceded only four points. Kai Mc Caffery joined them half way through the period. Dylan was the first to score. Great passing from James, Dylan, and Ieuan left Lorcan open to score twice. Lorcan returned the favour, posting up for Ieuan, who added 2 more points to the tally. Lorcan finished the quarter with another basket. Steelers were now 15 points ahead. It took the lads a minute to settle in to the third quarter but they soon found their touch again and got to working in defence. Conor’s first to score was supported by Ógie and Michael and soon after, rebounding well, took another 2 points. Michael, with a great interception, turned over the ball and Conor passed to Luke for our next basket. Then Luke set Conor up for his third of the quarter. The final quarter brought more of the same good work rate. James assisted Lorcan for two points and took another two for himself. With strong rebounding, great defence and fast breaks, they battled away and James added another 3 scores to the board to leave the final score Steelers 39, Queens 15. Well done and congratulations to all. James 10 pts, Conor 9 pts, Lorcan 8 pts, Ógie 4 pts, Luke 4 pts, Dylan 2 pts, Ieuan 2 pts, Michael Mc D, Michael M, Andrew, Bradley and Kai. U 18 Boys Queens 60pts Blackwater Steelers 40pts Having finished last season as cup winners and league champions, with only one lost, The Steelers were looking for tougher competition as the played their first away game to Queens in Belfast. The success of last season left no doubt that this team should have been entered in the ‘A’ League – which is where the boys find themselves now. The Steelers team lost most of their players from last season but still have full numbers as a lot of new players have joined, some bringing a lot of talent and skills and some hoping to improve as the season progresses. The Steelers had high hopes going into the first quarter against Queens but were lacking that sprit that saw them dominate the ‘B’ league last season. It was clear to see how the new players were finding it hard to adjust to defensive plays that were used so often last season. More work will need to be done at training. The lads were playing well in offense but the points failed to come. A half time score of 33pts – 19pts to Queens was putting this game out of reach for the Steelers but they fought on in the last two quarters letting Queens add 27pts to their 21pts. Final score Blackwater Steelers 40pts, Queens 60pts. Team and Scorers: R. Ramanauskas 17pts, M. Zalikas 8pts, A. Jastramskas 7pts, D. Lapinskas 7pts, S. Seskevicius 1 pt, D. Bell. M. Takai, T. O’Gane, A. Fields. .U13 GIRLS Blackwater Steelers 76pts Queens 15pts The U13 girls secured a great win in their first game of the season, which was played on home ground. Starting 5 were Alex, Cliodhna, Lara, Ella, Caoimhe with Rachael subbing in for Ella. The Steelers showed their strength from the off, winning the jump ball and Alex scoring the first basket within seconds. These girls showed how much they have improved in both confidence and skill as they stole the ball repeatedly and clocked up the points. Score at end of 1st quarter was 17 pts to 4pts. The 2nd quarter brought a new 5 to the court. Mollie, Gemma, Aisling Mc, Eve, Aisling G with Helen subbing in for Eve. Great display of defence and passing again led to easy scores as the Steelers capitalised on turnovers. This quarter saw the girls score a further 26pts while denying any score from Queens. The next 2 quarters saw the return of all the players and this was a great opportunity to give the new girls some decent time on the court. Considering this was a first game for some they should be very proud as their ability and confidence was obvious in the final score. 76pts to 15pts. Overall a fine performance from this U13 squad and Delma and Catriona are looking forward to even better things to come from such a talented bunch! Team & scores: Caoimhe Ward 16pts, Mollie Molloy 13pts, Helen McCrystal 12pts, Aisling Gallagher 10pts, Lara OMáirtín 9pts, Alex Mulligan 6pts, Aisling McAnespie and Gemma Johnston 4pts, Eve Curley 2pts, Cliodhna McArdle, Ella Garland and Rachael Lavery. U 14 Girls Blackwater Steelers 55pts Queens 8pts The under 14 girls ran out easy winners against what must be said was a fairly weak Queens team. The score line of 55 pts to 8 demonstrates how one sided the game was. However the coaches can take great encouragement from the way they played. With a squad comprising of only 4 of last years team it was important that the new players coming in gelled well both on and off the court, and so they did. Laura, Amy, Alison, Kelly and Aisling Ni Ghallchóir started the 1st quarter. Steelers won the tip-off and Amy who was very strong on offence scored almost immediately. Kelly worked hard, winning a lot of possession from loose (and not so loose ) passing by the opposition and got the fast breaks going, scoring herself and setting up her team mates. Laura was very strong in defence and she gave her opponent very little scoring opportunities. Aisling did a great job on the ball, finding her team mates with some fine passing, and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. Alison too did a fine job too picking out good passes which led to scores. Kate came on in her first game for the Steelers and while she was nervous in the beginning she stuck well to her task and soon got into the game, defending very well. Next out was Alex, Mollie, Morgan, Rebecca and Lee. Alex led the attack with some strong drives to the basket and was rewarded with some fine scores. Mollie was unlucky not to score as she got into good positions, but the ball would not go in. Morgan was immense in her defensive game and she let nothing past. Rebecca too was strong in defence and her attacking game has improved greatly this season. Lee was very busy hassling her opponents at every opportunity. Ailbhe was subbed in and she immediately got to grips with the job at hand. She was unlucky not to score too as she fought hard to get her shots on target. The 3rd and 4th quarters saw the Steelers increase their lead. All the girls got a good run out at this time. Alison played very well in the 3rd, fighting hard on offense and was rewarded with some nice scores, two from the free throw line. Kelly always busy and ready to run at her opponents got another few buckets. Morgan finished the game off with consummate ease, scoring 5 baskets in quick succession. Team and Scorers: Amy Mulligan 15pts: Kelly McCormill 14 pts: Morgan McKenna 12pts: Alison McBride 6pts: Alex Mulligan 6pts: Laura Nally 2pts: Aisling Ni Ghallchóir: Rebecca Ward: Ailbhe Rooney: Kate McEvoy: Mollie Molloy and Lee Saunders. U 16 GIRLS Blackwater Steelers 53pts Queens 18pts The under 16 girls were no different than their younger club mates earlier in the day and they put Queens to the sword without mercy. With Ellen Mulligan, Celine Nally, Natasha Hughes, Rachel Gallagher and Ellen Molloy all in top form, the Steelers opened up a great lead. Lucy McDonnell only added to this when she came on, they were 18pts to nil up at quarter end. The second quarter was tougher for Verity O Connor, Kathleen Connolly, Niamh Kieran, Clodagh Kerr and Sinead McGuirk as Queens fought a little harder. The Steelers defence just wasn’t as good as the first quarter and they leaked a few scores. Kate Aughey joined the fray half way through and the home side won the quarter by 14pts to 10pts. Differing combinations were used throughout the 2nd half as the Steelers continued with the rout. There were some good fast breaks and some good individual shooting and the most pleasing theme throughout the game was the high tempo, aggressive defence that never gave Queens time to settle on the ball. The final score was 53pts to 18pts. Team and Scorers: Ellen Mulligan 15pts, Celine Nally 10pts, Verity O Connor 10pts, Niamh Kieran 6pts, Clodagh Kerr 2pts, Kate Aughey 2pts, Lucy McDonnell 2pts, Ellen Molloy 2pts, Sinead McGuirk 2pts, Rachel Gallagher 2pts, Natasha Hughes and Kathleen Connolly. U 18 Girls Blackwater Steelers 52pts Queens 28pts The final game of the day were the under 18 girls who have been fierce rivals in each age group over the years. After a sluggish start where they conceded the first two baskets the Monaghan girls gained control of the boards and the court and dispensed with the Queens challenge relatively easily. The Steelers call on a number of their u16 panel to play up and they fit in seamlessly with the older girls. On a day when everyone played well there were particularly strong performances from R. Hughes, C. Treanor, E. Mulligan, the O’Connor girls and in patches E. O’Brien. Final score 52 -28 to the Steelers. Team and scorers: V.O’Connor 16, R. Hughes 6, E.O’Brien 6, N. Kierans 6, E. Mulligan 6, C. Treanor 4, A. Hamill 4, H. O’Connor 4, L. McPhillips, M. McCarron and C. Nally. |
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