Dundalk's Coláiste Chú Chulainn to contest national Basketball Quarter Finals

Local school Coláiste Chú Chulainn has established itself as a centre of basketball excellence with the under 16 and under 19 boys’ teams successfully qualifying for the All-Ireland Quarter Finals. Both teams will play in the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght.

In order to get this far, they came through the dreaded ‘Round of 16’. Abbey CBS from Newry were the opposition over the past two Sundays, as they engaged in two hard fought contests. The Cú Chulainn boys had to dig deep in both matches, but ran out eventual winners.

Having come out as Northeast regional winners in both age groups, the Dundalk college had a home draw. The U16s were first up.

The first half was a very close affair with Cú Chulainn leading by five points at the break. The second half was a different story however and smothering defensive tactics from the home team meant Abbey CBS were unable to bag a score in the second half.

In the U19 fixture, Cú Chulainn’s senior squad showed their defensive prowess by really limiting the baskets allowed by the opposition.

Their impressive setup ended up being the deciding factor as the Louth side’s outside shooting was not up to its usual standard, meaning they needed to find alternative ways to gain the advantage.

At the core of both u16 and u19 panels are a contingent of players from Dundalk’s local basketball club, Dundalk Ravens. These players have been playing basketball from a young age and have been the driving force behind Chú Chulainn’s successes on the court so far this year.

Mr Aaron Murray has joined the basketball coaching team in the school while also continuing his management duties with Geraldines GFC. Mr Kelvin Slowey has been building the school’s basketball capacity since he joined the staff from Donegal.

Both teams now await their opponents in the All-Ireland quarter finals, which are sure to be two proud days for the school.

U19 Panel: Tadhg Dowdall (Captain), Daniel McCabe, Osarobo Osaghae, Prosper Umeh, Anthoy Ibe, Mascuud Amir Haji, Solal Parra, Franciszek Chmielecki, David Osagie, Carl Oliobi, Flavio Cristini, David Pedro, Shawn Serebe.

U16 Panel: Franciszek Chmielecki (Captain), David Osagie, James Obisan, Fahd Nii-Adjei Monney, Solal Parra, Kevin Mincans, Matthew Messin, Bright N’Kongolo Kadima, Fiyin Olaleye, Mahdu Gahayr.