UCD Marian U20 side will aim to defend their title after beating Northern side, Belfast Star in Cork on Saturday

Defending Men’s Under-20 champions UCD/Marian have the chance to retain their crown after seeing off a gutsy Belfast Star 47-42 in the Neptune Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Keelan Cairns opened the account for Star with a basket before UCD’s reliable Daniel James responded with a superb three pointer. In a tight opening period, Matthew Jackson regained control for Adrian Fulton’s side. Marian turned up the aggression which saw them see the unfortunate side of the referee’s whistle and by halfway through the first quarter the Dublin side already reached their maximum amount of team fouls.

With Belfast Star visiting the free throw line on almost every possession, Star team built up a seven point lead (15-8) by the end of the first quarter. 
Conor James ensured a bright opening for UCD at the beginning of the second quarter with a long range two pointer from the corner.
However, Belfast Star kept their defense solid with two quick steals and consecutive offensive rebounds, holding the Dublin team to an eight point gap in the scoring.
UCD Marian clawed back the lead to four points courtesy of a two point score and made free throw from Conor James. Daniel James maintained the pressure and drove to the basket for an impressive reverse lay up. With less than a minute left before halftime, UCD’s Peter Herron powerful basket from underneath gave UCD Marian a two point lead (21-19) heading into the dressing room.

UCD Marian continued their aggressive defense assault by forcing Belfast Star to turn the ball over on back-to-back possessions to open the third quarter.  A Steal from Daniel James for a turnaround jumper helped widen the gap to 4 points. Ending out the quarter was UCD Marian’s Conor James who netted a soft two points to give his side a lead of six points as the quarter buzzer rang.
Star was never going to lie down and they managed to put a halt to UCD’s run in the early stages of the final quarter. Towards the concluding stages, a big two from Conor Johnston brought Star to within point of their opponents with just seven seconds left on the clock. However, it was UCD who ensured their passage with further free throws from James and Finn giving them a 47-42 success.

However in the Superleague Cup, UCD were not so lucky and Killester Head Coach, Mark Keenan, heaped praise on his defence as they overcame UCD/Marian 72-53 to reach the final of the 2010 Men’s SuperLeague National Cup Final. After a fantastic win for the U20 side, UCD could not make it a double in this years Cup Finals.

The Dublin giants suffered the agony of a National Cup final loss last season to Demons but they have a chance to atone for that disappointment after comfortably disposing of UCD/Marian.

“Getting to the final means a lot,” said Mark Keenan. “I know what it’s like to be here and I know what it’s like to be here and win. We are just delighted to be back in a final.

“I thought our defence today was superb – holding them to 53 points so I am absolutely delighted. The intensity was there from everybody. We did a great job rebounding. We didn’t give them too many second chances but that’s what we had to do. We shut down their main scorers – guys who have been averaging 12 – 15 points a game – we cut them to under 10 each and I am really delighted with that.”

Jermaine Turner was causing a lot of problems for UCD in the opening quarter and his influence helped create a 10-3 lead after the opening five minutes. Killester continued to dominate the quarter and lead 15-8 at the end of the quarter.

A couple of early baskets from UCD’s Luke McCrone and Niall Meany helped cut the deficit but their joy was short lived with further good play from Turner and Damien Sealy stretching their advantage to 12 points at the interval. (34-22)

UCD threatened a comeback at the beginning of the third with four unanswered points but Killester refused to panic despite Turner picking up his fourth foul of the day. UCD’s Niall Meany hit a three from the corner to cut the lead to seven but Killester upped the intensity and heading into the fourth quarter lead by 13 points, 50 – 37.

Turner was re-introduced with six minutes left on the clock and almost immediately registered a three point play. Three minutes to go Killester upped the defence again and applied a full court man to man which resulted in a comfortable 72 – 53 success.

The National Cup Finals will take place on 30^th and 31^st January in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.