Junior boys play All- Ireland Final basketball match.

Team members: Dominic Mlynczak, Adrian Bernacki, Lukas Kairys, Patryk Goluszka, Ciarán Power, Dragosh Marginean, Patryk Kowaleski, Daniel Moga, Jack Conway, Ian Halpin, Dawid Merta, Mohammed Ismail, David Richards.
Coach: Mr. Damien Byrne.
Coláiste Dún Iascaighs junior boy’s basketball team competed in the all-Ireland on the 23rd February, 2016. Their opponents were “CBS Thurlus”and the boys were determined to win. At half 10 the first quarter began with Dragosh, Dominic, Patryk, Jack and Lukas  starting of the game. Impressively they left the scores at the end of the 1st quarter 11-15 points to us.
During the second quarter Mohammed came on for Partyk and played ferociously, sprinting up and down the court for the ball. Dragosh scored basket after basket, scoring 6 points in total with Dominik scoring 3, Lukas 2 and Mohammed 1. Our wave of supporters in white and blue cheered and chanted loudly. We gave it all we could but in the end the other team caught up to us and the scores were nearly tied, 28- 27 points to “CBS” Thurlus.
In the 3rd quarter “CBS” pulled away from us. But the boys were not disheartened and played with everything they had. Dominic and Dragosh were on fire as they scored 8 points between them, not losing hope. The supporters cheered from the sidelines along with their coach Mr. Damien Byrne who helped get the boys to the final. At the end of the 3rd quarter the scores were 41-35 points to “CBS”.
At last the 4th quarter came and Dominic, Dragosh, Lukas, Jack and Mohammed  scored 5 points between them which brought the scores loser. But unfortunately not close enough to win. Ciarán and Ian came on for the last 30 seconds of the match subbing for Dragosh and Mohammed. Finally the buzzer rang. We had lost by 12 points; the scores were 52-40 points. Even though victory was not ours the experience of the match was. The boys had made it to the All-Ireland finals and that has left an impact on them wherever they may go.
By Loredana Marginean.