League champions Portlaoise Panthers finish out league in style

The Portlaoise boys U14 division 1 basketball team played their last game of this years Midland Area league season on Saturday evening in St Mary's hall. The boys had already won the league with a couple of games to spare with the nearest second place team having lost three games but the Panthers boys were determined to finish in style hoping to remain unbeaten with a record of 10 played and 10 wins.

UNDER 14 BOYS MIDLAND AREA LEAGUE

Portlaoise Panthers 39

Kildare Gliders 14

Portlaoise hit the ground running with good baskets from Tadgh Dalton and Sean Tuohy. They settled into the game well with strong man to man defensive turning over the ball on several occasions resulting in baskets from Jayden Uheme. As the quarter came to a close Portlaoise opened up a 9 point lead thanks to good work from David Kehoe and Marat Tuhtarovs.

The second quarter saw a new five players from each club take to the floor and again it was the home team that kept the scoreboard ticking over with baskets from Mark Delaney and Ben Quigley. Portlaoise were growing in confidence, running the floor at every opportunity resulting in baskets from Scott Davies and Ben Quigley.

As the halftime whistle approached Portlaoise held a significant 18 point lead thanks to good performances from Mark Delaney and Callum Dolan. The second half saw Kildare come out strong to get the first couple of baskets. Portlaoise took a couple of minutes to settle with baskets eventually coming from Jayden Uheme and Tadhg Dalton who was top scorer of the game with an excellent 10 points. As the quarter went on both teams were playing well, exchanging baskets, Portlaoise had some fine shooting from Senan O Brien after great work from his teammates Ben Quigley and Jim Hanamy to maintain their lead.

The last quarter saw both teams relax with the final outcome in no doubt, Portlaoise continued to run the ball at every opportunity resulting in baskets from Scott Davies after some great defensive stops from Tadgh Dalton and Marat Tuhtarovs. Kildare to their credit never gave up battling for every ball and were rewarded with a couple of good scores but as the game came to a close it was the bigger and stronger Portlaoise lads that finished well with good work from Jayden Uheme and David Kehoe to help their team go on to a well deserved win that sees them crowned the Midlands Area League winners.

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Panthers Captain Tadgh Dalton and Vice Captain Jayden Umeh received the Midlands league trophy after the game and their Club Chairman Shay Dooley who was on hand to support the boys saying, "I would like to congratulate the boys and thank their coaches Sean O Neill and Kyle Burke for the wonderful job that they continue to do with this young talented group of players".

Shay wished the boys the best in the busy few weeks ahead where they will compete in both the Midlands Top four and Kilkenny Cup competitions. They have also qualified to go on to represent the Panthers in the All Ireland Club championship to be held next weekend.

Shay commented that "this young group of players deserve all the success they have got to date as they have put in another great season where they trained hard and pushed themselves to get better and better and are a credit to themselves and their two coaches as they played the games with a smile on their faces".

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METRO DIVISION 10 LEAGUE FINAL