St. Brendan’s Tralee will face Dublin’s Barrow Rovers in the NICC Men’s National Cup Final at the National Basketball Arena, after Fergal O’Sullivan and Dan Bowler combined for 45 points in their 73-58 win over Leixlip Zalgiris.
Strong shooting spurts in both the first and third quarter accounted for their Kildare opponents, who were led in the box score by Arturas Zvirblis with 20 points.
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Padraig Fleming.and Dalius Tamosauskas of Leixlip Zalgiris
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Padraig Fleming.and Dalius Tamosauskas of Leixlip Zalgiris
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
Leixlip Zalgiris Remigijus Dimiciukas
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
Leixlip Zalgiris Arturas Zvirblis
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
CAPTION CorrectionREPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLY
NICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
Leixlip Zalgiris Dalius Tamosauskas and Dan Bowler of St Brendan's
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
Leixlip Zalgiris scored 7 of their 11 first quarter points in the opening four minutes of the contest, Zvirblis hitting a corner three either side of a pair of buckets from Kestutis Damulevicius. O’Sullivan and Bowler quickly steadied the ship with a 5-0 run of their own and St. Brendan’s established some dominance on the boards thereafter. Another prolonged run of scoring for the Kerry side concluded with two more threes from Ryan Sheehy and O’Sullivan to leave Zalgiris trailing 24-11 after the opening ten minutes.
The Kildare team made a some defensive switches to start the second, but it was their work on the offensive end that dragged them back into the game. Five players – Zvirblis, Romualdas Stuina, Aubin Azermar, Mantas Juskeivicius and Ugnius Brenkevicius made contributions as they cut their arrears to five, 36-31 at the half-time interval.
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Coach Darren O Sullivan
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
CAPTION CORRECTIONREPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLY
NICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Robert Mulcahy
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
CAPTION CorrectionREPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLY
NICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
Leixlip Zalgiris Arturas Zvirblis and Dan Bowler of St Brendan's
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
CAPTION CorrectionREPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLY
NICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
Leixlip Zalgiris Arturas Zvirblis and Dan Bowler of St Brendan's
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
CAPTION CorrectionREPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLY
NICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
Leixlip Zalgiris Arturas Zvirblis and Aaron Fleming of St Brendan's
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
O’Sullivan continued to front the charge for St. Brendan’s Tralee after the break. He scored ten in the quarter, including two from beyond the arc that brought a large travelling support in Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena to their feet. Zalgiris weren’t going down without a fight though and responded in kind with a three of their own from Remigijus Diminciuk at the end of the third to just about stay in touch 57-44 heading into the final period.
Proceedings became slightly more disjointed in the closing ten minutes as both teams began to feel the pace of an intense contest. In truth St. Brendan’s were always able to keep their opponents at arm’s length down the stretch, responding to every score with a bucket of their own. Ryan Sheehy’s free-throws cancelling out a Juskevicius jumper that proved to be the final momentum killer for the 2022 finalists. Dan Bowler capped off his fine individual performance with his 20th point, before Aaron Fleming made a layup with the final meaningful play of the game, 73-58 the final score at the buzzer.
Quarter Scores: Q1: 11-24, Q2: 20-12 , Q3:13-21 , Q4: 14-16
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Ryan Sheehy celebrates
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Fergal O Sullivan
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Padraig Fleming comes up against Aubin Azemar and Kestutis Damulevicius of Leixlip Zalgiris
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Fergal O Sullivan
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Dan Bowler
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
Leixlip Zalgiris:
Arturas Zvirblis, Kestutis Damulevicius, Andrius Urnikis, Jurgis Butkevicius, Remigijus Dimiciukas, Dalius Tamosauskas, Mazvydas Cepliauskas, Aubin Azemar, Mantas Juskevicius, Ugnius Brenkevicius, Romualdas Stuina, Rimantas Smitas
Head Coach: Mazvydas Cepliauskas
Top Scorers: Arturas Zvirblis (20), Mantas Juskevicius (9), Aubin Azemar (7)
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
Leixlip Zalgiris Ugnius Brenkevicius and Fergal O Sullivan of St Brendan's
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Fergal O Sullivan and Aubin Azemar of Leixlip Zalgiris
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Padraig Fleming and Ryan Sheehy celebrate
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
REPRO FREE ***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** EDITORIAL USE ONLYNICC Men’s National Cup Semi-Final, Gurranabraher Credit Union Arena, Cork 11/1/2025
Leixlip Zalgiris vs St. Brendan's
St Brendan's Dan Bowler
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Bryan Keane
Fergal O’Sullivan, Liam O’Sullivan, Robert Mulcahy, Gary Lynch, Michael Kelliher, Ryan Sheehy, Dan Bowler, Adam O’Keeffe, Cian Horgan, Ryan Sugrue, Aaron Fleming, Padraig Fleming
Head Coach: Darren O’Sullivan
Top Scorers: Fergal O’Sullivan (25), Daniel Bowler (20), Ryan Sheehy (10)
Andrew Moynihan reports
Darren O'Sullivan, St Brendan's coach
Barrow Rovers managed to contain an experienced Killester outfit down the stretch at MTU Arena to secure a 63-50 victory that sees them into the 2024/25 NICC Men’s National Cup decider.
A good spread of scoring that saw four players finish in double digits, including Pl Sangamenshwaran on 14 points, helped see them past their Dublin rivals who were without of couple of key personnel for this fixture.
Still, it was Killester who enjoyed the brighter start, carding the game’s opening seven points, starting with a sublime three from Niall Hegarty that was quickly followed by two buckets from Cathal Rogers before Silva Gonzalo got Barrow up and running with a timely deuce.
That score signed that start of a Rovers surge that propelled them in front by two as Javier Hernandez, Francesco Gesess and Javier Cardona all found the mark.
It set that stage for a great battle that saw the two sides go toe-to-toe for much of this game, with Killester regaining the initiative before the close of the first quarter as Robbie Clarke struck from beyond the arc and Steven McGrath took one from three on the free-throw line to leave them 18-15 in front.
It remained tight all the way through the second quarter, with the two sides finding themselves deadlocked on three occasions throughout that period.
Clarke added a further five points to take his first-half tally to 10, while Chepyzhov Dmitrii and Cardona converted a pair of delightful three-point efforts for Barrow to see them take the narrowest of leads (31-30) into the half-time break.
Two buckets from Gonzalo and a free throw by Hernandez early in the third saw Barrow increase that narrow lead to six before Killester halved that deficit by way of a nice ‘downtown’ from Cathal Rogers.
Barrow were passing up opportunities from the free-throw line, both Gesess and Javier Hernandez coming away empty-handed, but Rovers still remained out in front as the same two players proved more successful from the floor.
Barrow’s Mantas Skipinas and Killester’s Hegarty exchanged three-pointers before Jack Rawdon took two from the free-throw line to see Killester reduce their arrears to three (43-40) heading into the final quarter.
Yet, the imposing presence of Pl Sangamenshwaran in both the interior defence and in the opposition’s key was proving a telling factor for Barrow as he choked off a number of Killester assaults and also put up a basket, which along with scores from Darshan Umapthi and Gonzalo, pushed their lead out to nine points.
Sangamenshwaran continued to prove a real headache for Killester, serving up another two baskets before Al Casey delivered down the other end of the court.
Casey continued on to nab another two buckets before Steven McGrath struck for a three to reduce the gap to eight, but with just 1:25 left on the clock, Killester needed a very special finish if they were to pull this one out the fire.
Indeed Barrow remained very composed down the homestraight, protecting the ball well and adding to their tally from the line through Umapthi, Gonzalo and Gesess to see this one out.
Quarter Scores: Q1: 15-18, Q2: 31-30, Q3: 43-40, Q4: 63-50
Barrow Rovers:
Javier Hernandez, Darshan Umapthi, Francesco Gesess, Javier Cardona, Pl Sangamenshwaran, Silva Gonzalo, Chepyzhov Dmitrii, Mantas Skipinas.
Top Scorers: Pl Sangamenshwaran (14), Silva Gonzalo (11), Javier Hernandez (10), Javier Cardona (10).
Killester:
Robbie Clarke, Andrew Brady, Steven McGrath, Colin Bernard, Gerard Crowe, Cathal Rogers, Jack Rawdon, Al Casey, JJ Knief, Ryan McHugh, Martin Byrne, Niall Hegarty.
Top Scorers: Robbie Clarke (10), Niall Hegarty (9), Al Casey (8), Cathal Rogers (7).
