September 27, 2016
The reigning U16 All Ireland Champions opened their season with an impressive win over Northside rivals Tolka Rovers. All players impressing, with a great spread of scores across the board. Kris Arcilla, returned from international duty to pick up where he left off – best of luck to the lads in their next game, a local derby against Eanna BC on October 15th in St. Michael’s, Inchicore.
All Ireland U16 Boys (A) Club Championship Final Report
Templeogue 41
Neptune 35
Templeogue defeated a highly rated Neptune side in the final of the U16 (A) All Ireland Club Championship at the Parochial Hall, Cork. Many pundits were forecasting Neptune leading up to this decider but all were proved wrong as Templeogue showed their true credentials when the going got tough. Naturally the scenes at the final whistle were ecstatic in the Templeogue camp as coach Jason Killeen praised his troops battling qualities. “We are over the moon as we lost to Ballincollig in a pool game and were lucky to see off Blue Demons in the quarter final, but the one trait that goes through this club from juvenile to Senior is team spirit”, Jason said.
Going into the final not even the shrewdest pundits gave Templeogue a glimmer of toppling Neptune but in the words of Killeen that suited his team.
“We love being classed as underdogs but we knew if we could hang with them up to the fourth quarter our key players would get us over the line. Fair play to Neptune they have an unbelievable squad and I wouldn’t blame anybody for thinking they would win this championship in a canter but we had other ideas and our game plan came off”, added Killeen.
The Cork side got off to a good start when David Murray banked a baseline shot that had their supporters in rapture. Templeogue after a slow start gradually got grips with their opponents. Neptune were struggling at both ends of the floor. Luckily for Neptune Templeogue were also struggling in the offence court and amazingly at the end of opening six minute. No doubt the Neptune fans were hoping to improve on the restart but in their opening possession they turned the ball over. Finn McKeon responded with a three pointer for Templeogue as the Neptune coaching staff looked under pressure to hatch a plan to stem the tide. As the quarter matured the play got sloppier and when the Templeogue point guard Kris Arcilla went coast to coast with 1.33 remaining to the interval he stretched the visitors lead to seven points 14-7. Arcilla produced a stunning three pointer that helped his side lead 19-9 entering the third quarter. It was amazing that Neptune continued to struggle, as Templeogues defence was sheer hustle that restricted their opponents key shooters. The one noticeable aspect was Templeogues’ shrewd coaching duo of Premier League players Jason Killeen and Sean Flood who had certainly done their homework on Neptune prior to this final.
To be fair coming down the stretch Neptune made a rally and when Cian Heaphy made a deft move to the hoop with five minutes remaining the deficit was reduced to six points. Two minutes later Neptune looked to be in ascendancy following a neat jump shot from James Hannigan as the lead was reduced to three points 34-31. That’s as good as it got for the championship favorites as the class of the Templeogue point guard Kris Arcilla ensured the Dublin side recovered their composure.