Ballincollig survives nail-biter with Limerick Celtics

Ballincollig and Limerick Celtics could have played this one in a phone booth. A physical and ground out battle saw the Cork side emerge victorious and progress to the Domino’s men’s cup final. Emmet Ryan reports on a physical one in Neptune Stadium.

This wasn’t one for the neutrals. That’s fine. Cup semi finals are about survival, not entertainment. Ballincollig and Limerick Celtics put their supporters through the ringer in Neptune Stadium, in one of the nerviest cup semi finals in living memory.

Quite the slog

Maybe it’s the years, maybe it’s the excess weight, most likely it’s a combination of both but the trek up the hill to Neptune Stadium gets that bit tougher with each passing year. In any event, that seemed more comfortably than the paint as this one got off to a scrappy start.

Latavious Mitchell (Ballincollig) and Abdul Wurie (Limerick Celtics) got to know each other well. It was a physical but fair battle, what it really needed was some actual scoring. The meatpiles at each end of the floor made for slow going on the scoreboard early.

Credit where it is due, Ballincollig’s defensive organisation was exceptional. The held Limerick to just 5 points in the game’s opening 6 minutes.. Had their offensive execution been of the same standard this might have been over in a hurry. As it was, for all their struggles, Celtics were able to hang with them. After 10 minutes, Ballincollig led by the minimum.

Let there be Latavious

Latavious Mitchell likes to be noticed, in a good way. Both of his dunks either side of the quarter break were followed up with a big posing roar. He recognised the need for more energy, that both sides weren’t in their groove yet. Mitchell also knew that getting his side in the zone first was vital.

Still it remained a grind out there. The pace of scoring wasn’t really picking up. The quality however certainly was. A lovely hesitation move by Josh Steel ensured Ballincollig held a 4 point lead before Celtics took a time out at the midway point of the quarter.

Another dunk from Mitchell stretched the lead to 8, which felt enormous even in the first half. Points were at a premium and any bucket felt like it mattered more than usual. At the half, they led 34-26.

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A ground out rally

An Adrian O’Sullivan three got things going for Ballincollig after the break. The quarter began with both sides realising the value of spacing. It only took 20 minutes but better late than never. Latrell Josell was finally finding room to run as well as the Cork side looked ready to take charge.

A shake and bake from AJ Williams provided a rather necessary spark for Celtics. They had fallen into a 13 point hole before putting some order on their game in the third. As the scoreboard tightened, so too did the action.

Josell and Wurie were doing their best to open things up but it took a three from Ruairi Cronin to change the complexion of the game. That brought Limerick within 4 and the pressure was increasing on both sides as the third quarter came to a close. Entering the fourth, it was Celtics on top 52-50.

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Until dust

Another Mitchell dunk roused those in attendance and tied things up to start the deciding frame. A beautiful floater by AJ Williams however gave Celtics a 4 point lead with under 7 minutes to play. With just 6 points scored between the sides in the opening 3 minutes and change of the fourth, it was yet another slog.

Cometh the hour, cometh Williams. Boxed out and with no good looks, he settled for a bad one to keep the board ticking for Celtics. Williams then pulled off a miracle fast break stop on Josell as matters reached their denouement. With Adrian O’Sullivan tying things up at the line, there was 1.49 to decide who was making the big trip.

Williams teased in with the most delicate floater to edge Celtics back ahead. Josell missed a go-ahead three for Ballincollig before Mitchell leveled matters again. Ballincollig botched a chance to take the lead with a poorly managed possession, only for Cronin to hit the potential winner far too soft and it was on to overtime.

Finish as ye started

In a shock to nobody reading this column, overtime was a tight and nervy affair. Congratulations on making it this far. Mitchell made two free throws early in the additional period and then we waited for anyone else to score.

We kept waiting. They didn’t come with a go-ahead three effort from Williams with under a minute to go but Wurie got to the line. He missed the second and Ballincollig held the narrowest of leads with 32 seconds on the clock.

An absolute disaster of a possession from Celtics led to a Cronin miss. With Limerick forced to foul, Ballincollig managed to seal it at the line through Josell. An overtime with just 5 points scored in total, none from the field. Ballincollig won’t mind, they survived.

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