Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunel 100-84 Catalyst Fr Mathews
Brunell, twice beaten finalists in the last five years, claimed their first ever Paudie O'Connor National Cup triumph with a relentless performance against Fr Mathews in a free-scoring and entertaining final at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.
The scoreline of 100-84 does not really reflect an absorbing clash of wills and skills from two rival Cork city teams who were separated by a just a single point in a league encounter in December.
Driven by their Irish internationals Edel Thornton and Lauryn Homan, Brunell edged the first quarter but Ariel Johnson and 41-year-old veteran Niamh Dwyer combined for 19 points to keep Fr Mathews within a single score as they trailed 25-28.
However Brunell would never lose the lead from that point on and came out in the second quarter playing with the swagger of a side that’s leading the league.
At one stage they went 13 points clear only for that deficit to be pegged back to three before another surge, completed by a Homan three-pointer right on the half time buzzer, left the interval score 54-45 in Brunell’s favour.
While the helter-skelter scoring tempo eased in a stop-start third quarter, the significant gap between the teams was just about the only constant of that ten-minute period and Brunell retained a nine-point lead with the teams divided on a 72-63 scoreline.
Fr Mathews emerged with a high intensity in the final quarter and brought the deficit back to six points on two occasions but at 71-77, two killer back to back three-pointers from Homyn and Thornton nipped their opponents comeback in the bud and restored Brunell’s double-point advantage.
Fight as they did, Fr Mathews eventually succumbed in what had been a brave but rearguard catch-up battle from the start of the second quarter and so Brunell deservedly claimed a 16-point victory to win the cup for the first time.
