{"id":395397,"date":"2026-04-12T23:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/395397\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T23:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T23:21:10","slug":"double-delight-for-ballincollig-basketballers-against-killester-in-super-league-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/395397\/","title":{"rendered":"Double delight for Ballincollig basketballers against Killester in Super League final"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Ballincollig 79 Killester 71\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

Ballincollig produced a solid display to secure a historic double against Killester in the Domino\u2019s Men\u2019s Super League final at the National Basketball Arena on Sunday.<\/p>\n

In a season where they have already lifted the National Cup for the first time and finished first place in the regular season, Ballincollig proved they were undoubtedly the best team throughout this memorable campaign. It’s their second Super League, having also secured the big prize in 2023, some going for a club that only joined the national league in 2017.<\/p>\n

Many heroes on the day with the professional trio of Latavious Mitchell, Latrell Jossell and Josh Steel all excelling with the game\u2019s MVP Adrian O\u2019Sullivan (17) and Dylan Corkery also playing superbly in this final.<\/p>\n

The opening exchanges with both sides missing easy tips before Latavious Mitchell opened the Ballincollig scoring with consecutive baskets. Baptise Chazelas looked to be the go-to Killester man coming up with three unanswered baskets that tied the game in the third minute.<\/p>\n

Ballincollig were playing a press zone defence with Killester gradually began exposing them. When Paul Dick went outside the paint midway through the quarter, it gave his side a three-point lead, 11-8.<\/p>\n

\"BallincolligBallincollig coach Ciaran O’Sullivan. Picture: INPHO\/Tom Maher<\/p>\n

Killester were asking plenty of Ballincollig\u2019s defence despite a Latrell Jossell three-pointer giving them a 16-15 lead in the seventh minute. Dick picked up his second foul and had to be substituted before returning in the final minute.<\/p>\n

In the closing possessions, both sides fluffed numerous tip-ins before a late Josh Wilson baseline jumper ensured the sides were tied at 17 each entering the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Wilson came up trumps again on the restart for Killester with a neat banked shot as Ronan O\u2019Sullivan came in for Mitchell, who had picked up his second foul at the end of the opening quarter. Credit to Killester, they did a good job in shutting down the various Ballincollig threats with Jossell struggling to get clear looks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, a three-pointer from Josh Steel was followed by a superb Adrian O\u2019Sullivan basket and suddenly they had a five-point lead, 34-29, midway through the quarter. There is little doubt the Ballincollig revival was helped by the introduction of player-coach Ciaran O\u2019Sullivan, who got his team moving with some notable assists.<\/p>\n

In a two-minute period, both sides played some scrappy basketball. With Ballincollig leading 31-24, Killester called a time-out with Adrian O\u2019Sullivan going to the line for two free throws; he made one with 3.40 remaining to the interval.<\/p>\n

The reintroduction of Mitchell saw him immediately finish in style with consecutive baskets. In the final minute, Steel waltzed through for an unchallenged lay-up and suddenly Ballincollig had a nine-point lead.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the way it stayed until the break, with Ballincollig going in with a 39-30 lead with neither team operating near their best.<\/p>\n

The Ballincollig half-time stats read they made 10\/18 inside the arc (56%) and outside the paint it was 5\/15, 33%. Killester\u2019s 30-point haul wasn\u2019t helped by the fact, they only made 1\/14 outside the arc, a paltry reading of 7%.<\/p>\n

Three turnovers saw the third quarter off to a slow start, but Mitchell showed his class with consecutive baskets with Dick responding with a couple of baskets. Braswell showed his class with a stunning three-pointer that cut the Ballincollig lead to six points in the 23rd minute.<\/p>\n

It was noticeable Dick was posing Ballincollig problems, but a superb Adrian O\u2019Sullivan basket was followed by a cheap Killester turnover that yielded a Steel bucket and suddenly it was a nine-point game again.<\/p>\n

\"MVPMVP and captain Adrian O’Sullivan was to the fore against Killester. Picture: Paul Phelan\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

The shooting of Steel was a major factor in this quarter, and entering the fourth Ballincollig had a 12-point cushion.<\/p>\n

On the restart, Killester, helped by the brilliance of Paul Dick, cut the gap to six.<\/p>\n

The closing minutes were frantic but credit to Ballincollig when questions were asked, they had the required answers on a day when they completed the elusive double at the top tier of Irish basketball.<\/p>\n

\n Top scorers for Ballincollig: L Mitchell 18, A O\u2019Sullivan 17, L Jossell 17, J Steel 16, D Corkery 5.<\/p>\n

\n Killester: R Braswell 23, P Dick 19, J Wilson 11, B Chazelas 10.<\/p>\n

\n BALLINCOLLIG: A O\u2019Sullivan, J Steel, L Jossell, D O\u2019Herlihy, A Rodriguez, C O\u2019Sullivan, R O\u2019Sullivan, C Blount, L O\u2019Sullivan, D Corkery, K Cairns, L Mitchell.<\/p>\n

\n KILLESTER: A McGeever, J Wilson, C O\u2019Reilly, D Sheridan, P Dick, T Byrne, M McGrath, F Raheem, K Yang, R Braswell, B Chazelas, J Rawdon, R Farouq, C Roe.<\/p>\n

\n Referees: M Nazimek (Dublin), E Perry (Dublin), A Wickham (Dublin).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ballincollig 79 Killester 71\u00a0 Ballincollig produced a solid display to secure a historic double against Killester in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73074,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-395397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cork-basketball","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}