Mayo Meteors secure place in national basketball final

BASKETBALL IRELAND DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE PLATE SEMI-FINAL

Plate Semi-Final 

Mayo Meteors 70

Fr Matthews 66

A first-ever All Ireland final beckons Mayo Meteors, after defeating Cork rivals Fr Matthew’s, in an epic battle, that went down to the wire in Tourmakeady.

The first quarter was relentless. It was end to end, but The Meteors led by a single point when the buzzer sounded, thanks to a three-pointer from Daniel Nyland, and some excellent play from Alex Evans.

Mayo Meteors put on an exhibition of basketball in the second quarter. With four minutes played, they had extended the lead to 30-16. Paul Freeman was all over the court and helped his team to a 43-29 lead at half-time.

However, a third-quarter charge from the visitors put a stop to any annihilation.

Five points from the excellent Aaron O’Donovan, and an excellent last-minute 3-pointer from Gillaume Pereira, meant that Fr Matthew’s trailed 49-45 at the end of the third quarter. 

With five minutes left on the clock, the Cork side were up by two points. However, super sub, Sean Fallon scored a superb three-pointer, to put the Meteors back in front. 

After some excellent teamwork, and two buckets from man-of-the-match, Paul Freeman, the Meteors managed to close out the game.

Mayo Meteors will now contest their first All-Ireland final, on April 12.

Read a full report with reaction in Tuesday’s edition of the Mayo News.