Sprite Cup Finals 2000
Notre Dame blow past Tolka ; meet Vincents in final
Men's Sprite Cup holders Denny Notre Dame breezed through to their fourth consecutive Irish Cup final with a comprehensive 76-49 demolion of capital rivals Tolka Rovers.
After their female colleagues had suffered a shock upset in their semi-final earlier on, there was no respite for Tolka who lived down to their underdog billing.
Player Coach Anthony Jenkins opened the scoring with a three pointer which was quickly replied to by his old team mate veteran Lennie McMillan, who was aiming for his fourth Sprite Cup medal.
Tolka rattled Denny in the opening quarter with some great defence on the cup champions and Joey Haastrup was superb under the boards.
McMillan went to the line scoring 1/2 to give Tolka a 4-3 lead but Tony McDonagh put Denny back in front with a strong baseline drive courtesy of an inspired Ciaran Dempsey assist. Former Denny player Randal Mounts scored two in a row to put Tolka 8-5 ahead, but he also picked up two fouls in the first five minutes of the game. Denny went to the line for both of Mounts fouls, but Benjamin missed both and Blair could only make 1/2.
A Jenkins assist saw Blair tie the game with 4.54 remaining in the quarter and the rest of the quarter continued basket for basket with Tolka just shading it to enjoy a 14-13 lead going into the 2nd quarter.
Paddy Boylan had an excellent first half for Tolka and he opened the scoring in the second quarter to put them ahead 16-13 after a Denny T/O. Boylan scored again after rebounding an Eric Blair shot to give Tolka a 5pt lead. Randall Mounts rebounded a Joey Haastrup 23pt attempt to put Tolka up by 7 with just under five minutes gone in the quarter. Two quick baskets from Blaire and Carrigan brought Denny back within 3pts of Tolka but McMillan extended the lead to 5pts again with a trademark jump shot.
The big trio of Quill, Mounts and McMillan were in command in the zone and Denny seemed unable to penetrate.
Ciaran Dempsey came back into the game with 4.50 to play and scored a three pointer with his first shot attempt to put Denny back in contention and trailing by just 3pts. Denny then went man-to-man on Tolka putting them under severe pressure and scored 8pts without reply (including Dempsey's 3pointer)
McMillan scored a three with 58seconds on the clock to put Tolka ahead 29-27 and Blair tipped in a Dempsey shot to tie the game going in at the break.
The second half was all Denny Notre Dame as Tolka's hopes faded fast. Blaire scored the first of his 13 second half points from the line to tie the game at 31 apiece after Greg Haffner opened the scoring for Tolka.
McDonagh made it 33-31 before Benjamin, who really came into his own in the second half torturing the Tolka defence, scored a big 3pointer to but Denny 36-31 in the clear. Denny went on to score another 4pts without reply to enjoy a 40-31 cushion. Boylan and Mounts scored two without reply to cut it back to five and give Tolka some hope of clawing their way back into the game. But with 4.23 to go, veteran McMillan picked up his third foul and Jenks scored a big 3pter to set Denny on a scoring spree again. They went on to score a further 12pts without reply to put the game beyond Tolka Rovers and see them lead 55-37 at the end of the quarter.
Tolka battled hard in the last quarter, but they must surely have been wishing for the final whistle as Denny, once they found their form, were on fire. Benjamin, Dempsey and Blair continually punished the Tolka defence and ran away to win 76-49 with Denny outscoring Tolka by 27 points in the second half of the game.
Tolka Rovers : Lennie McMillan 13, Paddy Boylan 12, Randall Mounts 10
Denny Notre Dame : Eric Blair 24, Brian Benjamin 16, Anthony Jenkins 14
Vincents have easy ride past shattered Crystal
St. Vincent's made it back to the Men's Final to meet their city rivals Notre Dame thanks to an inspired second half performance in their semi-final with Waterford Crystal.
The capital club led by just one point at the mid-point but burst clear with an inspired run after the re-start to emerge as 67-51 victors.
Brian Tonkovich led all scorers with 23 for Vincents, one more than Waterford's American star Roscoe Patterson.
St. Vincent's: Brian Tonkovich 23, Stephen McGuirk 20, Karl Donnelly 9
Waterford: Roscoe Patterson 22, Reggy Scott 19
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