Killester won their fourth InsureMyHouse.ie Paudie O’Connor National Cup title on Sunday, with an impressive 96-70 win over Trinity Meteors.
The pacy Chanell Williams was inspirational for the Dublin outfit, scoring 25 points and racking up 13 assists, four rebounds and four steals to earn her the MVP.
There were also big performances from another American, Chyna Latimer, who had 26 points and 13 assists, along with Ieva Bagdanaviciene, who shot five from the three-point line.
“I’m trying not to cry at any given moment,” said talimanic captain, Michell Clarke who has played with the club for 23 years.
“I was balling my eyes out in 2020, that was so special and it’s equally as special today. From start to finish we just put in the complete performance. We haven’t been the best starters in games, so going into the dressing room one point up we were saying we are a second-half team, that’s something we wanted to carry on and we did so today.”
“We have such faith in Mark (Grennell), he has coached outstandingly all year and he kept it simple today, look after the boards, keep pushing on offense. We just played our game and that has really stood to us.”
The win completed a superb week of action at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.
On Saturday, University of Galway Maree won their first-ever InsureMyHouse.ie Pat Duffy National Cup title, after Jarett Haines inspired them to a 74-69 victory over DBS Éanna.
The pacey Haines hit 35 points on the way to claiming the MVP. The game itself was in the balance throughout, with 10 lead changes, which had spectators at a sold-out Arena on the edge of their seats.
“This is so amazing,” said Haines. “I worked so hard for this for years, even before I came to Ireland. My team mates and my coaches are everything to me, along with the whole community of Maree.”
“I don’t have the words, it’s just amazing. I knew that I was going to have to dig deep after starting a bit slow in the first quarter. I had to keep driving and driving. I had to use my teammates to score and when those shots started dropping I just gained more confidence.”
