Bracken shows steel to help Oatlands march on
It has been a busy week for the Leinster schools with St Paul's College, Raheny and Oatlands College, Stillorgan coming through their pools in last weekend's All Ireland league qualifiers.
For Oatlands College it was a particularly good day, as they hosted St Eunan's, Letterkenny; Douglas Community School and St Joseph's the Bish in an U19A boys' qualifier.
The tournament coincided with the official opening of their gym and Gavin Holmes' team made it an event to remember.
They kicked off the day with a 64-61 win over St Eunan's, with Derek Bracken hitting some big shots in the third quarter.
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That, coupled with some terrific rebounding from Uzoma Emuchay and strong scoring from Irvin Gamede, was enough to see Oatlands win out by a three-point margin.
Despite losing Themba Nkoala to an accidental collision, Oatlands then showed their strength in depth to defeat Douglas 80-60 to ensure their place in the semi-finals along with St Joseph's the Bish.
St Paul's College, meanwhile, had to dig deep in their 19B qualifier but eventually topped their group after a stirring third-quarter performance against Ballincollig Community School.
Trailing by four at the break, Paul's won the third quarter 19-7 with Alex Taipau scoring 13.
- Rory Kerr
