Miracles do happen. An unbelievable final quarter comeback in which the lead was swapped an amazing six times saw Joyce ,Mackie and Lougheed Titans, dig deep into their reserves to eek out a Win against a buoyant and competitive Left Bank Kilkenny to finish  68-65 victors in the 2014 men’s National Shield Final ( The Div 1 Mens National Cup Competition..

Despite The Titans opening the game with a fine 3 pointer from the corner by Paulius Pelzius,the Titans took an early lead through fast paced breakaways from Tomas Mitkus and Emmet Murphy going ahead 9-3 in the first few minutes, yet ended the quarter by being double scored 20-10 by the Kilkenny Team. Kilkenny had converted the majority of their baskets in the games opening quarter and with a fantastic defensive display. The Titans struggled to cope with the relentless pressure from the Team Left Bank defence and were forced into making mistakes.Team Left Bank had actually dragged themselves back into the game against the run of play thanks to a steal from point guard Puff Summers that he had no difficulty running up the court with and easily dispatching into the Titan basket. Further baskets from James Butler and Brian Hogan as well as a couple of free throws from Padraig Morrissey turned the game around for the Kilkenny side as they overturned their early deficit to dart into the lead midway through the second quarter. Summers steal could be cited as being the first half game changer as it spurred Team Left Bank on with a fantastic defensive display and some heavy hitting in that second period preventing their Galway opponents from controlling the play or scoring when in and around the basket. Their performance put them into a 4 point lead heading into halftime.

 

Fortunately for the Titans, in the Third quarter, the Kilkenny outfit didn’t always take advantage of their possession but were beginning to put a little daylight between themselves and the Galway lads, leading at one stage by 12 points,  in the third quarter. While some of the shooting failed to reach its target, the leadership and competitive guile of Puff Summers was the story of the Kilkenny game in the 3rd quarter. Despite having already converted 11 points, the Kilkenny point guard assisted with just as many points. Team Left Bank were made pay for their fouling under the boards when they squandered a 10 point lead against their the Galweigans who struck back to reduce the deficit to only 5 points when point guard Chris Coyne made 5 point to keep his side in the match. Yet another two free throws by Morrissey in the final moments of the third quarter left the Titans trailing by 7 at the end of the period, but having outscored Kilkenny 13 to 9, they were beginning to get a grip on the game for the first time..

The Titans found it difficult to mount a comeback in the final quarter as Team Left Bank quickly shut down any attempt they made at going forward. Yet the Titans as always,hung on in there.. with Coyne exchanging three pointers with Puff, Mitikus managing to score two Big baskets for the locals only to be cancelled out by (two) long range three pointers from Butler in quick succession. The attacking prowess of Summers meant that the Titans would have needed a miracle to have overcome the odds set out in front of them in the middle of the Final quarter. The miracle is exactly what did happen, as the Titans managed to reduce the deficit down to a single point with two huge Threes from Coyne,baskets by Mitkus and a couple of free throws by captain Paulis Peldzius. The team from Galway managed to get themselves into the lead through some superb offence which resulted in their oppositions defence beginning to show signs of heavy legs and indiscipline. The lead switched sides on four more occasions in the last couple of minutes, with Puff Summers driving at the Titans, fouling out the eventual MVP Chris Coyne and nailing each and every freethrow to keep Kilkennys nose in front. Yet, though the Titans were a point in arrears with 17 seconds on the clock, their American on the bench,Puff Summers with a hot hand and Paulius struggling to hit the freethrows…Coaches Freeman and Nicky Carolan, called the Time out and drew up a plan that would see Tomas Mitkus power his way to the Hoop with 12 seconds on the clock, to put the Westerners, a point to the good and end up with a  gamehigh 29 points. Kilkenny had two more opportunities to win the game in the dying seconds, one of which ended in a ruck like situation under the Titan basket with no sign of the ball til Emmet Murphy emerged with the loose ball, hitting Toms Fabriciouss with the outlet, who in turn got fouled on three seconds. Toms did what he did all day, hitting the bottom of the net and putting the Titans three points to the good.But Kilkenny were not finished, Puff Summers weaved his way down the court,, launched a three point attempt, and the entire Basketball nation held its breath as they watched the flight of the ball hit the rim and with it ,went the Kilkenny dreams and Galways Joyce Mackie & Lougheed Titans secured their First National Mens Title in their ten year history!.

.JM&L Auctioneers Titans 68 (25) – (T Mitikus 29, C Coyne 15, P Paulius 8, T Fabricuss 8)
Team Left Bank Kilkenny 65 (29) – (P Summers 23, B Hogan 13, J Butler 12)

MVP: Chris Coyne (JM&L Auctioneers Titans)