St Fintan's steal a thriller

Sometimes the heart of sport is best revealed at schools level. Yesterday's conclusion to the All-Ireland schoolboys finals at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, where St Fintan's Sutton emerged as 39-38 victors over DLS Waterford, was definitely one of those occasions.

St Fintan's had won the under-19 title for the last two years, and long before that had established themselves as the leading force in schools basketball. De La Salle Waterford had only emerged at this level in the last couple of years, and never before had they graced a bigger stage.

The game went from one extreme to another. The champions were down and seemed to be crushed. De La Salle played majestically and seemed to be cruising. Fortunes gradually reversed until the clock ran down to its final two seconds, and De La Salle led by a single point.

With crucial possession, St Fintan's moved straight to the basket and before the echoes of the final buzzer somehow found the winning shot. All across the court rose thunderous cheers and fell broken heroes. The title goes back to Sutton for another year, De La Salle may take a year to recover.

Talent, however, will always remain and De La Salle clearly had the best player on the court in Robert Grant. In the end Grant contributed 20 points and if any player deserved to be on the winning team then it should have been him. For St Fintan's, the crucial element was family. Coach Jerome Westbrooks is among the most experienced players in the country. Two of his sons - Michael and Isaac - were the nucleus of the winning side. When they were chasing a deficit of 30-8 at the halfway stage, Michael kept his head while others around him started to drop. When they clawed back to 32-25 at the end of the third quarter, Michael finally got his shooting together. And when they trailed by the single point with two seconds remaining, it was Isaac who sneaked through for the winning score. Truly wonderful stuff.