The Portlaoise College Boys A Volleyball team that won the U-16 Boys A Volleyball all-Ireland title.
Portlaoise College U-19 Girls Basketball team who were crowned Leinster title winners
By Joe Barrett
Portlaoise College continued their run of victories when they took the U-16 Boys A Volleyball all-Ireland and U-19 Girls’ Basketball Leinster Finals.
The Volleyball team made it to the All-Ireland Division A finals at NUIG Galway against Patrician High School for the second year in a row.
They worked for the win, winning the first set 25-21 and second set 25-22. The team was captained by Aiden Grace and Most-Valuable-Player (MVP) Mikolaj Deren who played exceptionally well on the day. The other squad players were Akachi Ogbulafor – Outside hitter. Mikolaj Deren, Luke Ivers and CJ Daly – Middle blockers. Aironas Kocarevskij, Pavan Polassery and Aaron Bowden Adai – Setters. Mohab Abdelrazak – Libero. Jason Delaney, Kyle Thompson, Oisin Grundy and Kilian des Santos.
The team coaches were Pawel Nowakiewicz and Yvette Murphy and sponsored by Irex Transport. Maths Made Easy School of Grinds funded the new jerseys which were designed by Diarmuid Doyle.
The year finished on a high also for the college’s U-19 Girls’ Basketball team. They side beat Saint Aidan’s of Cootehill in the Leinster Final on a score line of 29 – 24. They led the game throughout but were put through their paces by the strong Cavan side who fought back in the second quarter. Brilliant defence from the team, captained by 6th year Melissa Donnelly emerged victorious.
The team was Peaches Williams, Melissa Donnelly, Mija Goncarenko, Katelyn Delaney, Sarah Ryan, Precious Aransi, Aishat Shitta, Stacy De Souza, Mary Phillips, Lourdes Skripko, Katelyn Thompson, Naomi Grant Akande, Hannah O’Mahony, Mollie McCann Atkinson, Ruth Chawanda and Orla Phelan.
