Four games in two days will find you out, and in the National Cup final it found the Limerick Lions U18 boys, though by then the weekend had already gone their way.
Portlaoise Panthers, at home and fresher for it, won the final 55–76. Fred Klimas and Jake Moore led the scoring for Limerick, but the tank was close to empty after a Saturday of group games and a Sunday semi-final.
None of that takes the shine off what came before. On the Saturday the Lions topped their group with three straight wins, seeing off Kildare Gliders, UCD Marian and Boyne Warriors across one demanding day.
Sunday brought the game that mattered most. A 71–49 win over St Mary's Castleisland in the semi-final booked the quarter-final place in the U18 Billy Coffey Men's National Cup, the target the squad had set themselves coming into the weekend.
So they come home tired, with a place in the National Cup quarter-finals to show for it. There are worse ways to spend a long weekend.