Guernsey storm the Fort and overpower Jersey

The men’s side claimed a sixth successive inter-insular victory, there was a record-breaking 19th consecutive triumph for the Sarnian women and the under-21s came from behind to win all after the under-17s had kicked things off in style.

In the concluding match of the day, Adam Farish’s senior men’s team just proved too strong for their hosts, who trailed by just eight at half-time but were then overwhelmed at the start of the third quarter as Guernsey scored 11 unanswered points.

The Greens continued to profit from fast breaks and clinical shooting as they ran out 85-55 winners.

‘It was a satisfying victory,’ said coach Farish, who beforehand had promised a ‘faster and fitter’ squad than in previous years.

‘We had a lot of change in personnel this year as some of our big players were unavailable. That shows the strength in depth in our squad and the hard work and the hours these guys put in is phenomenal.

‘A lot of people don’t see that, even the guys at home, they don’t see how much effort these guys put in.

‘We haven’t been able to play much together this year outside of the training, so our aim was to substitute people in with no loss of intensity and no loss of flow and I think we achieved that.'

In the women’s contest, Guernsey again showed their superiority as they eased to a comfortable 69-23 victory, although coach Pat Ogier revealed that after the excitement of the preceding U21s game the crowd went quite flat, making it tough for his side.

‘We started fairly slow and it wasn’t our best performance offensively, but I felt our defence was good limiting them to largely contested shots,’ he said.

‘Our outside game is usually our best facet but we struggled from the three-point line, otherwise the score would have probably been far greater.

‘As for 19 in a row, you really can’t underestimate what an achievement that is and to maintain that level of performance for so long is a real credit to the hard work these girls put in and I’m very proud to have been a part of that. We go for 20 next year in front of a home crowd in the GBA’s 50th year.’

The U21s served up a thriller. Guernsey overturned a 13-point half-time deficit to win 67-61 in a game where Jersey got into foul trouble, losing three players.

A strong Guernsey U17 team executed their game plan perfectly and ran out 80-43.

• More in Tuesday's Guernsey Press.