News

The U16 and U19 girls teams competed in the regional semi-final and finals this week in Athea with the two finals being nailbiters.

The U16s kicked the day off with a comfortable win against Killarney Community College in the semi final and this was followed up by the U19 team getting the better of familiar foes Killorglin in their semi final.

 

The U16 final was on first against a strong Nenagh team. The initial moments of the game were tense with the teams sharing a couple of baskets each and both finding it difficult to overcome the zone defence played by the other team. Unfortunately, it was Nenagh that managed to get the first decisive baskets as they took a lead going into the second.  Our girls fought back in the third, breaking through the Nenagh zone on a number of occasions to almost level the game again before finally drawing level in the fourth. At this point, the next score was going to be crucial and it was our opponents who were able to sneak in for the basket and followed this up again moments later to leave us 4 down with 1 minute to play. Our girls didn’t give and pressed hard to get the ball back but were unable to convert their final chances when they had them which left Nenagh as the winners in a cracking game that could have gone either way.

 

Following the disappointment of the U16 final, some of the team had to regroup immediately to play their part in the U19 final against Clare rivals Kilrush. The game had a slow start with both teams taking time to get going but it was the team in blue that took an early lead going up by 8 points towards the end of the first quarter. Some complacency began to set in though and Kilrush fought back into the 2nd quarter to tie the game. Our girls managed to grab another lead in the third but again Kilrush fought back to bring it to 4 points. The final quarter was a nerve-wracking affair with Kilrush putting a lot of pressure on our line and forced us to turnover frequently but the girls came up with some huge blocks to deny Kilrush’s scoring opportunities and hold on to our lead. At the final whistle, a huge cheer of both happiness and relief went up as the team finally broke through and ended up as regional winners for the first time.

 

Throughout the day, the support was immense from both teams and there was constant cheers and encouragement coming from the sidelines. On another day, we may have came away with two sets of gold medals but nothing more could have been asked from everyone involved. Well done to both teams.

 

Next up is the schools cup semi final for the U19s on the 13th of December. Both teams will then return in January for the All Ireland phase of the schools league.