First Year Basketball
First year basketball was a great experience and we developed lots of new skills this year. All of the matches we played had a great atmosphere and a lot of support. We travelled to games with the second year team which was a great opportunity to learn and get to know the players. Both teams supported each other. We enjoyed the atmosphere of the home games in our school too.
We were very lucky and grateful to have a very good coach in Sean Kearney and we trained every Wednesday after school and sometimes during lunch. He helped us to improve as a team and he helped us to improve our skills.
Our first game was in January against CBS Thurles. In February we played away to Ardscoil Rathangan and Colaiste Iosagain in Portarlington. We then qualified for the plate competition where we played away to Knockbeg College. Unfortunately we were defeated on the day. Overall we enjoyed the season and we look forward to competing in second year next year.
By Liam Hassett, Fionn Tighe and Noah McCauley 1E
2nd Year Basketball
This year, our second year team started out really well with wins over Rathangan and a convincing 51 to 19 point win over Thurles. The team was playing great thanks to the coaches, Mr. Buckley and Mr. Reddy, along with help from TY students Daniel Lawlor, Ben Crampton, and Josh McKenna.
Some standout players were Zeik Pullos, Toni Perkovic, Rhys Kelly, and Tomás Carroll. We lost one game against Portlaoise on our way to the playoffs, where we unfortunately came up short against a strong Bagenalstown team, with a final score of 30-24.
Overall, it was a good year, and we are already looking forward to next season! by Rhys Kelly
Under 19 Basketball
We had a decent season this year with the senior basketball team. As a team, we were rewarded with three league wins from five games. However, we only actually played four games, receiving a walkover from our fifth opponent.
Our two losses came to the eventual first- and second-place teams. The first, against Coláiste Íosagáin, was a tough game in which we were unfortunate not to have a closer contest.
The second was another rough game against St. Mary’s Portlaoise where we had a great start, but could never keep it up for the full game. The league was very competitive overall, with our 2 wins coming in very tight games that were decided in the fourth quarter with great strings of play from us. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to qualify for any further stages of the competition.
We did, however, get another opportunity to play again in the shield. We had a quarter-final on our home grounds. It was a close game all the way through. In the end, a very strong finishing run from them secured their victory and our loss, knocking us out of the competition.
The experience of playing with the team was amazing; the atmosphere was always very positive, and everyone was up for a bit of fun. The players and our coaches got on well with each other, which made it an even more enjoyable experience.
By Daniel Cummins