Glanmire win as Irish squad named

It’s more silverware for Ambassador Glanmire UCC who, yet again, triumphed to be crowned SuperLeague Regular Season champions at the weekend.

The Leeside team comfortably overcame NUIG Mystics 92-49, putting on a superb display of skill and flair at their home court.

Grainne Dwyer was top-scorer with 24 points, while Claire Rockall and Aine McKenna were also on form; scoring 16 and 10 points for Mark Scannell’s side.

The Cork team always looked in control as they drove to a 53-29 lead at half-time. Captain McKenna was presented with the title from President of Basketball Ireland, Theresa Walsh, after the game. 

“We’re very pleased, it’s nice to get it - we didn’t win it for a while now, we’ve won the play-offs but not the regular season, so it’s great to get it,” said Head Coach Scannell.

“It just shows that our consistency throughout the season has been very good, with just two losses with one game to go, so it’s a very good return, all things considered.

“We lost a few players at the start of the year, there was a bit of a changing of the guard, so it’s great for the younger players that we have continued to win and I really think the future is bright for us. We’re not going to get too carried away with it though, we need to get our heads down. We’re very much focused and on track for the play-offs in a few weeks’ time.” 

Meanwhile, Cork side Singleton SuperValu Brunell suffered a tight loss to Portlaoise Panthers, 66-58. Brunell will try to obtain some much-needed League points this weekend when they travel to the Capital to face Meteors.

It was a long road back to Cork for UCC Demons meanwhile as, after being on level pegging with Pyrobel Killester at half time (44-44), they fell to an 87-74 defeat.

 It wasn’t all bad news for UCC as four of their players have been selected for Pete Strickland’s Irish Senior Men’s squad. The men who got the call ups are Adrian O’Sullivan, Ciaran O’Sullivan, Colin O’Reilly and Roy Downey.

Speaking after the annoucement, Strickland said: “Selecting just 20 from a far more expansive grouping of quality players in the country was difficult. Nonetheless, preparing for the 2018 Small Nations Tournament demands that we now begin the process of building a team that all Irish basketball players, indeed, all of Ireland, can be proud of.

“Training will commence this April, allowing our team members to complete their respective seasons with their current club and university teams.”