Castleisland U-16 Community Games Basketball Girls’ team represented Munster in the All-Ireland finals in Athlone at the weekend. They took on the Donegal and Ulster champions Ballyshannon in the semi final on Saturday.
Castleisland Community Game PRO, Bríd Kenny reports:
The Island girls held a comfortable lead all the way through this game. The score at half time was: Castleisland 23 to Ballyshannon 9.
Outstanding performances from Labhaoise Walmsley and Sarah O’Sullivan saw Denny Porter’s side progress well. Strong defence work from Kayla O’Connor kept Ballyshannon from scoring.
The final score was well in Castleisland’s favour at 44 – 22. Scorers: Labhaoise Walmsley (10), Sarah O Sullivan (13), Kayla O Connor (8) Nicole Downey (6) Siobhan Collins (4) Aoife O Connor (1) Hannah O Conor (2).
On to the final on Sunday – where it was a much closer affair. However, the Castleisland girls emerged worthy winners after a nail biting encounter against Co. Galway side, Oranmore.
Nicole Downey put the first score on the board with a three-pointer. This was replied to in kind by Oranmore.
Labhaoise Walmsley, Siobhan Collins and Kayla O’Connor put up a massive defence against the the Galway girls. At half time Oranmore held the lead at 18 points to 16.
Patrick Roche
Vital scores though from Kayla O’Connor in the third and fourth quarters saw Castleisland forging ahead by just a single point to take the title. Scorers Kayla O’Connor (16), Nicole Downey (5), Sarah O Sullivan (3) Siobhan Collins (3) Anna Lynch (1).
A huge thank you to their sponsors: McCarthy Insurance Group. Team coach: Denny Porter ; assistant coaches: George O’Connor and Aoife Nolan
U-13 Girls Take Silver
Castleisland’s U-13 Girls’ Basketball team played Monaghan Town in their semi-final on Saturday and won comfortably on a score-line of 42-22 . This earned them a place in Sunday’s Final at 12noonIn the final the girls came up against a very strong Kildare side and unfortunately things didn’t go their way.
The girls came out Silver medal winners – which is a huge achievement for this very young team. Special thanks to all family and friends who travelled at the weekend. Thanks to Pat O Sullivan of Sullivan Blockwork Ltd for his kind sponsorship of a set of tops.
Team is made up of : Grainne Walsh, captain; Aoife Kerins, Rachel O’Sullivan, Aoife Walsh, Lisa Flynn, Ava Fitzmaurice, Jane Lawlor, Sinead Murphy, Paris McCarthy and Abbie Brosnan, Coach: Denny Porter, and assistant coach: Elaine Moriarty.
Badminton Boys Take a Bow – Wow and All-Ireland Silver
The U-15 boys Badminton team, were ready and fit to take on Monaghan/Clontibret on Saturday morning. The encounter started with Dylan Brown and Peter Burke playing singles – from which they both emerged as victors. Kevin Keane and Josh Horan paired up then and won their doubles 3-0. They were thrilled to be in the final on Sunday morning.
All four boys fought hard and are talented athletes but Carlow had the luck on the day and caught the boys in all three games. Coach Lorna Keane, said she was very proud of her team and overjoyed with an All-Ireland Silver medal. “We did our very best and enjoyed ourselves – so well done boys,” said Lorna.
Well done to Joanna Moynihan who represented Castleisland /Kerry and Munster in the U-12 Art competition on the first weekend. Joanna did very well and again a fantastic achievement to get to the National Community Games Finals.
