Paris McCarthy has represented her country in many of Europe’s major basketball arenas over the past few years and will do so again next week.
She is the only Kerry player on the Irish squad heading to the FIBA European Challenge U-18 women’s A tournament which is due to start on July 27th. The tournament will take place in Klatovy, in the Czech Republic and will run until August 1st.
19 Irish Caps
A member of the Castleisland based St. Mary’s Basketball Club, Paris has been capped 19 times having represented her country at U-16 level in 2019 when the Ireland squad travelled to Bulgaria for the competition.
I recall a chat with Paris during a meeting while walking from Dulague to Ballinaboul Cross one fine afternoon a few years ago and she told me then that basketball was her whole life.
That was just before she was selected on the Irish U-16 Women’s European Championships team to travel to in Sophia in August 2019.
The International Stage
A few years later as she’s about to pack her bags for another big European sporting assignment, her love of basketball is just as it was and she’s looking forward to competing on the international stage again now after such a long lay-off.
“I’ve been playing basketball since I was five or six years of age and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and I’ve played in so many places around Europe – the game has been really good to me,” said Paris.
Kerry Gaelic Minor Team
As soon as she gets back from the Czech Republic early next month she’s straight into training with the Kerry minor ladies Gaelic Football team in preparation for this season’s Munster championship.
St. Mary’s spokesperson, Liz Galwey said that Paris is not the only Kerry connection with the travelling basketball team.
Head Coach Tommy O’Mahony
“Head coach Tommy O’Mahony is from Cordal and is well known for his role with Waterford Wildcats and for his involvement down through the years at international level.
“He is best known for his success in the 2017 European Championship when he made history with the Irish U-18 women’s side, taking silver in the national arena having been unbeaten until the final game of the tournament.
Assistant Coach Liam Culloty
“St. Mary’s Super League ladies coach, Liam Culloty is assistant to O’Mahony along with Killester’s Karl Kilbride.
“Culloty coached the St. Mary’s ladies to win the Intermediate cup final in 2018 and the club’s national league ladies to the league final in 2020 and this resulted in their promotion to Super League.
Team Manager Aoife Nolan
“Finally, the team manager is St. Mary’s Aoife Nolan, Aoife is no stranger to competing at national level having been a member of the national league team which won the 2012 league final and she captained the intermediate cup winning 2018 team,” said Liz,
Games Schedule
The game schedule is as follows: Tuesday, July 27th Ireland v Lithuania; Wednesday, July 28th Ireland v Turkey; Thursday, July 29th Ireland v Czech Republic; Friday July 30th is a rest day. Saturday July 31st Ireland v Serbia and Sunday August 1st Ireland v Hungary.
Basketball Ireland usually live-streams these games on their social media platforms and we’ll let you know on time if this is the case.
Meanwhile, good luck to Paris and Aoife and Tommy and Liam.
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