Donegal Town Basketball Notes
The Adult teams are close to starting their school seasons but the scene has started with a bang with a first ever win at 'A' level for the Abbey Vocational u16 Boys with their taking a huge step up for Basketball in County Donegal.
Abbey Vocational from 50 to 30 Castlerea
Abbey Vocational earned there first win at the top level of 'A' Basketball last Friday at home to Castlerea. As the only vocational playing in the top 2 grades of the Irish Basketball win over the Roscommon School was very significant. Starting The Game very slowly and finding it hard to break down the oppositions defense Abbey went in 8-7 up. The 2nd quarter was much the same with only the Carr Brothers, Jason and Pauric hitting the target. Half time saw the Donegal side go in the good 3pts to 18-15. In the third John Boyle was given the man marking job on Irish International Joseph Henry. Along with Pauric Carr they began to mark the Castlerea man out of The Game. With Captain Jason Carr and Vice Captain Rasaki Balogun now scoring freely Abbey pulled away to win easy in the end. Conor Monaghan had a great game at point guard and hit 3 pointers lovely 2. Others to play well were Brian Lyons and Shaun Kerr's. Abbey is now into the last 16 of the top basketball schools in the country and head to Colaiste Eanna, Dublin with a place in the quarter finals for the winners. Improvement will be needed but Abbey now travel with confidence. Team; Jason Carr 22, Pauric Carr 10, Rasaki Balogun 6, Dillon Ward, Brian Lyons 2, John Boyle, Conor Monaghan 8, Shaun Kerr's 2, Mark O'Doherty, Cahir Mc Brearty, Leo Mc Hugh, Ryan Travers, Coach Kevin Sinclair.
The Under 19 Girls play in the Schools Cup this week with an away tie with Ballinrobe, County Mayo. Progression will depend largely on the Senior Ladies players Rosa Devaney and Kate Keaney along with Shannen Kelly. Wednesday will see the first league matches for the u16 and U19 boys teams. They play St. Nathy's Roscommon who have also come up from the 'B' level and Abbey will fancy their Chances in both games.The U19 team have drawn Aquinas of Belfast in the Schools Cup and play on the 16th in Jordanstown.
On the Club scene to our seniors have the Clubs biggest ever game in the National Cup against UCD Marrion 5pm on Saturday. The Ladies start their League campaign after the men at 7pm against local Rivals Ballyshannon. Your support for both these games would be appreciated. The Ladies then head to play Killester in the Cup in Dublin on Sunday 18th.Nice to see our U18 Boys and Girls Team photos up on Basketball Irelands website after their first outings at the National Level.To cap off the month the club hold their annual tournament invite Holliday on the bank's 24th and 25th. This promises to be a great weekend with some very good sides playing. A busy month indeed!