When being good just isn’t enough for female athletes

The National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, tucked away down a nondescript laneway just off the M50, is a quaint kind of building for a place only turning 21 this year.

It’s painted brick walls, tuck shop and 1980s-style upholstered lounge are reminiscent of an era long since passed but it is, in one other respect, light years ahead of most others as a sporting venue thanks to the events which have decorated its halls.

Now renamed simply ‘The Arena’, it has expanded its remit to host exhibitions, exams and concerts but basketball remains integral to its DNA and, unlike most stadia in Ireland, it has been the scene for as many heroic deeds performed by women as it has men.