Kieran Donaghy - From crouching Tiger to Warriors’ star attraction

The Irish Superleague has benefited hugely from Kieran Donaghy’s qualities this season, writes Kieran Shannon.

A few days after his 13th birthday, Kieran Donaghy bounded into the Tralee Sports Complex on a Saturday night, spread the elbows to assume his usual courtside spot and then spent the rest of the night gaping up at his heroes and everything else the night would reveal.

From the first time he had set eyes on the Tigers two seasons earlier and seen their giant American Ricardo Leonard throw down an alley-oop dunk with such force, a nut came off the back of the hoop, Donaghy had hardly missed a home game. Most night the Tigers trained, he was there too, the resident gym rat, shooting into the side baskets and then scurrying in to catch any rebound before it hit the floor and he could incur the wrath of the team’s coach, Timmy McCarthy.