Glanmire's hunger game
Until losing is mentioned. That drops the temperature a notch.
“The Cup semi-final (against Cork rivals Brunell), we went into it thinking ‘this is the be-all and end-all’. If we lose here, we’ve thrown it all away”, says Áine McKenna.
‘It’ is an unprecedented pre-eminence in women’s basketball in this country that could extend to an historic fourth successive National Cup success tomorrow.
A Superleague loss in Waterford last Saturday night, their first of a now 9-1 campaign, was headline news as they strive in tandem with their cup ambitions for four league titles in a row. It might also prove a timely check on any possible complacency ahead of this weekend.
Prod some more and Claire Rockall rebuts the implication that UCC Ambassador Glanmire steamroll virtually every opponent as they did Brunell in the semi-final (84-47). But McKenna has her back.
“Waterford had us beat in the Cup quarter-final down there. We were in big bother but we held them scoreless in the last two minutes. We saw red. Pure defiance. When our frontline players click, we are unreal. We really are. When we spark…”
She stops herself, recognising another imputation – cockiness. It’s nothing of the sort. Glanmire’s leading lights got slapped around plenty by the UL Huskies half a decade ago when Rachel Vanderwal, Michelle Fahy, Louise Galvin et al were in their pomp under James Weldon.
The Cork team grew up fast and came through a better unit. Now four of its starting five are Irish internationals – Gráinne Dwyer driving McKenna and Rockall, and vice versa, and Casey Grace benefitting from all three. Throw outstanding American Chantel Alford into the mix and Glanmire training under Mark Scannell must be quite the crucible.
“If training isn’t going the way you want things to, you’d have to say something,” McKenna nods. “If girls are being lax, if the younger girls aren’t maxing out in their effort, there’ll be a word. Would I call out (team leader) Gráinne (Dwyer)? She would know herself, she’s the first one to call herself out.”
Missing training is considered a liberty. “There is no excuse culture in the group. If you miss training, it’s a big deal,” McKenna says.
The pair are preparing on this night for an extra Strength and Conditioning session with Glanmire colleagues. Claire Rockall believes it’s about setting goals and targets for each individual in the squad. “This is part of our lives now.
“I can’t imagine not training two, three times a week with a game at the weekend at this stage. I just love this time of the year, January. There’s cups to be won and we are hungry for more trophies.”
hey’re Glanmire’s ‘second bananas’ to Gráinne Dwyer, but both are standouts in their own right. Claire’s quiet and measured, a former national athletics champion at 1,500m, a Division 1 collegiate freshman with Iowa State. Áine is among that elite group on five Cup medals, six League titles. She’s chatty and gregarious.
Claire’s Oranmore in Galway, Áine from Duagh in North Kerry. There is nothing that ties them together except a dozen years of rivalry and respect as schools opponents, then growing tight in Glanmire as the team everyone in the country wants to beat.
The club has an enviable reputation in women’s basketball, a standing, for all the grouching, that other clubs would sign up for without hesitation. That few of the current roster are hometown products is a point that’s made frequently but with the likes of Annaliese Murphy and Louise Scannell coming through and getting minutes, the cycle is turning again.
The nature of Irish basketball – more especially the women’s game – is that college choice and work placement often dictates the colour of the singlet. Glanmire can also list off the ones they’ve lost. Their under-age development means dyed-in-the-wool Glanmire girls have been lured to Division One colleges in the US – the O’Reillys, Sinead and Orla, the Scannell sisters, Jessica and Clodagh.
Rockall and McKenna both did their PE degrees in Cork – schools rivalries that became friendships with the Scannells made their choice of club an easier one. McKenna joined when she was 18. She knows no other colour but blue.
“Casey, Grainne, Áine and myself have been together for three season, the latter trio even longer. And we all train together with the national team,” explains Rockall.
“This group would have been very united but this season is different because we lost four key experienced players - Niamh Dwyer, Amanda Regan, Marie Breen and Miriam Byrne.”
Don’t feel bad if you hadn’t noticed. Gráinne Dwyer remains the pre-eminent pressure player in the league, Rockall and McKenna just make smart plays all the time, Casey Grace has stepped up and the young ones are getting their chance.
An Under 18 cup final success this morning against DCU Mercy at the National Arena will keep things ticking along nicely.
The senior side are hot favourites to complete the quadruple tomorrow against Liffey Celtics (5.15, TG4 delayed coverage). With Mark Scannell in their ear and history on the line, it’s unlikely they’ll get sloppy. The defeat last Saturday in Waterford should see to that.
“We know we’ve a good team,” McKenna says as a matter of fact. “But I find the whole group is really hungry, that’s everyone. And that’s the biggest thing for me. Good teams get beat when they are out-hungered. That shouldn’t happen this weekend – Claire, Gráinne right down the younger ones, they’re all very driven. Collectively that’s a huge thing.”
Could they coach themselves? “We could probably manage,” muses Rockall. “We know each other’s strengths though I do think Mark’s (Scannell) greatest attributes in his in-game coaching skills and his ability to read the game. He makes those big decisions during the game when we need them.”
After their Cup semi-final evisceration of Brunell, the Glanmire girls went to Ramen in Douglas for food to shoot the breeze as friends do. No basketball. When your partners are UCC Demons players Ciaran O’Sullivan (Rockall) and Kyle Hosford (McKenna) jump-shot percentages and free -throw stats are off the menu on such nights. “We are friends off the court,” agrees Áine.
“I came straight to Cork from Listowel and I improved because of the quality of players in Glanmire at the time - Denise Walsh, Jennifer Strong, April Cahalane, Nollaig Cleary, Niamh Dwyer. I was only 18 and the cup finals used be on RTÉ. Every other year I’d been watching them on tv. Now I was training alongside them. That was one of the hardest things because the standard was so high. You are bound to get better.”
The boyfriend thing doesn’t help now? “It’s easier because we understand each other’s training schedule and how important it is to you. You get it, they understand it,” says McKenna (27). “I’d go shooting with Kyle a good bit but we don’t play against each other because that would get…
“I wouldn’t get past him.”
“It could get a bit competitive with Ciarán (O’Sullivan),” agrees Rockall (26).
When McKenna was watching those televised cup finals, Claire was 17 and accepting a four-year scholarship at Division Iowa State in America. It was a huge call for a Leaving Cert and she went from teenager to woman faster than she’d imagined possible. The Cyclones are a top NCAA outfit that regularly played in front of 7,000 home fans. Any road trip over four hours on the road, they charter a plane. It was prime-time but Claire never really settled, spending just the one season at the Coliseum.
“The biggest reason? The style of basketball they played was very slow, all these set up plays. They wanted me to develop into a three-point shooting guard when I’d be a more dynamic, fast break type of player. It was hard as a freshman, but I don’t regret going.
"How could you? It was a super experience but on game nights, afterwards, everyone would be off celebrating with their families, and I was just sort of left sitting there. I was still 17 when I went over. We would average 7,000 at home games. But I’d actually prefer to have ten people at home watching me.
“I had the chance to transfer to another college or come back to Ireland. I was keen on getting an Irish PE degree.”
Both girls now teach in Cork – Claire in Glanmire Community College, Áine in Kinsale Community School. They’ve mucked in and helped coach the school teams which, alongside three training nights and a weekend game with Glanmire, doesn’t leave room for much else – their Demon dates included. Add their international commitments, again with Scannell as head coach, and it’s all-consuming.
Their American colleague Chantel Alford has been struggling with a knee problem but she’s reported fit and ready to go tomorrow after getting some game time in against Wildcats last Saturday.
And if she fires, it’s hard to see how Liffey Celtics can shut down Glanmire’s multi-pronged offence. That’s not the bit Rockall and McKenna glory in, however. Ask them separately what they require in a colleague and both use the same word: Aggression.
“Someone who plays with their heart,” Áine insists. “Aggression is the first thing that comes into my head too,” Claire adds. “Leaving it all out there.”
Tomorrow, as they strive for basketball history, that much is guaranteed.
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