The Kieran Shannon Interview: The shadow of The Shot

Gerald Kennedy played high school hoops with Michael Jordan, he played Division One college ball in the States, he showed a young Steph Curry a few tricks. But he came to Ireland and never left. In the week of a remarkable Super League denouement, he is remembered for Ireland’s greatest basketball climax — the 74-foot buzzer-beater that won Neptune the title in 1988. But he’d like if you remembered him for a little bit more.

Even now, as he orders a latte in a suburban Dublin mall, he still can’t quite shake The Shot.

The remarkable climax to this season’s Superleague – with just five days left in it, had as many possible champions – prompted hoops followers from Kieran Donaghy to the Ball In Europe website to wonder: had any Irish sporting league, basketball or otherwise, had a run-in quite as open and as dramatic as this? Until the answer went from the elusive to the obvious: But, of course – Gerald Kennedy, and THAT play.