Stars of the future 'duke' it out as 54th Castleisland basketball blitz serves up thrills
Action from the Senior National School Girls B Final at the 54th Annual Basketball Blitz in Castleisland Community Centre sees Evie O'Donoghue of Kilmurry NS with Emma Griffin of Muire Gan Smai Photo: Domnick Walsh
The curtain came down on the 54th annual Castleisland Christmas Basketball Blitz on Tuesday evening after a marathon five days of thrills and spills.
Huge crowds, thanks in part to the benign weather, witnessed some furious action featuring everyone from underage schools sides right up to the top teams such as Limerick Celtics, Flexachem Killorglin and Tralee Warriors.
Tournament director Donal ‘Duke' O’Connor, a founder member when only 12 teams took part, pronounced the 54th running of the remarkable event a success.
“We are delighted with the event, the games, the crowds; the excitement has been on par with anything we have enjoyed in the past. We had 171 games across a variety of age groups for male and female with 1,450 players taking part.
"Our sponsors never have to be asked to help out, they approach us as early as September, and then the teams begin entering the various competitions. The younger teams begin training and the rivalry is fantastic between the national schools and the parents get more worked up than the kids.
"It was great to see Limerick Celtics win the Premier Men as they lost narrowly to Warriors last year in the final. It was great to see the Benchwarmers from Tralee made up of Na Gaeil footballers winning, led by Dara Devine and Jordan Murphy, beating Scart United 23-21. Dara Devine with three three-pointers was the star of the show, though Spa footballer Evan Cronin looked very good for the Scartaglen team.
"To see Diarmuid O’Connor and Damien Bourke supporting their team-mates just shows what it is all about."
In the U-14 boys final, St Brendan's beat St Mary's 22-15 with former Tigers great Roscoe Patterson’s son Cameron impressing with four points, while MVP Solomon Abubaker scored 13 and looks a name for the future.
In the U14 Girls, Laura Reddington was most impressive scoring 10 points in a 23-6 win for St Bridget’s over St Mary’s Red.
In the Junior NS Girls A final, Abbie Walsh of Kilmurry NS shot the lights out, draining 14 points, helping her side to a 25-11 over Muire Gan Small.
There was a thrilling finish to the Div 2 Women’s Final, Joyce O’Connor scored a buzzer beater for St Mary's Red who beat St Mary's Black 32-31. Ireland U-18 international Julie O’Connor was unlucky to finish on the losing side after draining four three-pointers.
There were notable wins for Airballs Anonymous over Lions with two late threes from Sean Prendiville and Tadgh Walsh denying the Lions by 22-21. St Bridget’s, with two young Kerry footballers David Healy and Ruairi Brosnan to the fore, beat Cahersiveen 28-16 in the Men's Div 3 final, with Healy top-scoring with 13 points.
Podge Fleming from Warriors claimed the Men's Player of the Blitz award and Ruby O’Connell won the Female equivalent.
The last word belongs to Donal 'Duke' O’Connor. “It’s been a great week and we will start in the morning planning the 55th extravaganza in 2026 to be bigger and better.” The Duke means it.
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