Academy

The Kerry Sports Academy at MTU is a hive of activity on Thursday evenings with our Academy. The u6/7 boys and girls are working hard on their fundamental skills. The high energy sessions are led by some of our fantastic volunteers from the u18 boys and girls teams.

It’s fantastic to see these juvenile players getting involved with coaching and introducing the game to the youngest club members. Meanwhile, our u8/9 boys and girls had their first taste of playing a basketball game.

Following on from the weeks of skills and drills they have been doing at the Academy sessions, most recently led by Warrior Kieran Donaghy, they got to put what they have learned into practice. The Warriors players – Ron, Niko, Aaron, Jacko and Skinny, who also are our Academy coaches, were very impressed by the performance of the youngsters.

Juvenile
Meanwhile, it has been another busy week for our juvenile teams. Our girls teams made it a hat trick of wins over St. Brendan’s while our u14 boys T1 lost out away to St. Mary’s.

U12 Girls T1

St. Brendan’s 17-45 Tralee Imperials

U12 Girls T1 playing in the U12 div 1&2 county league got their first win of the season. They were away against St. Brendan’s. The panel of ten played some fantastic basketball showing improvements in both offence and defence. They got a hold of the game early and kept the momentum going throughout.

U14 Girls T1

Tralee Imperials 64-10 St. Brendan’s

U14 Division 1 girls had their first competitive outing of the season against local rivals St. Brendan’s, who were missing a number of their regular players through injury and other commitments. Nevertheless the game was played at a high intensity in a sporting manner throughout by both teams.

Imperials jumped out to an early lead thanks to a strong performance under the boards from Anna O‘Sullivan and Priya O’Donovan who both finished the game on 9 rebounds apiece.

Excellent long range shooting from Saoirse McCarthy and Sophie Mitchell helped Imperials stretch their lead before the half with Leipa Kaletkaite and Ciara Costello a constant threat on the fast break. Half time score 36 – 6

The second half saw more of the same from Imperials with Anna Chute taking control in the point guard position ending the game with 5 assists. Great inside scores from Emily Flynn saw Imperials stretch their lead further going into the 4th Quarter.

During the final quarter the Imperials defence stepped up their pressure in particular Ashlyn Falvey and Anna Slattery who combined for 5 steals in the quarter.

A solid first outing for the girls who are all delighted to be back playing competitive basketball after a long break.

Final score

Imperials 64

St Brendans 10

Tralee Imperials Scorers:

Priya O‘Donovan 16

Ashlyn Falvey 10

Sophie Mitchell 8

Emily Flynn 6

Ciara Costello 6

Anna O‘Sullivan 6

Anna Chute 6

Saoirse McCarthy 4

Leipa Kaletkaite 2

U14 Girls T2

Tralee Imperials 32-21 St. Brendan’s

Our U14 Girls Team 2 continued their season on Saturday with a home game against local rivals St Brendan’s.

The first quarter opened with strong defensive work from St Brendan’s and scores were at a premium. Juliette Gleeson opened the Imperials account with a great basket.

Imperials showed positively in transition, with Maria O Connell, Caoilainn Culloo and Juliette Gleeson combining well, to find Penny Costello in space, with Penny finishing brilliantly.

At this stage Aoife O’ Connell stormed into the game with strong running and 2 great baskets. The final score of the quarter fell to Penny Costello who was involved in everything. Imperials with a slender 10-5 lead at the end of quarter 1.

Imperials really raised the intensity level in quarter 2. Evelyn Moriarty and Naomi Osibodu combined well with Naomi finishing superbly. Evelyn then turned from provider to scorer with a great long range effort.

At this stage Imperials were growing in confidence and beginning to take a hold on the game. A brilliant run from Keelin Reidy found Evelyn Moriarty free, and Evelyn duly obliged with a super score.

Keelin Reidy and Aobh Cronin followed up with 2 great baskets, after great defensive work by both. The score of the game came from Sarah Slattery with seconds remaining in the half.

Keelin Reidy securing a great turnover in her own half, before finding Sarah free with a superb pass. Sarah finished brilliantly to give Imperials a 22-5 lead at half time.

The 3rd quarter began with Imperials under a lot of pressure defensively. St Brendan’s started strongly with some early scores on the board. Imperials slowly began to get to grips with the threat as the quarter progressed.

Clodagh Burke was strong in defence for Imperials, with Lauren Foley, Niamh Fitzgibbon, Katie Enright and Maria Walsh doing well in transition.

The introduction of Naomi Osibodu during the quarter really steadied the Imperials ship, with Naomi securing turnover after turnover in an awesome display. The quarter closed with Imperials leading 22-13. All eyes focussed on the final quarter with St Brendan’s staging a strong comeback!

Penny Costello opened the Imperials account in quarter 4 with a superb effort. Aoife O’ Connell followed up with 2 great lay ups after great runs from defence. At this stage Naomi Osibodu and Caoilainn Culloo were immense in defence for Imperials. They also popped up at the other end to finish superbly, giving Imperials a slight cushion going into the final minutes. At this stage Imperials ran the bench with all girls contributing strongly to the win.

The support of the girls for each other during the game was a joy to behold!

Special mention to Amber Ryan who was on the bench today but injured. We wish Amber a speedy recovery and look forward to having her back on the court with the girls.

A huge thanks to St Brendan‘s for a very sporting and enjoyable game. Thanks as always to the referees and our wonderful table officials.

A final word of thanks to all the parents, without whose help and support this couldn’t work. The girls are a fantastic group and we’re delighted to be part of the team!

We return to action on Wednesday evening with a home game against St Colman’s.

Tralee Imperial Scorers:

Aoife O’ Connell   8

Penny Costello   6

Evelyn Moriarty  4

Naomi Osibodu  4

Juliette Gleeson  2

Keelin Reidy  2

Aobh Cronin  2

Sarah Slattery  2

Caoilainn Culloo  2

U14 Boys T1

St. Mary’s 52-25 Tralee Imperials

Q1 –  St. Mary’s 14 Tralee Imperials 6

Tralee took a while to settle down but got underway with some nice baskets from Conor McGibney.

Q2 –  St. Mary’s 22 Tralee Imperials 15

Strong second quarter for Imperials saw them outscore St Marys 9 pts to 8 with some lovely scores from Ruairí Kennedy and very good work in offence and defence from Eoghan Crowley.

Q3 – St Mary’s 40 Tralee Imperials 17

Some very organised play from St Mary’s saw them pull the lead further ahead and they outscored Imperials 18 pts to 2 here despite some good effort from David Lynch.

Q4 – St.Mary’s 52 Tralee Imperials 25

A few long range shots from Imperials didn’t work out in their favour and despite good pressure which led to a few scores St. Mary’s were the deserved winners.

Tralee Imperials Scorers:

Conor McGibney 12

Ruairí Kennedy 10

Jack Noonan 2

David Lynch 1

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors

Congratulations to Tralee Imperials BC chairperson, John Dowling, and Academy coach, Aaron Calixte, on their Basketball Ireland Superleague October Coach and Player of the Month awards respectively.

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors head into the international break unbeaten at home and through to the National Cup quarter final vs Moycullen BC which will take place 4th December in the Tralee Sports Complex.

A special mention to the younger members of the squad who have stepped up to the challenge of playing Superleague including Tralee Imperials Keelan Crowe with two big performances vs DCU Saints and vs Templeogue.

It is testament to the great work being done in the local clubs of Tralee and is fantastic for boys and girls of the town to see members of their club playing basketball at the top level in Ireland.