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Mercy Mounthawk Ireland basketball stars in front, Rachel and Rebecca Ryan and Darragh Kennelly. Back row, Liam Culloty (teacher and former Ireland U18 women basketball head coach), Norah Quane and Pat Fleming, Mercy Mounthawk Deputy Head Principals. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.
THREE Mercy Mounthawk students have big years ahead of them both in class and on the basketball court.
Darragh Kennelly, Rebecca Ryan and Rachel Ryan are all involved with Irish national basketball teams this year and continue a fine Mounthawk tradition of producing international players in recent years.
Sisters, Rebecca and Rachel Ryan from Mounthawk estate will pull on the green jersey for Ireland, a garment their older sister Courtney has also worn in the basketball-mad Ryan household.
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“All three of us have made the Irish team and all three of us have caps, we love basketball,” said Rebecca Ryan who is also a big LA Lakers fan.
Both in development squads, Rebecca will run out for the U17s and Rachel for the U15s.
Rebecca tasted victory against England in a tournament in the UK over the Summer and Rachel has a busy schedule with trips to Sweden or England in November and France in December.
Centre, Darragh Kennelly from Camp, began his journey with Ireland last October and since then he has travelled to a tournament in Luxembourg and is looking ahead to France next with the national side.
Training takes place once a month in either Cork or Dublin, due to most of Darragh’s teammates being based in Ireland’s two major cities.
Playing basketball with Ireland is a massive undertaking for players and their families. Irish internationals receive no funding so must raise money for flights and accommodation themselves.
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Mercy Mounthawk Maths and Biology teacher, Liam Culloty, has just finished a successful stint guiding the U18 Ireland women. He coached the side to the quarter-finals of the European championships, which is Ireland’s highest ever finish in that competition.
Despite all the success, Liam has decided to stand down as head coach of the U18s.
“I’m taking a small little break,” said Liam. “It was very intense summer travelling all over the country for training. At the European Championships, you were talking 12 or 13 hour days.”
“Last year the team finished 18th and this year we finished 8th, so there was a great improvement and to win a few games, obviously, was huge,” said the former Tralee Tigers player.
Along with that 8th finish at the Euros, Liam also masterminded victory over South American giants, Argentina which was a particularly big scalp.
Liam played eight years of Superleague basketball, and with The Warriors now putting basketball back on the map in town, is there any chance he might feel the itch to go back playing?
“I went to Cork to watch their [Warriors] first game. There is a part of me that would love to be out there but the standard is so high. The lads are playing well and they are super fit, I think I’m happy on the sidelines for the time being!”
