Busy period for Tullamore Basketball Club

It's been a most busy period for the successful local Tullamore Basketball Club.

Senior Men
The senior team lost out to league leaders IT Carlow on Friday last in Colaiste Choilm, 62-74. Carlow had enough of a cushion from the second quarter on to hold Tullamore at bay all through.
A feature of the game for Tullamore was the performances of the three Skura brothers, with Sebastian and Kacper leading the scoring on 17 and 15 points respectively, and the senior debut of 16-year-old Dominik who acquitted himself very well.
Tullamore scorers: Sebastian Skura 17, Kacper Skura 15, Sean Spollen 5, Dominik Skura 5, Kazimiras Garkauskas 4, Martin McManus 4, D Mareks Matulis 2.
The team still hold onto 8th place in the league and a possible division 2 semi-final spot.

Under-12s
Tullamore put up a great display of basketball against a very skilful Portlaoise team. Full credit to the Tullamore boys who fought all the way to the final whistle, with some good defensive work. They were just unfortunate on offence not to get some more scores.
In the second game against Clonaslee, Tullamore had a full team, and started brightly with some early baskets from Adam Kelly and Kevin Slattery. Tullamore were excellent in this game, showing how much these lads are working and improving each week at training. There was high pressure defending and some great passing, leading to some great scores. Tullamore went on to finish the game 14-4 winners in what was a vital win for the lads and a great confidence booster. This is a very young U12 team and they showed great teamwork and all the hard training and practice is paying off.
Tullamore: Naoise Dunne (was excellent in defence and on fast breaks, 2 pts v Portlaoise); Shane Lynam (played his heart out with great rebounding, led the fast breaks, 2 pts v Portlaoise); Adam Kelly (worked so hard, his shooting was excellent, MVP v Portlaoise, top scorer 8 pts); Colm Farrell (excellent defence, great ball handling with some superb passing); Fionan Redmond (super rebounding, scored 1 pt v Portlaoise); Kevin Slattery (debut this season and was excellent, brilliant defence and always a threat going forward, scored 2 pts v Portlaoise); Fiachra Carroll (played very well, great defence); Dan Daly (played his heart out, great defence, such an improved player); Alex Cuddy (great defence, very fast and a threat in offence); Robbie Gallagher (super defending, and was excellent in offence); Brian Malone (great defending, some excellent passing and workrate); Cian Malone (worked very hard, some excellent dribbling and passing); Brian Connolly (worked really hard, excellent passing).
Missing were Daire McDaid, Luke Burke, Matteus Lima, Andrew Jaffray. Coach Mark and assistant coach Martin say well done to the lads, keep practising and training hard.

Under-10s
U10 Boys and Girls were involved in a Blitz in St Mary’s Hall Portlaoise last Sunday to round off their season. The girls played Castlecomer and Clonaslee and the boys played Portlaoise, Castlecomer and Kilkenny. Well done to all the boys and coaches Mark and Martin, and also to the girls and coaches Julie and Mairead, for their year’s work.

Final Four
The finale of the juvenile basketball season takes place this week with knockout games across all age groups.
On Saturday March 29th, Coach Mareks Matulis leads his U18 boys team against Portlaoise in the semi-final at 6:45pm in St Mary’s Hall Portlaoise. Should any of our sides win their respective semi-finals they will play on finals day, Sunday 30th March. All finals will be held in St Mary’s Hall Portlaoise. Best wishes are extended to all the teams and hopefully the games will be enjoyed by all.
Our Club Mixed Boys and Girls U14 League begins next Wednesday 2nd April at 7pm in Colaiste Choilm and will continue for the next eight weeks with a finals evening in May. All welcome.

End of Year Awards Presentation
On Sunday, 6th April Tullamore Basketball Club will host their juvenile end of year awards presentation in the Rugby Club at 3pm. Awards will be presented to teams from U10 to U18. All members welcome.

Schools Basketball
Well done to Colaiste Choilm second year team on winning the Midlands A title for the first time ever in the school’s history recently. Club players were very much to the fore in the team. Commiserations to the first year team who lost their A Final to Ard Scoil Rathangan. Again Tullamore BC was well represented in the ranks. Both first and second year teams now progress to the All-Ireland series, a huge achievement by all.