Hoops of delight at cup final win on debut season in the league

I played a bit of everything when I was younger: badminton, football, tennis, hockey, hurling, Gaelic football, rugby, squash – you name it, I tried it.

It was my way of proving that being born with club feet was not going to prevent me from playing sport. I had a couple of surgeries one my left foot, and one on my right, when I was a child, and had my final plaster of Paris cast removed when I was 7. Then I went full pelt at sport.

I shot a few hoops when I was younger as well, but never on a competitive level, unless you count the free-throw competitions organised by Joe Coughlan and Fr Tadhg Quinn (then of Ballinfoile, now PP in Knocknacarra) in the Mercy school hall on Newtownsmyth.

It was a fleeting relationship with basketball, and one that lay dormant for something like 25 years until our eldest child, Éabha, joined Maree BC back in 2013. Like most parents, I found myself volunteering in different ways with the club – putting out chairs, bringing players to games, and then as club PRO.

As Éabha moved up through the age groups, she found herself being coached by Joe Shields. I got on well with Joe – we played darts together in Maree – and he told me he was thinking of entering a team from Maree in the National Women’s League, and asked would I give a hand for that debut season in 2018/19.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app

The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.