Long after the season had finished up for most teams on the 20^th of May a band of Moycullen basketballers headed south to take part in the Becky Macauley memorial tournament hosted by Limerick Celtics. The tournament is open to primary school girls. An eclectic team was gathered together from under 13s, under12s, under 11s and some of our U10s got up bright and early (despite some alarm clocks not working!) on Sunday morning and headed off to Limerick for the tournament. The girls gelled very quickly, and needed to, as they were playing against the hosts Limerick Celtics and favourites for the tournament in the first game. Although the team lost out in the opening game Moycullen’s captain Aoibhinn Fox quickly established herself as the go to player for Moycullen with a dominating presence inside the key and demonstrating great footwork to grab some quick baskets.

The next game was against the Limerick Panthers. The girls had gotten into their stride at this stage with the stalwarts of the U11 Moycullen Magic team putting in a great effort, Sophie Maher, Alison Breen, Megan Leonard, Sophie Darcy, Lily Hynes, Grace Clifford, Hollie Keating and Jade Greally played some quality basketball throughout. Some of our under 10s had been brought along to give them some experience of playing at this level and they acquitted themselves really well. Juno Hayes was particularly impressive in the Panther’s game grabbing a basket toward the end of a well deserved win for the Moycullen girls. The next game Moycullen faced off against their Galway rivals, Maree who were in top form, and Maree grabbed the win. Aoibhinn Reid and Fiona Fox were outstanding in this game particularly on defence. The final game of the tournament was against a very tough and uncompromising Carlow side who were well trained and drilled. Carlow were looking to push up the rankings in the tournament and although Moycullen got a good start through Rebecca Sullivan, Ruth Liptrot, Lucy Shaughnessy and Katie Waters they couldn’t keep the momentum going and Carlow ran out a comfortable win in the end. Limerick Celtics were the eventual tournament winners with Moycullen taking fourth place. The event was fantastically run by our hosts Limerick Celtics and the club would like to express its sincere thanks for the invitation to take part. With the experience gained this year particularly for our younger members we’re already looking forward to next year’s event!

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