Sports briefs: Meteors strike Rovers, Masters get ready to kick-off
Mayo Meteors basketball coach Terry Kennedy.
Basketball: Mayo Meteors’ senior men maintained their unbeaten start to the season with an impressive victory in the capital last weekend, beating Tolka Rovers 81-53 in the Basketball Ireland Development League (BIDL). It was Meteors’ second win in the competition to go with three wins from three in the LLR also.
Coach Terry Kennedy and his assistant Anthony McHale have assembled a large squad and in an excellent show of retention, as many as nine of the squad were playing under-17 basketball for Meteors all of five years ago. The teams draws on players from all parts of the county, including: Castlebar – Daniel Hyland, Herman Heyl, Alex Evans, Gedes Milles, Mo Medali, Evan Gibbons and Barry Redmond; Newport – James McManamon and Alex Wright (also of Manchester); Belmullet – Evan Ivers and Sean Lavelle; Crossmolina – Colm Hegarty; Foxford – Bartek Zalewski; Kiltimagh – Colin McNicholas; Ardagh – Paddy Walsh; Claremorris – Sean Fallon; Westport – Conor Bermingham; Ballina – Mattie McHale. Roscommon native – and former Ballina player – Paul Freeman is also part of the squad, which is sponsored by Lavelle’s Pharmacy, Belmullet.
The team plays out of St Gerald’s, Castlebar and also trains at the Crossmolina GAA complex.
GAA: There are three Mayo U21B Championship quarter-finals to be played at 12pm next Sunday, with Crossmolina at home to Aghamore, Mayo Gaels hosting Kilmeena and Ballintubber up against Parke/Keelogues/Crimlin in Clogher.
Soccer: The Westaro Masters League will commence on Wednesday, December 6 with a record number of entries, 21 teams in total. Therefore it has been decided to add a fourth division this season, with five teams in each of the top three divisions and one division of six teams.
Teams playing in Divisions 1 and 2 will later contest the Oliver Kelleher Masters Cup while the Oliver Kelleher Masters Trophy will be fought out by those sides in Divisions 3 and 4.
Matches will be played on Wednesdays at 6, 7, 8 and 9pm and at 7pm on Thursdays.
Rugby: Ballina U16 Boys saw their prospects of making the league play-offs diminish significantly on Sunday. On an overcast afternoon, and a heavy pitch, hosts Carrick prevailed 13-12 in an entertaining see-saw battle.
Ballina led 12-8 with 10 minutes gone in the second half, thanks to tries in either half by Luke Langan. Ballina were further boosted by the sin-binning of a Carrick player for an over-zealous charge whilst carrying the ball. However, Carrick regrouped and posted the crucial next score, as some indecision in defence allowed the hosts to cross the whitewash to establish a 13-12 lead.
Try as they might, the Moysiders could not conjure up another score, although they went close on a couple of occasions and the hosts held out for a hard fought victory.
GAA: There’s a big weekend of U20 action in store in Sligo, as the A and B championship finals are down for decision. Eastern Harps are set to face Drumcliffe/Rosses Pt at 7pm on Saturday, although the venue has still to be confirmed. On Friday, at 7.30pm in Fr Kevin Breheny Park, Castleconnor and Tourlestrane contest the ‘B’ final.
