Welcome to National League Basketball 1986-1987

Club Officers :

Chairman: Seán O Malley

Secretary: Mary Conlon Nihill

Treasurer: Una Kelly, Claremount

Committee: Seán Higgins, John Fahy, Gerald Du Bois, Kevin Blehein, Mary Kyne, Ciara Joyce.

One of the long-time ambitions of the club was to field a senior men’s National League side and this dream was realised when they had the unique record of being the youngest team ever to gain entry into the Irish National Basketball League. Their home games were played at Westside Community Centre which was a big draw back. This decision was outside the control of the club. The size of the Oughterard court was not acceptable for National League Games.

Combination-Oughterard, Killannin and Mountbellew

The combination of Oughterard, Killannin and Mountbellew players on the first team was a strange alliance as the three parishes could be arch-rivals on the Gaelic football field but the fact that it was basketball made it more acceptable. Collectively known as “CORRIB” sponsorship changed the name slightly to ‘Team Corrib Hotel.’ Initially Corrib stemmed from St. Paul’s Secondary school who had been to the forefront of schools and Community Games basketball competitions in the 80’s. St Paul’s coach was Mary Conlon married to Gerry Nihill who coached in Holy Rosary College hence the Mountbellew connection. Twins Kevin and Colin O Malley and Seamus Crehan, Mountbellew joined the team. They brought strength and depth to the team and enabled Corrib to play a faster and more exciting style of basketball.

Local Players

John Bosco Walsh was Captain. Known to his friends as Bosco he was one of the steadiest and dependable players in the Corrib outfit.

Patrick Faherty and international player at U15 and U17 level was atireless trier with excellent technique on court.

Kevin Walsh one of the best players of his age in the country at the time scored a personal record of 53points in the All Ireland U-15 finals in 1984.

Johnny Kelly who was selected on the Connacht U-17 team in 1986 made a notable contribution to this school team and was a valuable player in defence for Corrib.

Gerry Conneely a guard played an important role in his school team’s success over the years.

Michael Feeney one of the fastest players on the team made his presence felt with some fine shooting performances from the three point line.

Kevin O’Reilly who returned from the States to join the team had put in some fine performances with U-17 Irish team before his departure.

Irish American Joins the Team

Through contact with Bugerland’s Peter Strickland John Carroll joined the team. He was 24 years of age and had a four year advantage on any of the other players who were all under 20. John hailed Washington D.C. He had a degree in Psychology. John’s goal for the year was “to get to know this lovely country where my great grandfather lived over 150 years ago. As member of Team Corrib I hope to play well enough to gain promotion from Division 3 to Division 2.”

John’s first sighting of his team mates was from the Canal end of Croke Park when he watched Kevin and Bosco Walsh help Galway Minor footballers to the All Ireland.

John’s favourite quote was “Your potential is God’s gift to you: striving toward your full potential is your gift to God”

John blended in well with the team.

Coach: Mary Conlon Nihill was the only female coach in the Men’s National League, and her enthusiasm played a major part in the side’s elevation to National League. “Their youth does show itself sometimes in inexperience, but they are a great set of lads and are very dedicated,” she said of the team. Her greatest ambition at the time was to play National League in Oughterard but she had to wait a few years before that happened. John Fahy, Killannin assisted Mary as team manager.

The season started well with a winning streak of five games. They were beaten by Dungannon by four points even though they could have snatched victory with a bit of luck having held the lead 66-65 in the final quarter. A depleted Corrib side due to a bout of flu were beaten by Marathon 76-90. Corrib went on to have an away victory against Waterford Wildcats 76-66. Corrib’s determined defence and some aggressive offensive driving by Seamus Crehan and Kevin O’Reilly saw Waterford in foul trouble by half time. Seamus had an impressive 27 points. This win put Corrib in the upper half of the League.

A tremendous team performance saw Corrib over come Iona Cork 111-89. Man of the match was Patrick Faherty who not only had an outstanding offensive game on 6’ 8’’ American Troy Truesdale but also collected 31 points of the team’s total. Corrib were never behind in the game leading at half time by 8points and although Iona got back to within 4points with seven minutes to go. Kevin O ‘Reilly came off the bench to make his National League debut and scored a crucial 8points. From then on Corrib started to draw away and finished the game with a three pointer from U19 guard Gerry Conneely on the buzzer. Corrib went on to having a convincing win over Tivoli Dundalk 99-73. This enabled Corrib to finish the League in fifth place.

They still remained in Division 3 for another season.

National League Basketball Oughterard 1987/1988

Team: Seamus Crehan, Gerry Nihill, Colin O Malley, Cathal Gallagher, Gerry Conneely, Liam Crehan, Kevin O Malley.

Great Start

After the experience gained in 1986/1987 Corrib knew the type of commitment necessary to compete at this level. The gym was passed by the I.B.A for National League games and so it was that Senior Men’s National Basketball came to Oughterard for the first time when the local team took on the might of Star of the Sea, Belfast in the first round of Division 3.

What a performance the home team put in as they took the initiative form the start with a full court zone press and half court man to man defence which gave them an early 9-4 lead.

The Belfast team eventually settled down and led by one point and it looked as if a shock home win was on the cards until the O’Malley twins, Kevin and Colin were fouled out with seven minutes to go. They were followed to the bench shortly afterwards by Cathal Gallagher who was also in foul trouble. Star of the Sea took full advantage of the lack of bench strength in the Corrib team and drew away in the closing minutes to win by 13 points 81-68.

Corrib competed in games against Paulstown, Claremount Admirals, Portlaoise, Tralee Tigers, Wildcats and Tivoli Dundalk. They were all high scoring games. Corrib’s American, Frank Riley, try as he might was not a consistent outside shooter and was unable to provide the offensive rebounds. Indeed Riley was completely outplayed in all aspects of the game by his fellow Americans on the opposition which left Corrib at a disadvantage to other teams. Still Corrib played all of their games with great heart. It was clear form the early defeats that Corrib would have to sign a more effective American if they were to perform well in the remaining games.

The departure of Patrick Fahety who was in college in Dublin was a loss to the team. Into the reckoning came two young players Liam Crehan and Cathal Gallagher from Mountbellew and 32 year old Gerry Nihill, another great addition to any team, lent experience to the bench.

Corrib’s first win was against Tivoli, Dundalk 99-97

Oughterard began the game with an aggressive pressing defence. Corrib players C.O’Malley and Seamus Crehan alternating on Dundalk’s American Larry Spensor who held a scoring record in one game of 69 points. He still managed 28 points in the first half which gave Dundalk a 9 point lead.

However, the relentless pressure from a superbly fit Corrib team gradually began to force more and more errors from a tiring Dundalk side. Corrib’s Frank Riley was having a good defensive game but with the score tied in the 10th minute of the second half the game boiled over which resulted in Riley and Brendan Roger from Dundalk being sent off.

This seemed to spur the Oughterrard players even more and Liam Crehan took over the defensive job on Spensor and had a magnificent final quarter, scoring some crucial baskets and shutting out the American offensively who nonetheless finished with a magnificent game total of 47 points.

Kevin O’Malley provided the main offensive power for Corrib and he finished the game with a splendid 31 points. At the end of normal time the teams were tied 86 all but Corrib were in the driving seat both mentally and physically for the extra time and they took the game 99-97

It was a disappointing season for Corrib as they only won two of their games. However with the withdrawal of teams and the reorganisation of the league the team found themselves promoted to Division 2 for 1988/1989 season.

Minibasketball in Killanin/Oughterard

Killanin joined the mini-sport movement in 1983 and Ita Walsh has been the driving force in promoting the sport in Killanin, Oughterard, Moycullen and Bushypark schools over the years. Ita organised annual blitzes between the schools. Ita’s mother Nuala was the driving force in Oughterard in the 70’s and 80’s. She held mini-tournaments in the Kirk hall every Sunday afternoon. Boys and girls looked forward coming together during the bleak winter months.

Minibasketball is the official version of basketball played by children aged 12 and under. It was started in Spain in 1963 and is now the most popular children’s game in the world. The attraction of the game is that every child regardless of ability gets court time. Each game is divided into 4 quarters with all players including substitutes playing at least one quarter and not more than three. It emphasis the importance of skill development by encouraging children to learn, practise and develop skills rather than win at all costs. Up until 1986 the children of Killanin played miniball on a tiny court just a little wider than the school. Children from the school went to the National Minisport Festival in Dublin at St Pat’s College Drumcondra which was the highlight of the Minisport season. 1986 Killanin had a full sized outdoor court and it was on this court that the famous boy’s Community Games team trained.