St Pat’s chase All-Ireland finals spot

St Pat’s Shannon will travel to the National Basketball Arena in Dublin next Wednesday to participate in the All-Ireland schools semi-finals at B level.

The Shannon school won this championship three years ago and on Wednesday they are in competition with teams from Leinster and Connacht as they seek to qualify for the finals again.
“We won through the North Munster and then Munster sections to get to this level but we are really up against it as, unlike the other schools still in contention, we do not have the back-up of a club, which is a huge disadvantage,” said team coach Colm Honan.
“This is a competition for first years and the members of our team have shown huge improvement this season. They hadn’t played the game before they came here but they have worked very hard and they train daily. They have shown huge improvement,” added Honan.
St Pat’s have eight basketball teams in the school and their players are drawn from ­Shannon, Newmarket, Cratloe and Sixmilebridge.
“Most of those who make up next week’s squad also play hurling and football,” the coach explained. Amongst those he will be looking to on Wednesday are Brian ­Monaghan, Aaron Divinney and Brian O’Sullivan.
“We will have three games on Wednesday and the winner will go through to the All-Ireland finals.
“We play St Paul’s from Sutton in Dublin in our first match and then we will play Castleisland before facing a Galway side in our third tie,” Honan added.