Blackwater Steelers travelled to Sligo on Saturday to take part in Round 2 of the Men’s U 18 National Cup for the first time in their short history. Pool 3 consisted of 5 teams, Steelers, 2 Dublin Teams, Sligo All Stars and a Belfast team, all playing each other with the top two going through to the quarter finals.

Phoenix Belfast 53 Blackwater Steelers 45

The Belfast side having played a game earlier got off to the better start and never relinquished their lead; they passed the ball well enough to reward their willing movement with scores consistently in the first quarter. The Steelers improved in the second with Andrew O Connor leading the revival but still conceded too much. After the break the Steelers took it up another notch as Killian McAdam hit a brace of points and the Steelers cut the deficit to 6pts. Andrew rattled them with 7pts in a row in the last but the Steelers could not cut the deficit to fewer than 3 and Phoenix held out.

Team & Scorers: Andrew O Connor 24pts, Sebb Uglis 7pts, Killian McAdam 5pts, Michael McDonnell 4pts, Ryan Treanor 3pts, Cian Fitzgerald  2pts, Rob Haynes, Conor McKenna, Kai McCaffrey, Sebastian Ostrowski, Loran O Rourke and Jason Hamill.

Ongar Chasers 77pts Blackwater Steelers 42pts

The Dublin side were a huge powerful team who could play and they did just that. The Steelers competed with them for most of the first quarter but the tide was starting to roll over them and the deficit grew. Ongar who sit 2nd in the Dublin U 18 League at present drove the game on and pushed their lead out. The Steelers all round game improved as the day wore on but there was no way to pull this one back.

Team & Scorers:  Andrew O Connor 17pts, Killian McAdam 17pts, Michael McDonnell 4pts, , Cian Fitzgerald  4pts, Rob Haynes 4pts, Ryan Treanor, Conor McKenna, Kai McCaffrey, Sebastian Ostrowski, Sebb Uglis , Loran O Rourke and Jason Hamill.

Blackwater Steelers 53pts Kubs 51pts

This was the best performance of the weekend against one of the top names in Irish Basketball. It was a physical encounter with both sides shooting well, Kubs started brightly and took the lead and it took strong defence by Michael McDonnell and Robert Haynes to stop the Steelers being overrun. Kubs led by 18pts to 13pts. The 2nd quarter was even thanks to some great shooting by Killian McAdam and again super team defence. The Monaghan side grew in confidence in the third, Cian Fitzgerald popped for a couple of scores and Sebb Uglis hit a big three to leave the Steelers within a point. 2 huge “threes” in a row from Sebb in the 4th put Steelers in front and when Andrew scored from a rebound the Steelers were 6 in front. Kubs pressed and quickly narrowed it to two; Andrew put away his 2 free shots under pressure before Kubs hit a 3 with 8 seconds left but the Steelers seen the game out.

Team & Scorers: Andrew O Connor 15pts, Killian McAdam 15pts, Robert Haynes 10pts, Sebb Uglis 9pts, Cian Fitzgerald 4pts, Michael McDonnell, Ryan Treanor, Conor McKenna, Kai McCaffrey, Dylan McKenna,  Loran O Rourke and Sean Conway.

Sligo All Stars 49pts Blackwater Steelers 44pts

This simply was a game too many and the Steelers were just wrecked. Sligo played the game at a very high tempo and used all means to get a first win out of the weekend. Sligo won two quarters and the Steelers won two quarters but not by as much, any other time and the Steelers would win. There was a great scoring performance from Sebb which bodes well for the future.

Team & Scorers: Sebb Uglis 20pts, Killian McAdam 13pts, Andrew O Connor 5pts, Cian Fitzgerald 4pts, Robert Haynes 1pt, Ryan Treanor 1pt, Lorcan O Rourke, Michael McDonnell, Sean Conway, Dylan McKenna, Kai McCaffrey and Conor McKenna.

NEEB League

U12 Girls: Liby Dynamites 18pts Blackwater Steelers 19pts

The U12 girls came away with a great win after a very close match with Libby. They passed the ball much better than they have been doing and the coaches Deirdre Smyth and Brenda Trainor said they very happy with the way they played.

Team & Scorers: S. Healy 6pts, S. McDonnell, E. McGinnity, K. Fagan, A. Bogue 2pts, A. McCormack 9pts, N. McQuaid, L. Lennon, C. O Neil, D. Marron, A. Trainor 2pts and K. Farmer 1pt.

U14 Girls: Libby Dynamites 30pts Blackwater Steelers 32pts

Coach Kelly McCabe was also very happy with her U14 girls as they picked up a win in Co Louth on Saturday. They did the damage in the 2nd quarter and Libby never recovered even though they the other 3 quarters.

Team & Scorers: Holly McQuaid 15pts, Rachel Callery 7pts, Aine McQuaid 4pts, Katie Trainor 2pts, Cathy McKenna 2pts, Bernice John 2pts, Amelia Deery, Rachel Lennon, Aoibheann McGinnity, Gormlaith Mac Conghail, Ellen McDonald and Aoife McSkeane.

The U16 and U18 girls’ teams both lost out to Libby in their matches.

UP NEXT: Blackwater Steelers V Carrick Cruisers

We entertain our neighbours Carrickmacross next Saturday in the SEM starting at 11am.

Congratulations to Blackwater Steelers Tiarnan O Rourke and his North East team who made history at the Tom Collins Post Primary Schools Inter Regional Tournament down in Limerick recently when they were finalists over all. After 4 wins and a loss to the South, the North East faced the South again in the final. The South expects to get to the Cup Final every year but this was a first Cup Final for the North East. The South just had too much and won by 66pts to 50pts, but well done Tiarnan.

Congratulations also to Brid McNally and Ava Ross who represented the Blackwater Steelers on the North East Girls, they played well over the weekend and only fell to the South East in the Shield semi-final. Congratulations also to Niamh O Connell, another Steelers’ player who represented the North region.

Blackwater Steelers were back in action again after the Inter Regional break and they entertained Cavan Lakers at the weekend and that certainly proved to be a major challenge for the younger age group teams. Cavan Lakers are a growing club who have a lot of people willing to help out at coaching and it is starting to pay off. They will be very strong in across the board in another year or so.

U12 Girls: Blackwater Steelers 10pts Cavan Lakers 29pts

The U12 girls started proceedings off at 12noon but were not able to match the strength of the Cavan girls. The visitors took the lead and never relinquished it, the Steeler girls tried hard but Lakers took the win.

U16 Girls: Blackwater Steelers 29pts Cavan Lakers 50pts

Playing against the zone defence continues to be an obstacle for this young U 16 Steelers team who all bar two are up from U 14 where it’s all man-to man. This was a competitive game up until the middle of the third quarter. There was only 9pts between the teams going into the last but Cavan stormed ahead in the last and made it look like an emphatic win.
Team & Scorers: Anna Rabella 11pts, Hannah Turley, E. McColgan, Ava Ross 6pts, Amy Deery 4pts, Niamh O Connell 2pts, Dearbhla Ni Ghallchoir and Alex McKenna.

U18 Girls: Blackwater Steelers 64pts Cavan Lakers 34pts

Due to work commitments and injuries the 4 U 18 players were supplemented with 4 of the U 16 girls, Niamh, Ava, Alex and Dearbhla played up and it was a seamless transition. The team played well throughout and really turned on the style in the third with some wonderful moves from Amy and Morgan. Alison and Aisling shot well to complete a great team performance and they stopped Cavan Lakers gaining a clean sweep of wins.
Team & Scorers: Morgan McKenna 19pts, Amy Mulligan 14pts, Aisling Ni Ghallchoir 11pts,  Alison McBride 10pts, Niamh O Connell 8pts, Dearbhla Ni Ghallchoir, Ava Ross & Alex McKenna.

U12 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 13pts Cavan Lakers 33pts

Cavan Lakers were far stronger than this very young Steelers team, actual physical size makes a huge difference at this level and the Cavan Lakers lads were bigger. Still the Lakers played well and won well.

U14 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 31pts Cavan Lakers 41pts

This was the Steeler boy’s first loss this season and it came at the hands of very decent Lakers team, although they relied heavily on their very tall number 11. He had a huge effect on the game because he is a huge lad that we had no answer to. He scored 26 of their 41pts which is over 60%. The Steelers started well and built a good lead of 14pts to 6pts in the first with Jamie Krisiulevicius to the fore. The 2nd quarter was all about their number 11 who we could not stop, they scored 15pts in which he got 13, the Steelers only managed 6pts, so the Lakers led by 1pt at half time.
In the 3rd the Steelers competed well and the quarter ended 9pts each but in the last when Cavan started to edge ahead, we panicked a little and let them away. This is only the 2nd loss for some of these lads since they started at the start of last season so hopefully they can learn a lot from it.
Team & Scorers: J. Krisiulevicius 20pts, C. Harpin 6pts, E. Shiels 4pts, L. Cawley 2pts, M. Donohoe 2pts, D. McPhillips, L. Krisciunas, D. O Hanlon, G. Treanor, S. Kelly and M. McMorrow.

U18 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 94pts Cavan Lakers 56pts

This was an emphatic win for the Steelers but more importantly it was a much better performance than recent games which could be timely before we take on two Dublin teams in the U 18 National Cup Round 2 on Saturday. The first quarter which included 5 “3 pointers” from the home side set the tone as the Steelers led by 31pts to 13, the second quarter wasn’t quite as good but still strong and the  3rd was emphatic. The Steelers eased off in the last but this was a good result with some good performances.
Team & Scorers: Andrew O Connor 24pts, Ryan Treanor 21pts, Killian McAdam 17pts, Cian Fitzgerald 10pts, Conor McKenna 8pts, Kai McCaffrey 4pts, Jason Hamill 2pts, Sebb Ostrowski 2pts, Sebb Uglis 2pts,  Michael McDonnell 2pts, Dylan McKenna 2pts and Robert Haynes.

U16 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 75pts Cavan Lakers 43pts

The U 16 Boys were humming like a sweetly tuned engine when they played the Lakers. They did all the damage in the first two quarters with some wonderful play and some brilliant finishing. Ben, Cameron and Alister were in top form in offence and they punished the Lakers without mercy. The defence is working as a real unit no matter who’s on the floor and so much of the offence comes from real good defence. Hopefully this will continue for the remainder of the games.
Team & Scorers: Ben Ryan 22pts, Cameron Liddle 16pts, Alister Stewart 16pts, Matthew Curley 6pts, Kelvin Hackett 4pts, Liam McKenna 3pts, Rio Corrigan 2pts, Tiarnan O Rourke 2pts, Lúí Shiels 2pts, R. Murphy 2pts, Kacper Ostrowski and Conor Mulligan.

6 Blackwater Steeler teams travelled the short distance to Castleblayney at the weekend to play Muckno Lakers and only two; the U 14 & 16 Boys came away with victory. Lakers have remained a strong club mainly due to the coaching work done by Gerry Smyth over the years and more recently by others as well, they turn out strong competitive juvenile teams year after year.

U12 Boys: Muckno Lakers 22pts Blackwater Steelers 14pts

The Steeler lads built up a good lead in the first but lost it in the 2nd and once the Muckno boys got ahead they never gave up their lead.

U16 Girls: Muckno Lakers 38pts Blackwater Steelers 15pts

The Steeler girls got caught out in the 1st quarter by the Laker 1-3-1 defence which they found hard to break down. They played better in the remaining quarters but could not convert the chances they created.

Team & Scorers: HannahTurley, Eimear Mc McColgan, Ava Ross 2 pts, Rachel Callery 3pts, Amy Deery 6pts, Mariea Boley 2 pts, Anna Rabella 2pts, Brid Mc Nally and Niamh O Connell.

U12 Girls: Muckno Lakers 30pts Blackwater Steelers 18pts

Lakers started with all guns blazing and strode into a 12 nil lead. The 2nd quarter was even at 6pts each but Muckno made the points certain with a 10pts to no score in the third. The Steelers showed what they could do in the last with 12pts to 2 scoreline which is encouraging.

Team & Scorers: D. Cawley 6pts, A. Trainor, L. Lennon, S. Healy 8pts, C. O Neill, A. Bogue 2pts, C. Nally, D. Marron, A. McCormack 2pts, K. Fagan and S. O Donnell.

U14 Girls: Muckno Lakers 54pts Muckno Lakers 17pts

The Lakers ruled this game from the start with an aggressive approach that knocked the Steelers out of their stride. They led from start to finish leaving loads for the Steelers to work on at training.

Team and Scorers: Rachel Callery 7pts, Cathy McKenna 4pts, Katie Trainor 4pts,
Amelia Deery 2pts, Bernice John, Gormlaith MacConghaille, Elle Curran, Erica McDonald, Alex Carlisle, Aoife McSkeane and Rachel Lennon.

U14 Boys: Muckno Lakers 24pts Blackwater Steelers 31pts

The Steeler lads were ready for the tough challenge these Muckno Laker boys would provide and they just came out on top in a very good game. Both sides started well with the Steelers just shading the first with all the scores coming from J. Carey for the home side and Jamie Krisiulevicius for the Steelers, one a sweet 3. The Lakers reversed this in the 2nd to take a 16pts to 12pts lead but it wasn’t for the want of trying by the Steeler lads.

Super defending added to some great team scores won the game for the Steelers. Baskets from Luke, Jamie and Lucas left Steelers a point ahead by the 4th. The 4th was even better as Conal got in on the scoring and the Steelers secured the game. Jamie Krisiulevicius deserves a special word as his absolute control in the face of adversity was superb.

Team & Scorers: Jamie Krisiulevicius 15pts, Luke Cawley 4pts, Lucas Krisciunas 4pts, Conal Harpin 4pts, Enri Shiels 2pts, Michael McMorrow 2pts, Dylan McPhillips, Mark Donohue, G. Treanor, Sean S. Kelly and Donnacha O Hanlon.

U16 Boys: Muckno Lakers 18pts Blackwater Steelers 49pts

The Steeler U 16 boys were in real good form on Sunday, they were fast accurate and clinical as they brushed aside the Lakers challenge. The defending was superb and this led to loads of fast breaks and with Ben Ryan in super finishing mode the Steelers took the first by 14pts to 5pts. The 2nd was won by 10 to 1pt and in similar fashion, but the defence of Liam Conway, Liam McKenna, Alister Stewart and Rio Corrigan deserves special praise, as it was their work that earned the scores.

All 12 players contributed to this win and the teamwork was encouraging and with this attitude and drive they are a formidable team.

Team and Scorers: Ben Ryan 21pts, Alister Stewart 15pts, Rio Corrigan 6pts, Liam McKenna 2pts,  Liam McKenna 2pts, Kasper Ostrowski 2pts, Ryan Murphy 1pt, Kelvin Hackett, Tiarnan O Rourke, Finn Slater, Conor Mulligan and Matthew Curley.

AGM

The Blackwater Steelers will hold their AGM at 8pm on Tuesday October 24 2017 in St. Joseph’s Pastoral Centre, Broad Rd, Monaghan. All welcome.

With 6 matches scheduled with Dundalk Ravens over the weekend past in St Macartans the Blackwater Steelers just shaded the win percentage and it took two forfeits in the U 12 age group to tip the balance.

U12 Girls: Blackwater Steelers 20pts Dundalk Ravens 26pts

Ravens only travelled with 7 players so the 10 player rule came into play, this states that every team up to the U 16 level must have 10 players team. So despite the scoreline the Steelers won the points. The game was very close although the 2nd and 4th quarter scoreline were one sided in favour of the Ravens.

Team & Scorers: S. Healy 4pts, S. O Donnell, E. McGinnity, K. Fagan, A. Bogue 6pts, A. McCormack 9pts, N. McQuaid, L. Lennon, C. O’Neil, D. Marron, A. Trainor and C. Nally 1pt.

U18 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 81pts Dundalk Ravens 50pts

The scoreline probably doesn’t do justice to the Ravens and the stubborn defence they put up throughout the match. It was the end of the first before the home side stretched ahead with 6 in a row from Andrew O Connor. The 2nd quarter was closer but the Steelers stayed ahead and uncharacteristic errors littered the half, Kai McCaffrey played well when he came on and the Steelers led by 12pts.  Killian and Andrew upped their games in the third and put the game to bed and everyone got court time before the buzzer went. The U 18 Steelers have yet to hit top form but have 2 wins to their credit.

Team & Scorers: Andrew O Connor 38pts, Killian McAdam 14pts, Sebb Uglis 8pts, Cian Fitzgerald 7pts, Michael McDonnell 5pts, Ryan Treanor 5pts, Kai McCaffrey 4pts, Sean Conway, Robert Haynes, Jason Hamill, Sebb Ostrowski and Lorcan O Rourke.

U14 Girls: Blackwater Steelers 88pts Dundalk Ravens 5pts

This was a complete wipe out, Dundalk were no match and even with loads of Steeler rotation they couldn’t help but put up scores.

Team and Scorers: Rachel Callery – 28,Holly McQuaid – 24,Katie Trainor – 8, Aine McQuaid – 8,Erica McDonald – 6,Cathy McKinney 4, Amelia Deery – 4, Alex Carlisle -Rachel Lennon – 2, Aoibhinn McGinnity – 2, Gormlaith Mac Conghail and Ellen McDonald

U16 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 42pts Dundalk Ravens 60pts

If you have a 6ft 7inch U15 on your team you have a distinct advantage and Dundalk did, they also have a good point guard and some other nice shooters. They went 23pts to 13pts in the first quarter as we tried to figure out how to play against him.  Dundalk won the 2nd and the 3rd as we struggled to deal with their power and physicality and as they eased off a little in the last the Steelers scored more easily. I would predict we have just played the League Winners for the coming season.

Team and Scorers: Cameron Liddle 13pts, Liam Conway 8pts, Alister Stewart 7pts, Ben Ryan 6pts, Matthew Curley 4pts, Rio Corrigan 2pts, Kasper Ostrowski 2pts, Liam McKenna, Che Treanor, Tiarnan O Rourke, Conor Mulligan and Jamie Lopez.

U12 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 16pts Dundalk Ravens 38pts

Dundalk Ravens were just too strong for our U 12 boys on Sunday morning but once again they only travelled with 9 players and had to forfeit the game. So the Steeler boys are sitting with 9pts from a possible 9pts in the League. The game itself was one sided with the Dundalk lads just over powering the Steeler lads through their sheer size and power, they looked older than they were.

Team & Scorers: S. McSkeane 4pts, E. McCaffrey 2pts, E. Augustinavicius, P. Mulligan 2pts, D. McGinnity, L. Swift, A. Stewart 2pts, P. Murphy 1pt, D. Mulligan, R. Conway 1pt, R. O Dhufaigh 4pts and D. Aughey

U14 Blackwater Rapids 23pts Dundalk Ravens 51pts

This was men against boys, Dundalk are really too strong for this league and really should be in the A’s. Having said that the Steelers were committed and brave and pushed these bigger boys all the way. There are a lot of positives to be taken from this gutsy performance and the boys will learn from this.

Team & Scorers: D. Conlon 3pts, R. McArdle, S. Swift, F. Gallagher 5pts, A. Elsayed, C. Murphy 9pts, M. McVicar, R. McMahon, S. Metcalfe, J. Curley and Andrew Walsh 6pts.

Blackwater Steelers had a very successful weekend against Dunshaughlin Rockets winning all 8 games against the Co. Meath opposition. The Rockets would be considered one of the better clubs in the NEBB so to win all 8 games is an excellent return.

Saturday

U12 Girls: Blackwater Steelers 12pts Dunshaughlin Rockets 10pts

This was the first outing for the U 12 girls and they had a rollercoaster ride, up by 3 in the first quarter, down by 8 in the 2nd, scored 8pts in the 3rd and only went down by one in the last. This gave them a two point win.

Team: S. Healy 2pts, E. McGinnity, K. Fagan, A. Bogue 5pts, A. McCormack 4pts, N. McQuaid, L. Lennon, C. O Neil 1pt, D. Marron, A. Trainor and C. Nally.

U14 Girls: Blackwater Steelers 54pts Dunshaughlin Rockets 20pts

This was a very one sided easy victory for the Steelers, they started off well and never looked back scoring heavily on the way to the points.

Team: R. Callery 24pts, K. Trainor 4pts, G. Mac Conghail, E. Curran 2pts, C. McKenna 12pts, E. McDonald 4pts, A. McQuaid 4pts, A. Darcy, Ellen McDonald, A. McGinnity 2pts, A. Carlisle 2pts and A. McSkeane.

U16 Girls: Blackwater Steelers 25pts Dunshaughlin Rockets 22pts

This was a tight affair, the Rockets won the first but the Steeler girls woke up in the 2nd and clawed it back and then just edged out the win by 3pts.

Team: K. Deery 2pts, H. Turley, A. Ross 4pts, N. O Connell 8pts, A. McKenna 2pts, E. McColgan, A. Deery 7pts, D. Gallagher, Mariea and Anna 2pts.

U18 Girls:  Blackwater Steelers 58pts Dunshaughlin Rockets 39pts

This was a strong comprehensive performance from the 18 girls to notch up the 2nd win of the new season.

Team: M. McKenna 26pts, A. Mulligan 23pts, L. O Mairtin 3pts, A. McBride, A. Ross, A. Deery 5pts and D. Gallagher 1pt

Sunday

U12 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 23pts Dunshaughlin Rockets 12pts

The boys got off to a great start winning the first by 5pts to no score, the 2nd finished all square but the Steeler lads destroyed them by 14pts in the 3rd to secure the game. The Rockets played a little better in the last before the long journey home.

Team: A.McElvaney 2pts, S.McSkeane, E. Augustinavicius 3pts, J. Wright 2pts, A. Stewart 4pts, D. McGinnity, L. Swift, P. Murphy 2pts, R. O Dufaigh 6pts, R. Conway 4pts & E. McCaffrey.

U14 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 51pts Dunshaughlin Rockets 32pts

he Steeler boys won well in the end by almost 19pts but they struggled to get going in large parts of the game. They won the first by 9pts to 4pts but lost the 2nd by 5 to 11and it was only when the defence got a lot tighter that we took command of the game and scored freely to secure the points.

Team: Conal Harpin 6pts, Mark Donohue 2pts, Luke Cawley 6pts, Jamie Krisiulevicius 28pts, Michael McMorrow 1pt, Dylan McPhillips 2pts, Donnacha O Hanlon, Gary Treanor, Lucas Krisaunas 4pts, Enri Shiels 2pts, and Sean Kelly.

U16 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 51pts Dunshaughlin Rockets 16pts

This was a mismatch really with the Steelers far too strong for the opposition, having said that though the Steeler boys played extremely well especially in the first. The home side won all 4 quarters for their 2nd win of the season.

Team: L. McKenna 2pts, R. Murphy 4pts, K. Hackett 4pts, C. Liddle 10pts, R. Corrigan 4pts, T. O Rourke 2pts, K. Ostrowski 4pts, B. Ryan 10pts, C. Mulligan, L. Conway 2pts, A. Stewart 5pts, M. Curley 2pts.

U18 Boys: Blackwater Steelers 63pts Dunshaughlin Rockets 58pts

This was the game of the day, strong raucous opposition who were determined to get the win against a cool confident Steelers riding on the highs of last season. The game was brilliant for the spectators with the home team starting well and the Rockets staying in touch with some big threes. They were also quite physical deliberately targeting some of the Steelers’ players for attention, the Steelers led by 3 after the first. The second remained tight too, Ryan Treanor did a great job on their 8, Rob Haynes came in and made a difference and Andrew O Connor and Killian McAdam kept the scoreboard ticking over but we only lewd by 28pts to 23pts at the break.

The Steelers pressed in the 3rd,  stole the momentum and went further ahead with two deep threes from Andrew, however they kept in touch with a couple of their own. The Steelers led by 9pts going into the 4th but the Rockets didn’t wilt and came back strong. This was a high scoring quarter with neither defence doing what they should and the Meath side came close but the marginally better Steelers side won out in the end.

Team: C. Fitzgerald 4pts, R. Treanor 9pts, R. Haynes 6pts, C. McKenna, K. McCaffrey, L. O Rourke 2pts, S. Uglis, D. McKenna, A. O Connor 29pts, M. McDonnell, K. McAdam 13pts & J. Hamill.

Thanks

Blackwater Steelers Basketball Club would like to express huge thanks to Olê from Subway Monaghan who delivered the Classic Platters and the Golden Vouchers to our U 14 & U 16 Girls (see picture). Our club was delighted with the very generous donation and we would also like to thank U 18 star Michael McDonnell for helping to organise the above.

The Steelers were on the road with 4 teams on Sunday last for their first fixtures of the 2017-18 NEBB season when they travelled to Ashbourne to play Tara Druids. It was a very successful day with all 4 teams gaining victories.

U12 Boys: Tara Druids 12 Blackwater Steelers 25

This was a great start to the season for the boys most of whom had never played team ball before. They took a strong lead from the start and never looked back and really dominated the whole game. There were some fine performances among the boys and this will be very heartening for the new coaches.

U14 B Boys: Tara Druids 22 Blackwater Steelers 35

Again there were a lot of lads making their debut for the Steelers in this team and they gave a great account of themselves and getting the “W” in the process. They took an 8 to 4 lead in the first, lost the 2nd by a point but blew the opposition away in the third stretching the lead out to 35pts to 22pts. The boys were outscored in the last but the win was secure. This was a very encouraging display.

U16 Boys: Tara Druids 17 Blackwater Steelers 38

The two U 16 lads from last year Cameron Liddle and Alister Stewart really showed their experience and drove the Steelers to victory in this game. Of course they were ably supported by 7 U 14s from last year and 2 new players. After a shaky first quarter when we trailed by a point the Steelers settled and built up a good lead in the 2nd. Scores dried up a little in the remaining two quarters but the Steelers had the points in the bag.

There will be tougher test ahead for this group but this was a great start.

U18 Girls: Tara Druids 22 Blackwater Steelers 50

The Steelers set about their business in a very clinical efficient way building up a 14pts to 2pts lead and taking all the momentum out of the opposition squad before they knew they were in a game. The Steelers defence was tight, aggressive and miserly and this gave the team the foundation to win easily. A 24pt tally for the excellent Amy Mulligan also helped. Again this was a really encouraging start for the team.

Blackwater Steelers wish a massive good luck to our U 16 Girl Alex Mulligan who flies out today Tuesday to Skopje, Macedonia to play for Ireland in the FIBA U 16 Women’s European Championship Div B. This is a brilliant achievement for this young Glaslough lady to get to represent her country at this level. The Steelers also have another connection with this Ireland squad in our U 18 Coach, Kelly McCabe who is Team Manager, and we at the club wish her the very best of luck in this responsible role.

Skopje is the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, in the centre of the Balkan Peninsula in Southern Europe and it will be the base for all the games. There are 22 countries competing, two groups of 5 and two groups of 6. Alex and Ireland are drawn in Group B with the hosts Macedonia, Belgium, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Moldova. The group stage will consist of 5 games and depending on the results they could play another 2 or 3 classification games. So 7 or 8 games in little over 10 days will be a tough ask. However after the Ireland U 18 Women reached the European Final in Dublin last week everyone in the camp should be buoyed by what can be achieved.

Alex Mulligan started with the Blackwater Steelers aged 8 with our junior academy and by the time she was on the U 12’s team she was already attracting attention. She is a strong; powerful inside player who as time has gone on developed a deft level of skill. Alex has been a winner all the way up leading her team to many League & Cup wins both in BNI and North East Leagues. She also has had successes playing for her school, St. Louis Convent, Monaghan, represented the North East Schools Region and from this was picked for the Ireland Squad. Over 18 months that squad has been whittled down to 12 girls and now they will stand on the line for Ireland and Alex is a very strong part of that team. It would be remiss of me not to mention her parents Delma and Richard Mulligan, I’m sure they are very proud and so they should be, Delma is one of the senior coaches at Blackwater Steelers from the very start and has worked tirelessly to promote basketball and the club. We at the Steelers are so very proud of Alex, and hope she has a wonderful tournament.

Kelly McCabe has been a coach with the Blackwater Steelers from the 2012-13 season and has won numerous cups and titles, she also plays for Muckno Lakers and has won National Titles with them. Kelly is basketball through and through; she has an inquisitive nature, always eager to learn and a strong will to win. The Team Manager role with a young Ireland team is not an easy job but Kelly is more than up to the task, in fact in a few years to come I could see her coaching an Ireland team. Again we at Blackwater Steelers are very proud of you and we wish you Good Luck at the Euro’s.

The Blackwater Steelers Basketball Club was founded in 2008 and in the 9 years since has gone from strength to strength. For a small junior club based in an area that would not be renowned for basketball it’s a remarkable achievement to have had two full Irish Internationals. Alex is the second club member to represent Ireland at a European Championship; she follows Verity O Connor who played for Ireland in 2014, 2015 and 2016. We have also have had several players who have made the Ireland Development Squads and have been capped but may have just missed out on the final 12.This is a tremendous testament to the excellent coaching and hard work going on at the club right from junior academy up. Well Done Steelers!!

Congratulations to sisters Alex and Amy Mulligan who both represented Ireland at games against Great Britain in Dublin recently. Alex and her team mates on the u16 Irish team won both games against Great Britain while Amy and the U17 Irish development squad won one and lost one. It’s been a busy schedule for the girls recently with Amy travelling to Wales to play the U23 Welsh national team, winning one out of two games while Alex has travelled to France, Luxembourg and Lithunia with her squad. Alex is preparing for the FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship which is to be held in Macedonia in August.

The girls have been playing basketball from a young age with the Steelers club, with big sister Ellen the first in the house to make the Irish Team back in 2014. So it’s certainly a family affair with mum Delma a coach with the club while young brother Paddy plays with the Steelers Junior academy.

Well done girls from all at Blackwater Steelers Basketball club.