This article is from page 34 of the 2008-02-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 34 JPG
THE past and future of Ennistymon basketball came together in Dublin last weekend as a group of young players from the Clare Cascaders Club met with one of the leading lights of the Claremont Admirals in the 1980s.
More than 40 young boys and girls travelled to Dublin to watch the fi- nals of the National Senior Mens and Ladies Cup. After two hugely enter- taining matches, the youngsters from north Clare got to meet Ed Randolph, former Claremont Admiral and play-
er coach with Killester who won the senior men’s final.
Randolph, played basketball in En- nistymon in the 1980’s and has a long and happy relationship with north OE
“This was our first year heading off to the finals. We had two really good games. The ladies’ final was a great match,” said Vincent Leigh of the Clare Cascaders
“Of course, we have the connection with Killester through Ed Randolph. After the game, he gave loads of time for all the kids with the cup. He talked to them and posed for pictures
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The club has been going from strength to strength in recent years and is attracting hundreds of local young people back into the sport. The increase 1n participation is start- ing to yield some success for the club orm aetemee)loue
‘In the last week we have had a few of our players called for trials for the north Munster boys team, that’s Michael Leigh and Ian Cuddihy. We have also had two girls called for trials, Jenny Canavan and Mairead Healy,” continued Vincent.
“As well as that, we have Ciaran
Devitt, who has been called for a trail for the Irish U-15 boys team. We have good hopes of him getting onto the main Irish panel and ever repre- senting his county.
“It’s great to have players who are making an impact on Munster and even Ireland teams. It gives great en- couragement for the younger players to see where they can get. In terms of matches the U-17 boys got to the final of an U-17 tournament in Cork just before Christmas. They beat a few Cork teams along the way and did very well. The U-12 and U-14 teams played two games each last week.”