KABB awards signal end of successful basketball season for local players

Padraig Harnett

WITH just a small number of games left to play in the Kerry Airport Kerry Area Basketball Board Senior season they thoughts now turn to the two big individual awards.

Last year the Division 1 Awards were renamed in honour of two of the greatest exponents of the game in the county.

The Joanne Walmsley Player of the Award is for the Women’s game with the men vying for the Paudie O’Connor Player of the Year Award.

The nominations for the Senior Player of the Year Awards 2020 have now gone out to the clubs and the big announcements will be made in May.

Cup MVP winners announced:

The Senior Men’s and Women’s Cup and Shield finals were played last month as part of three great weekends of finals in the Tralee Sports Complex. The Most Valuable Player in each of the games has now been announced.

Fergal hits 28 in the main Men’s Final: The Division 1 Men’s final saw a star-studded St Brendan’s put up a big score as they hit 103 to St Mary’s 77. The MVP for the game was Fergal O’Sullivan who hit 28 points.

Jason’s the man in the Division 2 Men’s Final: It was a good day for the Tralee club as they made it a double when they won their second title of the day defeating Caherciveen 87-76. Jason Quirke of St Brendan’s is the MVP having hit 27 points in the decider.

Thomas stars in Shield Final: The Division 2 Men’s Shield Final saw St Joseph’s take the title back to North Kerry as they defeated St Mary’s. Thomas Scanlon ended the game with 23 points and was named as the MVP.

On the Women’s side there were also three finals and in the Division 1 game St Joseph’s were 69-65 point winners over Glenbeigh Falcons in an exciting game. And it was the St Joseph’s player Rhiannon McNulty who performance sees her named as the MVP.

In the Division 2 final Bridget’s won the battle of the Saints defeating Pauls and from the winning side Ashling O’Sullivan was excellent on the day and is the MVP for that game.

The final trophy went to Lixnaw when Horan’s Health Stores after they defeated TK Vixens 52-34. Joanne Houlihan from the winning side is the MVP from the Division 3 Women’s final.