The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Síofra brings Irish team to Kingdom
IRELAND’S best young women’s basketball players will be in south Kerry this weekend for a four-game series against their Scotish counterparts.
The Irish Under-16 and Under-17 Women’s Basketball teams will be based in Caherdaniel and will take part in four games in Cahersiveen and Kenmare.
The teams’ trip to the south comes following an invitation from of one of their own, Under-16 team member Síofra O’Shea, (also a member of the Kerry football team), who hails from Caherdaniel, where her parents run the well-known Wave Crest Caravan Park.
Wave Crest will play host to the teams for the weekend, and other local venues – including the neighbouring Derrynane Hotel – will be holding events for the visiting sportswomen.
The trip to Kerry forms part of the Irish Under-16 team’s preparations for the European Championships in Montenegro in August.
The squad came together as a panel of 38 players in October 2016 and were gradually whittled down to the final 12 in May of this year.
As an aside, not only is Siofra a multi-sport star, she is also a real-life superhero.
While on holidays in Portugal recently, she came to the aid of a man who got into difficulty swimming, managing to get him out of the water and rescue him from drowning – saving his life.
With four games scheduled at Coláiste na Seilige in Cahersiveen on Friday night and Saturday afternoon and evening, as well as at Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine in Kenmare on Sunday, it promises to be an action-packed weekend in south Kerry.