Team Garveys win Super League title
From The Kerryman, March 1, 1996
THE greatest prize in basketball, the Budweiser Super League title, has been claimed by Team Garveys of Tralee. Garveys had established a well nigh invincible lead in the League points table, but, mathematically, they could, have been caught by Star Of The Sea (Belfast). However, Star of the Sea lost by 83-80 to Denny Notre Dame in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, Dublin, on Wednesday night and, even with two games still to play, the Tralee side were automatically declared Super League champions for the first time.
It is a truly remarkable success story for a club formed, only nine years ago, and news of the defeat of Star Of The Sea sparked off a major celebration in the Greyhound Bar, Tralee, later on Wednesday night.
Timmy Sheehan, PRO of the Tigers club which flies the banner of Garveys said: “It’s a fairytale story, really. We have come the whole way up from Division 3 to this and there is a wonderful sense of achievement.
“We owe an awful lot to our sponsor, Tomas Garvey, without whom we couldn’t even be competing at this level, and Timmy McCarthy has done a terrific job as coach, Why Timmy didn’t get the job of Irish international coach, which was filled the very day we won the League, I just don’t know.”
Timmy Sheehan said that it required a huge team effort to make such a feat possible, but one man in the club deserved to be singled out for special mention and that was the present vice-chairman, Paddy Kissane.
“There would be nothing: there but for Paddy,” he said. “This was his dream and now it has come true. Everyone in the club today was brought in by him and, from day one, he was the man who made it all happen.”
Paddy Kissane said that he was thrilled for a lot of people, not just, himself.
“A wonderful team effort was involved, and nobody should take individual accolades,” he said. “A lot of people stuck in there when they could have thrown in the towel and it’s absolutely wonderful that they have been rewarded with a prize like this.”
“We call the committee the Twelve Apostles. Each and every one of them has made a terrific contribution and were there through thick.
“It is becoming more and more difficult to win something like this from a provincial base, and when you consider what’s involved it really is a fantastic achievement. We are all very proud.”