A SOUTHSIDE basketball club is currently enjoying the most successful season in their history after adding another league title to their tally of wins.
Ballyroan’s Eanna Basketball Club recently won the Dublin Men’s Division 1 League title to go with the Division 1 Cup they won in emphatic fashion in early February.
They attempt the treble in late April when the top four competition will be held to mark the end of the 2012/2013 season.
Based in Colaiste Eanna School, Enna has teams competing in boy’s competitions from U11 to U20 and two men’s teams competing in Dublin division 1 and 3.
The club has been competing in the Division 1 league for the last nine years and despite coming close on numerous occasions they had never won a league or cup, making this year’s double success all the more meaningful for the players.
The highly competitive Division 1 league consists of eight teams from across the city.
The team, which is currently enjoying an unprecedented 16 game undefeated run in Dublin competitions, is made up of local and international talent with ages on the 13 man panel ranging from our U-20 stars, Ben Mitchel and the celebrated Lynch twins, Ian and Neil, to
“veteran
? superstars Derek Kelly (32), Phill Reynolds (31), Alan Kennedy (38) and Captain Robert Keane (36).
This year’s success comes in player/coach Ciaran MacEvilly’s second year at the helm and follows a heartbreaking season in 2012 when they lost the cup final, top four final and league to an incredibly talented and disciplined UCD Marian side coached by Michael Clancy.
The success enjoyed this year can undoubtedly be attributed to a sharp competitive edge and the hunt for revenge over classy competitors, UCD and it was fitting that this year’s cup final was played against their rivals.
Having defeated UCD earlier in the season, a focussed Eanna team stunned the college team in the first quarter, jumping into an 18-point lead early on with the help of no less than five three-pointers from Neil Lynch.
With the trophy plainly in their sights, this Eanna team who had experienced the bitter taste of defeat in the cup final four times in the past nine years, were never going to let the lead go.
Dominant performances from Rob Keane and Irish international Ciaran White ensured that no matter how much UCD upped their game, the scoreline was never going to be close and Eanna won out by 16 in the end to the delight of their long suffering supporters and families.
Many knowledgeable onlookers noted after the game that they had never seen a team at this level play such skillful, composed and well organised basketball.
The league was won with two games to play following an impressive run of form that saw Eanna go undefeated. This was a spectacular achievement for a team that has often promised but never delivered in this competition.
Pre-season training started early in the summer of 2012 and coach MacEvilly knew with the new talent brought in, including Australian Matt Bell, Venezuelan Sam Carvajal and local talent Keith Kelly, Ronan Murray, Alan Kennedy and Ciaran White that if the team put in the effort and kept their discipline they would be the ones to beat in 2013.
Following this success in Dublin Eanna is planning on taking a step up to the National League in 2014 and is appealing for players of all ages and volunteers to join the club and aid this transition.
Eanna also runs very reasonably priced basketball camps during the school holidays for boys and girls aged from six to 18.
If you would like your child to learn the sport of basketball or you would like a basketball coach for your school contact the club via email at ciaranmacevilly@hotmail.com