Laura...

A person like Laura, is hard to find, Ever thoughtful, caring, loving & kind.
Unique in many ways, with an enormous heart, God only knows why, she had to depart.



A daughter to Nuala, she was her best friend,
It will take forever, for her heart to mend...
Day and night, whilst at her bedside he sat...
It was equally as difficult, for her adoring dad, Pat.
They vividly remember, the day Laura was born,
An angel from the outset,
they both could have sworn.
Never a moment, in 16 years hence,
His Laura, their angel, ever caused offence.





Two really special persons, already have missed her, .
Shane her brother and Anna her sister.
Difficult for them, now to comprehend,
Why Laura's life, so soon had to end.
Happy memories they have, will treasure forever,
Of their wonderful sister, both pretty and clever.
Always their angel, a guardian one at that,
Equally shared, with Nuala and Pat.




Two Grannies and a Grandad,
she showered them with love,
Will continue to do so, up there from above.
Snuggled up to Granda Des, we all do hope,
It's important to believe this, it helps us to cope.



 

When the news broke, that Laura had died,
It shocked all the pupils, in Scoil Iosa, Malahide.
The TY students, were devastated to the core,
Never having to cope, with such tragedy before.
A most popular pupil, one of the best,
Like Sleeping Beauty, now at rest.






Although in stature, Laura was considered quite small,
Never a disadvantage, when playing basketball.
Her love of the sport, her face glowing with glee,
A regular event, for Laura to score another 3.
Whether in defence or on the attack,
Ever so proud, to wear orange and black.
Never intimidated or let anyone best her,
One of the team, Under 18's, Killester.




To all her friends and relations,
Laura was there when there was a need,
For she was ever generous,
With her thoughts and her good deeds.
Her beautiful hair, the twinkle in her eye,
All the other things too, we remember and cry.



Now It's time for Laura to be at rest,
Hard to understand why, maybe God knows best.
Never to be forgotten, an angel up above,
We will miss you Laura, Bye Bye with Love.

TIGERS FIGHT HARD TO EARN UPSET

Abrakebabra fought like TIGERS to win the NIVEA FOR MEN Superleague against all the odds beating the champions DART Killester 66-62.

It was far from a classic but when Tigers Chris Jordan was fouled out in the third quarter and his side was down by ten, that was the signal for the experienced John Teahan, the brilliant Kieran Donaghy, newcomer Pete Strobl, the new kid on the block Ger Myles and Mr Captain Fantastic Micheal Quirke to dig deep and put in the performances of their lives to steal the trophy against all the odds.

Abrakebabra Tigers trailed for most of the game but when Jordan fouled out on a technical we saw the Tigers roar and they eventually took the lead 58-56 with a Ger Myles basket with 6 minutes to go.. It waas thrilling stuff in the last few minutes but Tigers held on and an emotional Kieran Donaghy summed up how he felt whil trying to hold back the tears.

“This is amazing, I have won bigger things in my career but this is special. The work we put in was immense and look at Micheal (Quirke) he was under so much pressure because he decided to play basketball. What could he do, he has been with the club for twelve years. I cannot believe how well he did, Arnaud Dahi is the best player in the league and he stayed with him all the way. Now we’ll go back to the football with league medals and fight for our places”

He was also full of praise for Teahan. “He has won three leagues, two cups and a player of the year award and look at him today he played out of his skin. He is a legend”

Quirke was also exstatic with the win “It was a huge effort from everyone, there was massive pressure on Kieran and myself but when Chris fouled out everyone stepped up a gear from Ger to Pete and I am so proud to have bee a part of this team” We beat the best team in the country and that was after losing an American CJ Hadley through injury and Paris just before the weekend”

Hotel Montenotte Glanmire completed the league and cup double with 67-56 victory over DCU Mercy, Mark Scannell was full of praise for his girls but singled out Michelle Fahy for special praise.

You have got to realise that Ann Marie Healy and Mary Fox are two of the best inside players in the league and Michelle kept them quiet whil also scoring 16 points while Niamh Dwyer chipped in with 21 points and their American Jennifer Strong had 14 in a fully deserved victory.

Click on the Photo's for more of the 'ORANGE CRUSH' and some great game pictures.

U14 GIRLS

The under 14 girls are having a very big season starting last July with their first trip away to the very impressive Youth friendship International Basketball Tournament in Holland. They continued with a win in the Killester pre season tournament in September seeing off all the top Dublin teams as well as the Ulster under 15 team. This form continued into the league where they completed their league campaign unbeaten and winning a place to represent Dublin in the new All Ireland Club Championship to be played in Galway weekend of the 12th April. After that its the cup final against Meteors and then on to Holland again where we expect to compete for the honours.

LARRANAGA FOR IRELAND!

One Irish managerial position was filled yesterday, that of Irelands senior men’s basketball coach.

Former Irish international Jay Larranaga has been appointed as head coach with DART Killester coach Mark Keenan as his assistant.

Larranaga has lots of experience having played in Europe for eleven years after his college career. He has played at the top in Italy, Greece, France and Spain.

Larranaga has made over 40 appearances for Ireland and was captain of the side that narrowly missed out on qualification to the A section of Eurobasket in 2005.

A glittering playing career has seen Larranaga awarded the 2002 Irish Men’s International player of the year award, a 2005 Spanish League Championship with FC Real Madrid as well as a 2006 Italian Cup with SS Basket Napoli.

The Irish American is delighted with his appointment. “I am extremely excited and honoured to be chosen as Head Coach of the Irish National Basketball Team,”

“As an Irish-American and former Captain of the National Team, I have witnessed the growth of basketball in Ireland first-hand and I am dedicated to helping to continue this growth.

“With the support of Irish Basketball fans both in Ireland and in the United States, I am confident that we can build a first class National Team Program that will be able to compete with the best teams in the world. I am hopeful that by establishing a strong Senior Men’s Team we will encourage even more Irish youths to play the game of basketball and dream of one day representing Ireland on the International Stage.”

Jay graduated in 1997 from Bowling Green State University where he was a four-year starter while playing for his father the legendary Jim who boasts the most victories in school and CAA conference history.

SPORTSTAR OF THE WEEK!

PADDY KELLY



There is no greater pressure-cooker or occasion in Irish Basketball than Cup Final Day and it brought the best from an outstanding player last weekend. Paddy Kelly (27), an Irish International at every level, was the home grown star of DART KILLESTER's defeat of then unbeaten Tralee. To his 'Most Valuable Player' trophy he can now add the Irish Independent Jurys Doyle Hotels Sportstar of the Week award.

* Source Irish Independent

Check out photo's of all the games of cup final weekend at...

www.photosofsport.com

DART KILLESTER CROWNED CHAMPIONS IN NBA

Cup Final Photo's

The National Basketball Arena has probably nevere seen or heard anything like the colour and noise levels that we witnessed yesterday as DART Killester won the men’s Superleague Cup beating Abrakebabra Tigers 82-76 and Hotel Montenotte Glanmire rescued the ladies equivalent in an overtime classic against Bausch and Lomb Wildcats.

The men’s final produced one of the best games since the venue was opened and the fans from Dublin and Kerry helped to make it an occasion to behold.

DART Killester with Michael Bonaparte really on song got off to the best possible start and led 26-14 at the end of the first quarter.

Abrakebabra Tigers Tralee came more into things in the second quarter with CJ Hadley and Micheal Quirke finding their range but the Dubliners were still ahead 34-31 at the interval despite a late Paris Katsimpas three pointer.

All the while MVP Paddy Kelly was doing a superb defensive job on Chris Jordan while he was scoring at will.

Tigers drew level for the first time in the game when Kerry footballer Micheal Quirke stepped up and hit a three with 2-49 to go in the third quarter.

Had the DART Bubble burst we asked as Kieran Donaghy hit two free throws following a Jordan three to put the Kerry side ahead by five but our question was answered with baskets in succession from Michael Goj, Kelly and Goj again and the winners were one up again with just over 5 minutes to go in the game.

Arnaud Dahi hit the second of three three pointers immediately afterwards and DART never looked back as Tigers began to mount up the fouls. In the last few minutes Qurrke, Donaghy and Hadley were fouled out and there was no way back for the gallant Tigers who must now concentrate on the league if they are to get some silverware this year.

DART Boss Mark Keenan made the most of his bench strength and his team ran out deserving winners to take the cup back to Killester for the first time since 2001.

Keenan was relieved after the game. “I am really happy for the lads and relieved myself. All along I believed that we had the team to win the cup but when they came back and went into a five point lead the doubts came but I thought the lads reacted brilliantly and I was so proud of them”

“We will celebrate for a few days but its back to the grind on Wednesday and then we go to Limerick on Sunday in the NIVEA FOR MEN Superleague. We have got to be in the right frame of mind for that one so that we don’t slip up”

Paddy Kelly who has been at Killester since he was a ten year old was a popular winner of the MVP award and scored 19 points.

“This is not about me this is about the team and how well we did. Mark and Ed have done a super job and to win the cup after the league last year is special. Hopefully we can go on and win the double as we did in 2001” said Kelly.

WHO HAS BEEN OUR GREATEST PLAYER? 23 October 2007 Killester Basketball Club has had some inspirational players in its 40-year history. But who is the greatest of them all? There are so many choices and we want you to decide who ultimately comes out on top!   There will be 3 catagories... Imports, Irish Men and Irish Women..... Feel free to vote in all 3 and go into detail, nominations will be published anonymusly! Will it be the man in 87' who lifted our first ever National Cup, Eamonn Molloy? Could it be the woman who led those famous “kittens” to European success, Breda Dick? Or how about one of those 70's “three in a row-winning" players.. John O'Connor, Pete Ferrari? Martin Grennell? Maybe Mario Elie gets your vote – although only spending a season with us, went on to win 3 NBA rings? And what about the man who led us to our first league playoff victory, Patrick Kelly? There are many many more, so please click in and leave your vote and reason for nominating!!! Click here to cast your vote>>>>>>>>

* * * * .....Some of the votes already in..... * * * *


It's all good stuff, keep it coming! here is a sample of some of the best!

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Eamonn Molly - considering he is still playing and he was there at the foundation of the state, he must be the killester player of all time, probably the irish player of all time

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Killester rarely have americans that stick for years at a high level so therefore i have to go with Elie for not only his leading us to some titles over here he also went on to win the highest possible honor in basketball nba titles...... i believe he is an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks now too!

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Eamonn Molloy - Best point you've had since i've been playing in dublin, and that stretches back to 1969. He's also alot of fun to travel to a masters tournament with

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I think the leggy blonde from Colorado was Kate Wyemburgh, if this was a beauty pageant she'd win it hands down, but it's not so back to reality lads..
Imports first, there has been many contenders over the years, from defensively dominating KT (Kelvin Troy), the long arms of the law Jerome Westbrooks, the inside power house Kenny Perkins, the unbelievable shooting of Marchelle Henry, the finesse of Hilary Scott but for me it's gotta be Mario Ellie, he had it all..
having played with both Pat(ser) Grennel and Damien Sealy they come close for me for top spot on the Irish mens section, Damien just ahead by a few inches i think.. Paddy Kelly is a definite contender in a few years time. And last but by no means least, the Irish ladies, well it's so hard to choose one, they where all great, lets just leave it at that...

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Eamon Molloy, I have played with Eamon and have found him to be a solid point guard. He also uses his play and words to motivate the players around him.


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