St. Mary's Naas met Dingle Community School in the All Ireland U19B semi finals in University of Limerick on the 13th January 2016. St Mary's got off to a flying start with baskets from Mary Creaton and Nicole Clancy coupled with free throws from Áine Conway giving them an early 6 nil lead. While Dingle fought bravely St Mary's well run offence coupled with tough defence saw Naas  lead at half time by 15 points. Scores in the second half from Ciara Friel, Eimear O'Neill, Grace Casey and Hannah Heveran extended St. Mary's lead and tough defence from Georgia Mc Holmes, Rachel Naughton and Margaret Mullanney and good rebounding by Áine Conway and Kate Coffey ensured that Dingle did not close the gap. Nicole Clancy, who finished the match as top scorer with 28 points,  and Mary Creaton, kept the Naas scoring going and St. Mary's ran out eventual winners by 53 points to 28 points. The All Ireland Finals will be held in the last week of January and St. Mary's will meed St. Paul's from Oughterard in Galway in the final.  

Senior Basketball Match Reports (Ciara Friel - Sports Assistant)

The senior basketball team has had a strong start to its  campaign this year. This year’s team includes Áine Conway (Captain), Mary Creaton, Hannah Heveran, Georgia McHolmes, Margaret Mullaney, Kate Coffey, Eimear O’Neill, Grace Casey, Rachel Naughton, Kate O’Callaghan, Ciara Friel and Nicole Clancy. The first match was away in the Ursuline in Thurles in Tipperary on the 8^th of October. It was the first Senior League Match. This was the girls’ first match back in a while so they stepped up their game as the match went along. The girls  continued on to win the game. The final score was 41-21The top scorers of the day from St.Mary’s were Aine Conway, Mary Creaton and Hannah Heveran.

 The next league match was at home against Confey on October 13^th. The girls dominated the boards throughout the whole match and went on to win the match with a scoreline of 65-4. It was a brilliant team effort displayed by the girls.

The first Senior All-Ireland Cup match was on the 19^th of October away in Scoil Ruain in Killenaule in Tipperary. This was a must win match or else the girls would be knocked out. The girls got off to a slow start but really got into the game as it progressed. The girls fought hard and showed excellent team work. The girls won out the match 47-14 which ensures them a place in the All-Ireland Cup Quarter Finals. Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Eimear O’Neill and Mary Creaton who both picked up injuries during the match. The top scorers of the day were Áine Conway and Nicole Clancy. 

International Basketball Cap for Nicole

Congratulations to  Nicole Clancy 3rd year on  making her international debut against Scotland and on receiving her first International cap ( Nicole's sister Shauna, in the photo, is a former St. Mary's College  pupil and basketball player with SMC )

As part of the pre Euro 2016 programme the Irish team will travel to Denmark at the start of April where 
they will play a tournament against Denmark and Norway.

This is followed by a trip to Luxembourg at the start of August where the play against Luxembourg, 
Holland, Belgium and Slovakia.

The final event is the big one which is the European Championships in August. This is held in Oradeau Romania and will run for two weeks. Ireland are in Group D where they will play England, Scotland, Finland, Georgia and Bosnia.