Panthers’ Magnificent Seven selected by Ireland for World Masters Championships

PORTLAOISE Panthers will boast no less than seven players in action for Ireland at next month’s FIMBA Maxibasketball World Championships in Ticino, Switzerland.

Starting on Friday 27 June,, the nine-day tournament will involve more than 165 teams from around the world, with Ireland fielding five teams in age divisions, ranging from Over 40 to Over 65, men and women.

Portlaoise’s Catherine Ashe and Ellie Curran of St. Vincent’s will co-captain the Ireland Women’s Over 45 team, which will also include other Panthers players, Ann-Marie Troy with Deirdre and Gráinne Tomlinson, while Attracta Phelan will line out for the Ireland Over 40 women’s team.

Fellow Portlaoise players, Greg Dunne and Eugene Walsh will, meanwhile, take their place in the Ireland Over 50 Men’s team for this tournament.

Both Ashe and the Tomlinson sisters are certainly no strangers to international basketball and, last, year, helped the Ireland Women’s Over 40s to a superb ninth-place finish at the FIMBA Maxiball European Basketball Championships in Italy.

Yet, for Ashe, the upcoming tournament is even more special given that she has been chosen to help lead her national team into the competition.

“Anytime somebody asks you to be captain, it's a huge privilege and, for the national team, it's something I've never experienced before,” she told the *****Laois Nationalist****.

“Somebody obviously sees something in you that, maybe, you don't yourself. They feel that you can do the job and that's always lovely and motivating.

“The group of girls are brilliant and if they think I can lead that group, I’m absolutely thrilled and delighted to be doing it.” Ashe certainly believes her team has the potential to make a big impact on the global stage, having managed to do that in last year’s European Championships.

“Between the two squads (Women’s Over 40s and 45s), there's 11 players who went last year (to the Europeans) and who are going out again and there’s nearly an even split on each team. Even bringing that experience is something big, because last year, we went out blind.

“We didn't know whether we were going to be murdered off the court or whether we were going to be competitive in the games.

“I suppose this time around, that fear factor is gone. We know that we’re fit enough to battle with anybody on the court.

“We would have been worried about the likes to Germany and Austria last year, and to bring them so close last year, we now know that we can do it again,” she insisted.

On the men’s front, Panthers pair, Greg Dunne and Eugene Walsh will also bring, to the table, the experience of having played their part in the Ireland’s fifth-place finish on the European Over 50s stage last season.

Dunne was delighted at the success he and his compatriots enjoyed on that occasion and is hopeful this year’s team, led by head coach, Martin Conroy, can build on that in Switzerland.

“I won't say it's all the same returning squad, but for the most part it is,” remarked Dunne.

“We’ve brought in a few new editions, younger 50s. I’d say we’ll be a bit faster, with better shooters as well.

“And then on the coaching side of things, Martin has brought in Tommy Costello from Malahide as an assistant coach, which would be a big addition. We’ve learnt a few things from last year and tried to add all that in this season.

“Last year before the Europeans, if somebody had said to us, you'd win one or two matches out there, you’d have taken it.

“But to go as far as we did in the Europeans, there is a level of expectation now, and we want to try and build on that. You want to know that you’re at least there or thereabouts,” he said.

Representing your country, particularly at World and European level, is a hugely proud achievement for any athlete, and for Ashe, that takes on an even more significant meaning.

“All of my life playing, I would have been very fearful of the prospect of your basketball career ending, because of what we get from sport. And that’s not necessarily just playing sport, but also the camaraderie and the friendships that you get from sport.

“Starting a family in the past may have been that end. And now the girls who we're playing against, who are in their 20s and 30s, some of them are teenagers, they're looking at us, thinking ‘oh, hang on a second, they have their families and they can still go and do this’.

“And I just love that my children, my girls are seeing me play and go away to tournaments, knowing that you can work, raise your family and still have that thing in your life that you love so much,” she said.