OUTSIDE of the big three, the GAA, rugby and soccer, other sports in Ireland sometimes struggle to capture the attention of the public at large.

There's no shortage of talent involved of course. From basketball to cricket, from athletics to swimming, there are terrific competitors, but it can be difficult for anyone to learn about them outside of local media coverage.

At a national level, the media can argue that the vast majority of people are not interested in these sports. The other side of the coin is that there must be more of a push on their side to get these sports more in the public eye.

Basketball has been growing in this country for the past few years with Basketball Ireland upgrading their digital content on social media to engage followers more. Yet it still feels like more could be done to keep people outside the community updated.

Unless you’re interested in the sport, the end of the regular season games could have slipped by without anyone noticing. We're now into the playoffs as the top teams in each division from Super League to National League battle out with the final on next weekend in Tallaght.

The majority aren't aware of that, with only The Echo and The Irish Examiner in Cork providing regular reports and columns on basketball. Even the words 'Super League' might seem alien to the average sports fan.

INCREDIBLE

Basketball is an incredible sport, full of amazing moves, huge intensity, high scoring and end-to-end action. Many of the skills translate from basketball to more mainstream sports. Kieran Donaghy, Jason Sherlock, Liam McHale and Michael Dara MacAuley shone in both the GAA on and on the hardwood.

Irish international Dayna Finn first excelled at inter-county for Mayo while Cork All-Star Erika O'Shea played hoops under Mark Scannell at Glanmire. Dubliner Lindsay Peat won Super League titles and excelled in an Irish singlet from U16 to senior but also won a ladies football All-Ireland and lined out in the Rugby World Cup for Ireland.

While it's increasingly tricky to combine sports, the nature of the season means many will play GAA in the summer and basketball in the winter.

But how do we as a nation of sports lovers get more engagement with one of the fastest growing participation sports here?

To start with, information about basketball games must be more widely available. The average person doesn't understand the rules of the sport and how the league and cup tables operate. And why would they? Basketball is the most popular sport in the world outside of soccer but doesn't have the same status in Ireland.

It feels like there nearly needs to be a complete reset to make basketball accessible, even breaking it down into how fouls are called and how the game works. 

The overlap between mainstream and alternative sports must be promoted. Basketball helps in terms of hand-eye coordination, tactics and spatial awareness for virtually every other sport.

A formal link between basketball and GAA would create an overlap of players who would be able to play the indoor sport in the winter and the pitch sport in the summer, resulting in better athletes and greater interest in attending games.

Basketball Ireland can't be relying on the mainstream media to get fans into Neptune Stadium or the Mardyke Arena.

Plenty of free apps have been made for the GAA like ScoreBeo. This particular service includes information about when games are on, live scores, squad updates and results all in one place.

People are more likely to check something like this app rather than forking through a governing bodies website for information. Individual basketball team social media accounts are trying everything in their power to gain more attention and traction right across the country but without a helping push from governing bodies it feels like their hard work is going unrecognised.

It’s obvious that a game like basketball might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if it's producing brilliant athletes it deserves more of the spotlight.