Friends of the late Garreth Blount make his dreams come through with a tournament organised in memory of his late father Gary
Garreth Blount Junior and his late father Gary Blount after Garreth and his team won their division one basketball final with Ballincollig where Garreth was the top scorer in the final.
The late Garreth Blount always dreamt of and planned on running a basketball tournament or an event in memory of his late father Gary, but unfortunately he never got the chance.
This is where a group of friends, coaches, and former players of Garreth in Glanmire Ladies basketball club met in early January and decided the time was right to organise the event.
Then, Orla Butler, Jodi Furlong, Roisin Quirke, Abby Furlong, Nicky and Shona Bohane all decided they would try and create a 3x3 basketball event on behalf of Glanmire Ladies Basketball club in Upper Glanmire Community Centre.
This tournament was held recently and was in memory of both Garreth and Gary, and in aid of the Mercy Hospital Foundation's Teen and Young Adult appeal.
The event catered for U18 boys, U18 girls, senior men and women.
There was a total of 25 teams entered with 100 players participating with players even coming from Dublin, Kerry and Clare to play.
Prizes were given out for the senior men and women's events, and the U18 boys, and a personality of each category was given a golden ball.
The men's trophy was in memory of Gary and the women's in memory of Garreth.
One of the organisers and a great friend of Garreth, Nicky Bohane, explains how the tournament came about and how successful it was and the Glanmire club are already planning the organising of the event again next year.
“Last year when my great friend Garreth passed away he left a huge void in my heart and in the lives of everyone in the basketball community who knew him,” Nicky said.
“This event would not have been possible without the help of five local referees, John Houlihan, Stewart Joyce, Dennis Hennessey, Alison Kearney and Kestis Vadeikis, who freely gave up their time in support of their former refereeing colleague Gary.
"A special mention should also be made to the large number of volunteers who helped the event run so smoothly on the day in particular Pat Horgan, Evelyn Furlong, Ger Noonan and Aine De laCour, who worked tirelessly to ensure a great day was had by all.
"The support and goodwill shown by the many sponsors and businesses was so encouraging and with similar goodwill and generosity the hope would be that we can make this an annual event,” Bohane added.
The Mercy Hospital Foundation fundraiser has raised over 2,000 euro to date and is still open for another week so donations can be made at https://www.idonate/fundraiser/GlanmireLBC
Also the Glanmire Ladies Basketball Club were invited to participate in an international U14 tournament in Gran Canaria in early April.
Twelve players, coach Stacy Brosnan and team manager Claire Collins travelled out to Maspalomas representing club and country in the five day tournament.
The girls met teams from Spain, Belgium and Italy during the tournament, displaying some superb basketball with notable performances from MVP’s Olivia Cosgrave, Nina Collins and captain Bella Brosnan.
An intense game against Basket Roma on the Saturday resulted in a victorious Glanmire heading for a nail-biting final against Seleccion Gran Canaria on the Sunday.
Glanmire took the lead for much of the first quarter on final day, however a very strong Gran Canaria team came back to maintain a two point lead for the next two quarters.
Glanmire fought back in the fourth, closing the gap with strong performances from Moya Connolly, Taillte Ni Laighin, Olivia Cosgrave, Nina Collins and tournament top scorer Bella Brosnan.
Glanmire trailed by one point at the very end of the game, however, with less than four seconds on the clock, Nina Collins was awarded three foul shots after being fouled behind the three point arc.
She nailed one of the foul shots to level the game and with just half a second on the clock with the crowd on their feet, Olivia Cosgrave scored the winning basket for Glanmire to win the tournament.
The girls just had time for the award ceremony and celebrations in host club Castillo before taking a late flight back to Cork, with the trophy in tow.
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