Boston Scientific Irish National Junior Wheelchair Basketball Championship, Galway 29th Oct 2011

After the disappointment of loosing out on the Great Britain Junior Championship, the Knights U15’s travelled to Galway to compete in the first ever Irish Junior Championship. The event was sponsored by Boston Scientific and was played in the impressive Kingfisher Club in Galway’s University complex. 

The young Knights started their long journey at 6am to be on court for midday. They quickly brushed aside any tiredness as they won their first two games comfortably before the break against the Rebel Warriors and Galway. Dane Browne was bagging most of the baskets with Conor Browne and Jack Agnew close behind. Knights Captain Luke Marshall’s ball handling was exceptional finding the right passes at the right time. 


After the break the Knights took on Cork and Limerick and the rookies were now beginning to make their mark on the play with Aaron Gillen, Josh Graham and Ross Gourley working hard in defence. Peter Lewis came in and was aggressive from the off steeling the ball and setting up quick breaks. The Knights played some impressive basketball, free scoring at times but defensively solid restricting their opponents to single figures in each game. The Knights won both games after the break leaving them undefeated to top the table and to clinch the National Junior Title.
 

The day ended with an “All Star” game that saw six Knights players being named in a game that proved to be an exciting and frantic encounter between the top players in the tournament. 

At the medal ceremony the Knights were greeted with warm applause from the watching crowd and received praise from the event organisers as they were presented with the trophy. It may have been a long day but it was well worth the journey and the Knights will look forward to returning next year to defend their title.