Our Lady’s Bower, having won the Midland Championship, qualified for the All Ireland 1st Year play offs, held in the University Sports Arena, Limerick on May 11th and 12th.
A very confident performance, by the team in all three of the play-off games saw them beat Holy Faith, Clontarf. 38-15. Pres. Castleisland 39-29 and Loretto Convent, Dalkey 46- 28.
Topping the group on day one assured them a Cup Quarter Final place on Sunday morning.
The Bower drew Dunshaughlin Community College in the Quarter Final and it proved to be a very tough, physical encounter for the girls. Beating Dunshaughlin by 4 points qualified them for the Semi Final against the winners of Castleisland v Mercy Mounthawk, the 1st and 2nd ranked teams in the Kerry region.
The Semi Final game between Our Lady’s Bower and Pres Castleisland proved to be the most exciting game of the weekend. With end to end action and no more than a few points between them, the Bower girls battled
on to the Buzzer. Each time Castleisland got their noses in front the Bower hit back with some high quality outside shooting. The game ended with Castleisland in front by 5 points.
The team from Our Lady’s Bower played some super Basketball, worthy of players beyond their years.
Ending the tournament in third place in Ireland, they thoroughly deserved their Bronze medal position…. And maybe a little more.
Team: Sarah McNamara, Kenzi Francis, Jilian Begley, Amy McGovern, Anna Mai Bouker, Jessica Frawley, Martha McSharry, Portia Quaye, Georgia Munnelly & Lydia Mulvihill.