Springfield ladies make it a season to remember
SPRINGFIELD ladies basketball team have made it a season to remember by landing their first piece of silverware after they recently beat KUBS 53-45 in the DLBB Junior Cup Final in the Oblate Hall.
For many of the players who have sojourned with the club and this very team for years, if not decades, it was a momentous occasion.
Indeed team captain Theresa Kelly is one of the club’s founding members and has been playing for Springfield since 1982, while team coach, Brian Connolly has been involved with the side for the past 27 years.
Louise Power joined in the early 1990s with a number of other players like Gemma Walsh having competed for the team over the past 17 years – all of whom have endured a long wait for title success.
“We got to the Dublin Junior Cup Final two years ago and we were beaten by Oblates” recalled Walsh.
“We were runners-up in the Senior Five league about 10 years ago and we won the top-four back in 2018, but this is really our first piece of silverware” she said.
Mary Prendergast holds the cup alongside team mates, Sinead Dempsey, Gemma Walsh, Kerri Martin and Theresa Kelly
Having beaten Dublin Lions by eight points in this season’s Cup quarter finals before edging a tight semi-final against Malahide that went to extra time, Springfield found themselves facing a KUBS team that has been going strong on the divisional front.
Level at the end of the first quarter in the decider, the two sides were still deadlocked at 26 points apiece by the halftime break.
With 49 seconds of the third quarter remaining, the Tallaght side fell three points adrift, but within five minutes of the fourth and final period, parity had been restored and Springfield maintained that momentum to run out winners.
Sinead Dempsey emerged the side’s top scorer on 16 points with Walsh and Kerri Martin combining for a further 21.
Suzanne Kenny weighed in with eight, with Mary Curley, Sarah McManus and Amy Ormsby also getting on the scoresheet while the whole team turned in a huge defensive effort.
Looking back on their season so far, a very proud Walsh said “We’ve a squad of 12 at the moment with a couple of new players like Ria O’Connor and Clare Geoghegan coming in.
“We’ve had a bit of an on-off season with Covid and injuries and things like that, but we’re getting there.
“We started the Senior Five League well this season, but then we had a few losses so we’re about mid-table with two more games to go and they’re away to Tridents and KUBS.
“They [KUBS] had beaten us in the league. They’re doing quite well, so it was a big win for us in the final” she said.
