Castlecomer Community School’s First Year Girls suffered heartbreak as they bowed out of the All Ireland Basketball series in the qualifiers at St. Vincents School, Cork City. In a three team tournament Comer came up against favourites and hosts St. Vincents in the opening game. After a shaky start Comer bounced back to lead by five points at the break. Injuries to key players Grace Deevy and Katie Nolan disrupted the flow from the locals and this allowed the Cork side to cut the deficit to a single point at the three quarter stage. In a thrilling final quarter Comer held that slender lead until St. Vincents hit a couple of late three pointers to steal a win they hardly deserved.
The Comer girls had to then pick themselves up after this devastating loss to take to the court within 20 minutes of the final hooter against a strong Causeway Comprehensive School from Kerry. In a hugely impressive display Comer outclassed Causeway 46-26 to give themselves an outside chance of still making the All Ireland Semi-Final. For this to become a reality the Kerry girls needed to beat St. Vincents. A measure of Comer’s achievement in beating the Kerry champions was that at no stage could Cork shake off their neighbours and there was only a point between the sides entering the last ten minutes. At this stage Causeway missed a “sitter” from under the basket, then rebounded the ball only to miss again. Seconds later the final hooter sounded and for a second time it was agony all over again for Comer.
The Comer girls showed terrific character and skill up against two of the strongest teams in the country and can be proud of their achievement. Comer captain Eimear Rice carried an injury into the Tournament and was a doubt right up to the tipp-off. Added to the injuries already mentioned this limited the effectiveness of a talented team that could have made it a second All Ireland Title for Castlecomer C.S. this year.
