Latest / On The Edge Sports Podcast / Sports Stories: Sligo Basketballer Eoghan Donaghy

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Sports Stories: Sligo Basketballer Eoghan Donaghy · On The Edge Sports Podcast

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to On the Edge Sports Podcast.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: This is part of our new series of sports stories where we talk to a number of sports people around Sligo and beyond about their career in sport.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: And on tonight's show we have local basketballer Own Donny.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Own, you're very welcome to On the Edge.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you very much.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Pleasure to be here.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Just a quick thanks to our sponsors, EJ Menswear and EJ Mensweer.com here in Sligo Town.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's way too long.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Get straight into it.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us the best day on this court for you ever.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's a tough question.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think the best day on a basketball court, it was a long 24 hours.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: We had the BIDL finals in the morning.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: We played with Limerick Celtics.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: We had like all of our under 25 team on it.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: We ended up winning that against uh UCD Marion, which is a tough tough game.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Then less than four hours later, we had our National League finals and we ended up winning that as well.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just great.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: We won two finals in one day.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was very taxable in the body, but it departed celebrations after two.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I never played basketball.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Did you play most of both those games or were they reminded in one or the other?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, played about 35 minutes in each game out of the 40 minutes.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's pretty tough.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so like at any point in either game where you're like, I'm absolutely out of it here.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm wrecked.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: No, the address.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: And the the B IDL just for anyone like me, just what's static stand for?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it's the but it's like the development league, basically.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So it was brought around for people that played National League and Super League that were under 25.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So usually players that are under 25, like you let 21-year-olds in college and stuff like that, that won't play loads of minutes on Super League because it's a professional league.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you they won't get a lot of minutes.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So the whole idea of that that that league was to develop those f players that are on Super League that don't get minutes.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that so under 25, so you'd have myself, Philip, Rory, we were all under 25s, but we were actually playing minutes in the Super League as well.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: So we got the best of both worlds there.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so that that whole league came into play is for fellas that aren't the Super League standard, that are older, or younger fellas basically, that are on Super League teams or National League teams that aren't getting playing.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how that whole league came about.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: And on that day, like leading up to that week, uh, did you really were you confident?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Where what were the odds?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say were you favourites?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: We underdogs?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah, so definitely for BIDL, we'd we had I think we'd won all our games, like we were undefeated that year.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then uh we lost I think we lost the Eagles actually that year, and then the National League as well.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So both leagues, we only lost one game the whole year.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so you were very fancy to that point.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty confident.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: Not two in one day.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: How did that come about?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Is that regular two?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's basically like to be honest, we probably shouldn't have been in it.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so as in like we were a very talented group um and you know it it shouldn't have matched up where like your National League uh finalists are on the same day as your BIDL, but just the way it came about.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just the way it came about, okay.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: But that's not a regular record.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: No, it shouldn't be anyway.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: No, it shouldn't be.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: So that was the best day.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, was there even go back to the best days?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Was there a moment when you were really young, even where it was your first three-pointer, maybe, or I don't know what?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Was there little memories of like that?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: It definitely was.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: I remember like the Northwest final, I think it was like under 14s.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: I had scored the winning basket, and it was just something like that.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was just crazy.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, especially for for the Sligo Giant Warriors.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: My dad was the coach, you know.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: He was very he was he was one of the founders of the club as well, you know, had pushed it on for years.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's pretty good so well.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's the perfect segue there.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: So let's go back from day one.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you're growing up in Alcan Collery there in outside Sligo Town for anyone who doesn't know.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, where where do you where does basketball first come into your life?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Basketball first came into my life.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: I obviously played everything growing up, you know, Gaelic, Herlin, um, athletics done everything, but uh basketball came into play when dad was the coach, so he was obviously coaching teams.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it was actually at my sister's game, and basically when I was maybe four or five, just dribbling the ball around the court, and one of the coaches told my dad that you should get him into basketball.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how it's still.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't even me.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't even me playing, it was my sister playing, and I just happened to dribble the ball to the side.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Dribble the ball at four or five.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, okay.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, that's how that's that's kind of how it started.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: So then dad got into it, and you know, I got into cut uh to playing basketball then at a young age, and it kind of it max it it's the same as everything, like you know, basketball helps you in gala, it helps you in hurling, hand-eye coordination, footwork.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: It just you know it's it's one of those kind of like sports that mixes in with everything, do you know?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: What's your favourite sport?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, basketball.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: It definitely is, obviously, yeah.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because I mean I know you play everything and you've kind of excelled in a lot of them.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: But basketball, my mind.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: So you were you started who were the clubs in Sligo back then?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So back then there was the Sligo Giant Warriors and uh All-Stars, so they were kind of like rivals at the time.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, that was the ones in Sligo, but we played in the whole of Northwest, so we had Letter Kenny, Donegal, Donegal Town, like there was a load of them, yeah.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: And in schools as well, was there schools?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: In schools then, yeah.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it it they were just your primary school, you didn't really have any levels, but when you got to Summerhill then you played in the All Irelands then for the for the stuff like that.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And your dad obviously was your coach for a lot of that time?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty much all the way up until under fourteen until I moved to Letter Kenny.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, he's alright.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's alright.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So he's got a bit to learn, but yeah.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: But but did your dad play when he was young?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Did he play a lot of basketball?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: So he played a small bit when he was older.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: He did definitely didn't play he was young.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: He was a soccer player, like he played soccer um throughout Callery, Carter, and coach and everything like that, and only kind of got into basketball in his later life.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: So so he was coaching, and like so you learned a lot from him.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing, like maybe there wasn't.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that often happens, someone that wasn't always playing or maybe an elite level, but they can still make a great coach.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, still a good coach.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: So you learned all so was it a tough coach?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_01: Was it good or bad having your dad?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Bit of both, bit of both, bit of both, yeah, yeah.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was definitely good, like learned a lot from him, like definitely a role model growing up and stuff like that.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like even when I moved to Letter Kenny, like he's driving me an hour and a half up, an hour and a half down, like under 16s for two years.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it was quite a commitment.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like you played with Letter Kenny, yeah, yes.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: No, okay, so we were in Sligo there for a minute.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now we've segued.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So at that age, are there scouts or something, or you go, I want to play in this different league or something like that.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, yeah.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So what happened was like Sligo Giant Wars ended up closing down, like people just uh didn't want to take over and stuff like that, and you know, for whatever reason they closed down.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: So there was kind of only uh it was a rule at the time that only three players could transfer from club to club.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, three players from my age group went over to the Sligo All-Stars and I decided to go to Letter Kenny.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So went to Letter Kenny then, ended up playing third year and TY in Leather Kenny.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, that is some travel commitment.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was dad was driving.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't driving obviously the time under 16, so yeah.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So trained and played there for two years, but I think I think it's definitely the making of me, like going up to Letter Kenny, training a new environment, new coach.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we got to train and and play in the the Northern Ireland League as well, which is a slightly higher standard than the Northwest.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, okay.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: So that's all added to the developments, all added to the development, yeah.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And and you're I know you said your family, I mean, obviously uh your sister may have uh played Connor played with.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Connor played as well.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: You're the one you stayed at it, obviously.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: I stayed at it anyway.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was the yeah, the second one.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously, and I mean just to mention, uh I know one of your biggest fans obviously was your mum, who sadly passed away um Deirdre a couple of years ago.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like going back to we will dip into your career.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: At what point your career was it where were you playing at this point when your mum passed away?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: So my mum passed away is when I was in Limerick.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I was so I came back to Sligo, I'd finished my fifth year and sixth year in Sligo playing with all stars.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Mum was at every game, um, every home game, every away game.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I played my first year of college with Sligo as well.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I was travelling up and down with those buses, it was crazy.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was you were in college in Limerick?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: Limerick.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: But you're still playing with Sligo, yeah.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: First year, yeah.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, okay, I get you.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: So uh and then it's so so once you passed away, then you were playing in Limerick, yeah.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I was in college, I was in my second year of college in Limerick.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: And you had gone to another like because I'm trying to figure out you're playing with the college team, but you also played with Limerick uh Celtics, yeah.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Is that who you were playing with whilst you were in college, or is that the college team?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: So so there's UL Wolves, is the college team.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so there's the two different teams, there's UL Wolves and then there's Uh uh then there's Limerick Celtics, so there is.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: So at the time my mum passed away, I was in second year of college playing with UL Wolves and with Celtics.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: I just mowed the made the move over.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, is that a high pressure for a student to go?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're now just in the college team, you're in a local, and this is just to make me explain the leagues.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is the super league.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: This is the national super league.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we were in national league at the time, and then so there's there's three different tiers.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So there is there's super league, which is the top tier, there's national league, which we were in at that time, yeah, and then there's the obviously you're at you have your division two now.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: And like so you were playing, you were under pressure.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: Were you did you feel under pressure going into that big team in an in a national league?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: Or were you like had you that youth full bravado?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so pretty much like so like with the career when I was in Sligo, the year so first year of college, I was playing with the UL Wolves and I was playing with Sligo All-Star, so I was doing all that travelling, but we were competing in National League, which is that second tier in Irish basketball.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: We got promoted that year, so we ended up getting promoted that year, and I decided that it was just too much travel between up and down with the Sligo, so I transferred to Limerick Celtics.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So Limited Calculate.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Is that sorry, it just cut across what it's in my head?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Is that a hard or an awkward thing to do in Irish basketball?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: Or people, you know, can it be a bit tense?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely, it definitely is a bit tense.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, everyone's kind of like, you know, you're kind of growing up playing with the with All-Stars.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: I had been with them for three or four years at that stage, you know, competed with their senior team, and it's kind of like you kind of don't know how to approach the situation.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: But from our understanding, it was like, look, I'm I'm traveling two and a half hours, you know, driving.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: If I was getting bus, it was six hours.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: It was just too much traveling, so and probably even from a body point of view as well.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like just the sitting on that.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I was going up on a on a on a on a Monday to college, and then I was coming back on a Thursday because I know college on a Friday, and then I was working in the bar on and Friday nights to try and make some money to pay for my bus ticket back up to Limerick, do you know the whole lot?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then trying to train Friday night and compete Saturday and then work Saturday after a game and travel back up and then on a Monday.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was just too much.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: So did that for the full year and then ended up going to Limerick then.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Did you find uh any big differences in the two clubs?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like things you found tough, maybe or things you found easier.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, the facilities in Limerick, the college must be insane.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's insane.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, it was very, very fortunate to get a scholarship to Limerick and and have access to all those facilities.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we had access to the gym, we'd access to the scholarship gym, and you know, anytime I wanted to go shooting in the hall, I was always I was always allowed to do that.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it really helped my game.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then kind of the different sides of it is like Sligo's definitely a community feel, but like Limerick Celtics was was basically built by this Hare family, which is Tony Hare and Michelle.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like they founded a club, they've built it up, they've they've ran it the last few years from underage and they've really developed all their kids up.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a real family feel down there as well.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, it's yeah, it's uh that's kind of the big differences between the club, I feel.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so you had just you had just gone over to Limerick Celtics.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and obviously, unfortunately, and I'm not too drone, but I'm just trying to go trying to get the feel of like trying to be an elite sports person.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what was that like?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, there was the personal emotional trauma, but to go out and play, did you take many weeks off?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Did you find you were not interested in training?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Was games impossible?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: What did that feel like as a person trying to do it?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I was obviously there for for the first year, so I'd already had a year done in the club.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it was third year of college then.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: My mum passed away.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So um so I'd already done a year with the club, I've already felt really close with the with the players, the friendship.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then my mum passed away, and she was sick for for quite a while before that.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you know, obviously having that in the back of your mind and playing is always is always one thing.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um and not being able to drive when she was in when she was sick in uh in Galway as well was pretty tough to try try to get down and up and down and stuff like that.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then kind of after she passed, uh she was leading up, she was she was sick for about a week before she passed away.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um and obviously I had to miss a game and miss trainings and stuff like that, and you know, I always I got messages, you know.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: I felt really uh kind of guilty on both parts, like I felt guilty letting the team down because we ended up losing that game, and then I always felt almost felt guilty for feeling guilty, which almost wanting to be away, you know, that sort of way.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh which was which was kind of tough at the time.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really know what to think, you know, what way I could kind of make up on both sides.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then after she passed away, it was it was quite hard, but like you know, Limerick would to f like to to give them all all the props.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: They were they were so welcoming back.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Even when I went back, I I told Tony I couldn't come back for you know a week of training.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: He was he was he was so he was so understanding, sent messages, sent prayers to the family, they all came down for the wake, you know.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you know they were really supportive.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: So going back to that environment then as well, you know, everyone coming up to you and you know making sure you're okay and stuff like that, they were you know, I couldn't have asked for anything better, like it's probably a side to sport a lot of us don't see, and again, an elite sport where your your family can also be your sports club as well, or a second family, I should say.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so so you you kind of worked your way through that, yeah.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so is is it two, three years ago now?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so so since then you've been playing down in Limerick, I know you've recently changed again.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm trying to go like what is it like playing basketball in Ireland?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh like you said it's professional.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: So if there's how many players like in a squad in a senior squad?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you'll have about 12 players in a senior squad, so you will, and you'll have probably maybe five to six of them getting paid.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: The rest of them are amateurs, but the rest of them that are amateurs would obviously be so in our case in Limerick, it would be fellas that are on scholarship to Limerick, and then so those guys wouldn't get paid, but then you'd have your older age fellows, so you'd have the guys that are coming in from America or the fellows that are coming in from England, they'd all would be your pros.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you'd have about six pros, five or six pros in a team, and the rest then would be scholarship students or younger lads that are playing, so that that would be your twelve.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Is that and not to get into specific clubs necessarily, but is that a general thing around Ireland?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: All the teams it's like five or six pros, yeah, and the rest amateurs, so it is and like so.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously, I know this is my ignorance of basketball.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: You're not the tallest in the world, obviously.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: So there's obviously a position on the field that suits that, I presume.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you'd have kind of like your you have five guys in the quarter at all times, so you'd have your two front court, which would be your point guard and your shooting guard.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: So they kind of be your kind of your quick guards.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you'd come so for me, yes, I'm a little bit smaller than the rest of them, but you'd have anywhere between five foot ten and six foot three would be your first two fellas.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and then it gradually gets taller.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Then you'd have your small forward be about six six, you know, six seven.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Small, yeah, small.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then you'd have your power forward, you know, six eight, six ten, and then obviously six four.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: So what's a power forward do?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've never heard of these positions pretty much.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you can have like there's different so power forward's just a position, but you can have different fellas playing that role.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: So in Limerick, we had a fella, Philip, who was our kind of like power forward slash centre, but he was able to shoot the ball, so he's obviously spread the floor.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of uh a big man standing at a block, so down beside the basket, he would step out, which would make more more separation for guards to drive towards the basket, if that makes sense.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, yeah.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we'd open up the space.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm gonna be able to do that.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: But then you could have you could have a traditional power forward who is you know a big six foot ten lad that can only finish around the hoop.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's really boxing the box nearly.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: If we're trying to compare like a bear in a square, basically, pretty much like yeah, you've got to be a big man, you just want to you want to crowd the space around him, you put a bigger way.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: So a basketball team doesn't necessarily stick to a similar five-way, five-position plays.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: No, like you've you've got like traditionally Colester the last few years that are in the Super League, they've competed really, really high at a high level, won national cups, and they've had a really small roster.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Their tallest fella might have been six foot six, six foot seven, and but the rest of them would be you know six foot two, you know, they'd have really small guards, but they'd play really fast.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: So do you know what I mean?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Those bigger lads, like again, demons have a fella Elijah Tillman, six foot ten, is very, very big man.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: They'd kind of play traditional kind of basketball, which would be really slow, get through their sets, feed the ball into the post because they've a big six foot ten lad that's really, really I think really really effective scorer, but a team like Colester then could run them off the floor because they're just quicker.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: So you're either a more of a mobile team, but I mean it's it is goes across to nearly all sports.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: All sports, yeah.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: So so are you are you uh a guard as a defender, essentially?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Is that kind of your main task?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, pretty much.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: But in basketball, everyone always goes up and down together.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone goes up and down.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: So your point guard would kind of be the fella, he's like a quarterback in the NFL basically.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: He calls the plays, he calls the sets.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: So like if we have certain plays to get this fella open, or certain plays to get the ball downhill at a on a pick and roll or something like that, we'd call that play.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we'd obviously we'd have to kind of like think before we come down.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we'd have to call the play to see okay, where's the matchups?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Where can we exploit?
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Where do we want to attack from?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Where do we want to score from?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's that'll be our job.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So my job and the rest of the guards.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: So like I I watched uh the quarterback thing on was it Netflix or something before where they had to learn all these plays.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Is it that intricate in basketball?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, pretty much code words, obviously.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: It is, yeah, yeah.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we'd have a load of different code words for different plays and different different actions and stuff like that.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so but the thing is the difference between a quarterback and say, like, say, like a point guard is the quarterback will know everyone's positions, and so and so will we, to be fair.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's a lot more intricate in basketball, is that everyone will know everyone's role.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: So like we'd all know where this person's meant to go, where this person's meant to go, rather than if you're in the NFL and you're playing America football, you just know your route.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: So like you just know where you're meant to go.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas with with basketball, you know where everyone's meant to go.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, you kind of have a bit of bit of chaos.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like if one thing breaks down, everything breaks down.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: So do you do you have to actually study as well, I'm sure?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have playbooks literally?
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we said designs and pretty much.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll have playbooks now.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: We don't have actual physical playbooks, but we'll go through week by week building up our offense, and we'll start with a really simple kind of like principle.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, like a simple kind of thing.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be on any key tactics here now, aren't they?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to try to watch what they're saying.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: No, but I'm trying to go from a fool like me that's never played or doesn't really watch it or understand it.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like once so we'll dep we'll have loads of different plays.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, like again, in basketball, you could do a man-to-man zone.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: So man-to-man is basically one-on-one.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: So everyone picks up their own man.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: You could have a two-three zone, there's loads of different defenses that teams can throw at you, and you'll have to have different offenses for every defense, if that makes sense.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why we'll be able to do that.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very, very quick thinking on the uh so it's not just just physical game, obviously.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's a brain.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's very tactical, like it's very, very tactical.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like if yeah, like if you don't if you're guarding someone that's not a shooter, say, you'll know you can step off them.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: But then as if I'm not a shooter, I have to kind of figure out how to score the ball, what plays to run, you know, to to to get our team to score the ball.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's kind of intricate like that, and it's very tactical that sort of way.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so would you ever end up being beside that six foot ten guy?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: But are you kind of like I this is again a stupid question, but like an obvious question.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So can then of course I'll just lob it over your man there.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: Do you just have to play your body against it?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: You just gotta try to be as physical as you can, try make him put the ball on the floor, because obviously the difference between him trying to dribble the ball and me to dribble a ball is a lot different.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: So he's got that slow kind of dribble.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm able to steal the ball, I have to get into him.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if I stand off of him and let him just back me down, obviously I'm I'm a no man's dare like him.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm no effect.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to be really physical.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like basketball is technically a non-contact sport.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Technically, yeah.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: No, but then you hear it's really hard to hit me with.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: I got this cut in my nose just from the game the other day.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, it's is that like accidental movement of your arms and your body?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is that kind of no like basketball is so you can make a play in the ball, but you can as long as you don't slap someone's hand necessarily, it's it's it's fine.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: So like I can hit you with my chest, I can try chest, so I stop you from going to position by beating you to that position first and bodying up, as they do say.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: But you can jump, like literally jump into someone, keep your hands straight, all that sort of stuff.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: And off the ball as well, it's it's very, very physical.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, have you have you ever been the at the wrong end of some dirty topics?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've never played like at all, you know, you don't understand these days.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 100% like people be holding your jersey off the ball, you know, they did all the pinching, you know, stuff like that.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: It'd be very, very yeah, do you ever pinch?
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, of course.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Have it on camera, yeah.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm saying it is it's a game I don't fully have never released, but it's interesting to kind of hear.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely off the ball.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, there's there's three refs on a on a quarter at all times, but they're kind of always looking, looking at the ball, looking at different things.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: But like it's very, very physical off the ball.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very physical.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I hear so many people over the years going, Oh my god, have you watched you know NBA, for example?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like it's a really amazing, exciting sport, probably once you understand it and get into it.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: See, that's the thing as well.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's not like soccer where you're like, you know, there's people going up and down, there's no real scores.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like basketball is your games could be 120 points, so there's always something going on, there's always an action going on, you know.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the game of basketball as well, is it's always a game of runs, so it's a game of momentum.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's like one team could score 20 points and the other teams that might score 10, but it could be a really quick turnaround then and they could just flip the script.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: And next thing you have a tie game, then you're 10 minutes into the games, you know.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's always something going on, it's always exciting, you know.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so so just to kind of come back to where you are now, obviously.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, so you were at Limerick for a couple of years, as you said, and now you're back home with the the EJS Lego All-Stars.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that's just this season.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Just this season.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: And you're just back from bad injury as well.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: So you hurt your knee, you hurt your leg or something like that.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: So are you back playing?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Back playing fully now.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, you're gonna be.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, ended up hurting my knee um uh toward as like tore my MCL, yeah.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: So uh then I heard that.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Oh, well that's him gone for few months.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's probably uh looking back, it's probably the best cruciate ligament you can do.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, always positive, you know, glass half full kind of kind of mind thinking there.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's the best cruciate ligament you can do.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're still out for six to eight weeks, but it's it's the best one, it's better than nine months, you know, if you tear your ACL.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so it was kind of it was really hard at the timing that I done it, it's like the end of the Gaelic season.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you're in your championship.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was playing for collery, I was starting for collery, I was really, really enjoying the Gaelic this season, and then I tear my ACL or tear my MCL and I'm out.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: I can't train, I can't go to the games, you know, I can't even do that.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's like the start of the basketball season, so pre-season for basketball, we've a new coach in, we've a new team.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm obviously back with Sligo, but it's a new kind of a yeah.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, you've moved back to Sligo now, you finished college, isn't it?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Just this year, okay.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so is that an awkward situation to go, yeah.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Remember I left you there, or is it like delighted to have you back?
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: They kind of delighted to have me back, yeah.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: That was the one thing like um so I had finished college say a year ago, so I had a year off in Limerick, so I took a year gap in Limerick just to play with Celtics because we had got promoted to the Super League, and obviously I didn't want to leave them just getting promoted.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: So stayed with them, played the first year Super League.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: We done really well.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then I'm really well now for a new team, like how many teams that division, for example.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: So there's 12 teams in that division, so you have the company of the league.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: We ended up ended up knocking out the winners of it last year in like the first round, got to the semi-finals of the league, lost by I think it was three points to the eventual winners, Ballin Colleague, and then made it to the playoffs, which you know teams don't usually do on their first year up, uh met it to the playoffs, um ended up getting to the to the uh to the playoffs again, played against Ballon Colleague, lost by I think it was six points, but again, they won it then.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we were our closest game pretty much.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's it.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: And like we the all Irish players, we kind of didn't really have the budget of the other teams and stuff like that as well.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we were we really overperformed almost like and again I'm not trying to get you in trouble, but are are some clubs like like in our sports, they've got loads of money, they just bring in all the professions, it makes it easier.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Not necessarily what you say about Limerick.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's you kind of have that kind of mix-up and you they'll kind of pay for other Irish players to come down and play for their clubs and stuff like that.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's just some some areas have more money than others, that's all it is, like, yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's just the way it goes.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, okay.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so you're back now with Sligo and Sligo.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh like can you like you said there's five or six professional players?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is that always coming from other countries?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Or is it like, no, oh, and you got a professional contract?
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: How do you get a professional contract?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you get a professional contract basically by it's like loads of different players have it on different teams, and it's like if if they need a guard.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: So say if they if if Sligo didn't have a guard and and and you're coming back to Sligo, they'd pay you to come back to Sligo to be a guard and stuff like that.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that that's the way it would work out, or if we didn't have a big man, like we'd like we didn't have an Irish big man to the start of this year, so we brought in Albright as a paid professional who came who is from Waterford but went over to the States and played division two basketball and then was coming back to Ireland, and we obviously offered him a contract to come play with us then because we needed that position.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how Irish players get get get paid.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so for someone like you, I mean, like a local lad, I said we're you know, you're not that six foot ten guy, but I'm kind of going trying to get a picture.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, do you think like is it realistic?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like you go, I could be a professional substance.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, in the Irish League.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And will that come to only if all stars need your position?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Or could some any club in Ireland can transfer you?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Any club, yeah.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Any club in Ireland can transfer me and and offer me the paid position.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Is that the dream?
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: And not I can't you have question again, but like, can you earn enough in Irish basketball to go?
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's my job.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so like depending on the pros you have.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, some players pay their pros about two grand a month and stuff like that, but you get your house paid for, you get your accommodation.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: You get everything like that, you get your food, you get like you know, different stuff like that.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: You'd have sponsors across the the town basically giving you.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And again, we're not specifically style, it's it's across the country.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and then if you get there, you but there must be huge pressure then to go, you better keep performing.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: So you get dumped just as quick, probably.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like that is that is the thing, like the Irish Super League, especially is cutthroat.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is like if your American isn't performing, you can send them home.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's no limit on Americans necessarily.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there is and kind of Irish players, because there's only so much like top-end Irish players that are still playing in Ireland.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: So, like they're or do a lot of people go to other countries, yeah.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: They'll go to other countries.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to guess they're not going to the NBA, obviously.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're European leagues, obviously.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: So like one of the best leagues in the world is the Euroleague.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that is like it's top end.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like basically football fans with basketball.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: So like in the NBA, it's very commercialised, you know, it's all kind of like Americanized, like it's very, it's a very calm kind of kind of scenarios.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: But if you go and like I I'd heard every everyone, I've urge everyone to watch the like Serbian derbies.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Just look up the Serbian derbies.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: It is like flares inside in the venue, like it is crazy, like it is crazy.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, okay.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: So the Euro League is one of the top leagues in the world, and it's it's really interesting to watch.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'd prefer watching the Euro League to but to you know to the NBA.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: It translates more to the kind of like the Irish.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's a bit like the German football league, where the fans have still kept that love and the genuineness to it all.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, big time, yeah.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I love these chats going on, learning so much about it, but like it's it's good to hear your own story.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: So uh like it's only a few games into the season, isn't it?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and like you have home games.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: I've never gone to one to my own like uh determinant.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: I I I always say I'll have to go because it sounds like a good night out.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just like oh, we're going to watch a match.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: There's a bit of pizzazz and atmosphere at the game.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: You're up in the you're in the street.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: So keep an eye on each Sligo All-Stars social media for the next game this weekend by the chance, or yeah.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we were away actually this weekend to Belfast, but we're home then again the so not next weekend, the following weekend.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: And even that, like traveling, like like I'm sure is the budget there to go, oh, we're staying in a hotel.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: No, you know, it's up and down.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it depends like where you stay and stuff like that.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: But again, different clubs have different budgets, like different different clubs might have that that budget to stay in a hotel.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, like we'll get buses then from Sligo.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we're lucky enough to get buses uh with the Sligo team to go up to these games, like you know, but you could be playing anywhere, you could be playing Dublin, Belfast, Cork, like there's four different teams in Cork and that kind of area, so you're down to Cork, you know, that's four hours of driving.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, that's what I'm saying.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's it's your whole weekend is taken up.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, as you said, trying to work, and then you're working as well yourself at the moment, or you just you're you're studying at new, or no?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're just working, working out.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: So working at the moment, so doing the PTs up and ROM and stuff like that.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you're a professional trainer, okay.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we never got what did you do in college, obviously?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, so my my my undergrad in college was uh was sports science, so that's what I did.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I took the year out then last year and I'd do my massage uh therapy, so I'm doing that course because my my aim then next year or the year after is to do my master's in physiotherapy.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that is the end.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's the kind of the plan B because the basketball is definitely gonna work out, so that's it.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: But if you were your choice, just go A, but at least you have the backup then.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so we didn't even touch on that.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um okay, so and how's how's the All-Stars doing so far?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, good.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I would say what league are you in now?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're in Super League, so top league in the country.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so the last two years I've played in the Super League the top of year.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: So last year with Limerick Celtics, and then this year now with Sligo All-Stars.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we're we're good.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um we're we've won two, we've lost three.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of we're kind of sitting in the mid-pack at the moment.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: There is some games that we've dropped now, we didn't perform well.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, against my old team, Limerick Celtics, we didn't perform well.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that was that was that was a tough one to take.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I've really, really, really positive about this season.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we've got a great group of guys, great Americans, you know, great pros, uh great Irish guys as well.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: Is it primarily Americans that comes in?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: Is there is there like a link between the leagues or could there be from anywhere?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it could be from anywhere, really, like but usually so in Ireland what you have to do on the court at any time, you have to have two Irish players on the court, and then you have to have well, you can have anyone then after that, but typically it's two Americans and one, say, European.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: We call him Bosnians.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's basically everyone, Bosman.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's everyone.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it could be anyone from Serbia, Sweden.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: So a guy what what we have at the moment is a guy from Sweden.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we have two Americans, we have a guy from Sweden, and then we have Albright, and then the rest of us then.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know what I mean?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: So myself, Elijah, the rest of the Irish guys, then, yeah.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so no, and as you said, there's only twelve in the total.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Twelve in the total.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it's very must be very tricky to get to that elite stage, though.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's it, yeah, yeah.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: Is there many other local lads with your backstory playing for any Super League team?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of, yeah, there is.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, like you you you definitely have guys that are kind of like deeper on the bench that would that would be that would be those guys.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you'd have like we have a couple of young guys at the moment, so we have guys that are under-18s, we have Oliver Eddy as well, he's a really talented kid, um, was under 16's Irish team last year.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, his is his first year of playing Super League.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you'd kind of have those kind of guys, you know, like really high-level talent, like kind of like the best in their underage team coming up playing with the Super League.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, not not a lot of players my age anyway that are still playing.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, because like there's loads of underage basketball amongst a few clubs in Slidehouse, so there could be let's say 100 kids or something of all, but like when they get up to 24, 25, yeah, so I it's pretty rare to happen.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, because I that's why I wasn't sure because I knew you've obviously been playing and all that, but I didn't understand where the or how hard it is to get.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty rare at the top level because you know you only have 12 teams in that top team, and you only have 12 players, so and then six six of those people are pros from other countries, so it's kind of hard to make it into the Super League and play.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: And and last kind of sporty sporting question, but is it hard for someone like you to get picked up by another country?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it kind of would be.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it it depends, like um, so obviously I would have had a good underage one, a good college career, and then like a good professional career now afterwards and stuff like that.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, it'd be kind of like if I wanted to go to say to England and stuff like that, you know.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'd definitely be able to, you know, put my name out there and kind of get a place, but it'd be kind of hard to get one of those main kind of spots, do you know?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I get you, yeah.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's just interesting to learn like what are the uh prospects in such a situation, you know?
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so to finish up our chat with some quick fire questions, okay?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: See what you can answer quickly.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: If we get stuck in one, we move on.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: The best teammate you've played with.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Best teammate I've played with is you won't offend anyone else.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Look, I won't I'll probably offend a few people with this one.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay, you can they can get them later.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: I uh either AJ or Finn Hughes, I'd say the two with them.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: In Limited Climbing, yeah, in a limb.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's a tough one.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: You probably don't know everyone's first name.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of tough guys.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Wow.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: Who what team always gives you a tough, tough, tough battle?
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: All the Americans, you see, I like so that would be kind of like my role is to kind of guard Americans or kind of guard guard the other guards.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's they're always tough matchups because they've played Division I college, you know, coming over and stuff like that.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: Your favourite away venue in Ireland?
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I think Neptune's a pretty cool away venue.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Neptune is in Neptune is in Cork.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they've just done up their stadium, it's pretty cool.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Nice lights and everything like that.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, who's the funniest player in your Sligo team?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think Elijah.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_01: Is there a lot of fun in Camaraderia and crack?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: Do you get to see each other much?
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: I know, because you train a couple times a week, obviously.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's like with basketball, like in Limerick, we were training five days a week, you know.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so in the Sligo we're trading four at the moment, and we'll have early morning shootings as well for all of the pros.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: So like we'll all go in and shoot early morning, 8 a.m.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: to 9am, like Monday, Tuesday, we'll have Wednesday off, we'll shoot Thursday and Friday and stuff like that.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then you'll have training Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and you'll have fillers.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well I got every news that level, but I mean it's professional, like yeah, and even family life and girlfriends and whatnot.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: So it's hard to get all tough to try balance everything.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've got in trouble a few times for the five.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, if you different factors, yeah, definitely.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, if one one teammate you trust to take the winning shot last second, who would you be passing to?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: This year.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say Liam Murphy.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a good thing.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, Liam was gonna love that one, and your other teammates are gonna get you that one.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's it.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: And we'd already said your favourite basketball memory was winning that the d the double win in the one day.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and if there was a young basketballer in Sligo who's like a young own back and he's 13 or 14, like I know this is a cheesy, obvious question someone's asked, but what advice would you say to them?
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is it like keep playing in school?
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Is it like listen to this coach or watch this on YouTube or just be a sponge, I think is the best kind of best kind of information that I got off any coach, just be a sponge.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: So no matter where you are and what scenario and what situation, it's just absorb everything.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like train.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever you do is just train, train a hundred percent.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: You got a lot of guys that come in in any sport, and you know, they might be really, really talented, but you know, they might need to give 50% of the training and then give try to give a hundred percent of the game, but you're not really developing over your your long period of time then.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just give a hundred percent and be a sponge would kind of be the hundred what two things that I'd say to them.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Brilliant.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: Well, owen, uh, I mean, we've known each other for years, but I I never in-depthly ever asked you about your basketball career.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it's lovely to have this bank and you know everyone else to kind of learn a bit more about basketball in Ireland and locally on your own story.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: So look, the very best of luck for the season ahead.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: I promise I'm going to get to one of those.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, I like because I know it's a great night out and I keep hearing about it.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so look at the best of luck for the season, and thanks for joining us.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.