Basketball Ireland is expanding at club level in the season ahead with no fewer than five new teams entering the MissQuote.ie Division 1 for the 2022/23 season.
Kerry’s St. Paul’s Killarney and Virginia-based McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles will be joined by three new entrants from Dublin – Oblate Basketball Club, McGowan’s Tolka Rovers and Abbey Seals Dublin Lions.
Two of the teams are playing women’s National League level for the first time, Abbey Seals Dublin Lions and McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles.
They will join the ten teams that made up last season’s Super League and the eleven that took part in Northern and Southern Conferences in the First Division.
East Cavan Eagles were established just 10 years ago and chairman Graham Tolan is delighted to see the club making the step up to MissQuote.ie Division 1.
“Our acceptance into the women’s National League is the culmination of ten years of work, which has seen our club grow from humble beginnings to now having 350 members and 22 teams.”
“Eagles is all about our members and our community and we are thrilled that we will be the first ladies’ team to enter the National League from the northeast region.”
“We are looking forward to welcoming two players from America to supplement our homegrown talent and we are really excited about playing on our new Olympic standard floor at Virginia Show Centre.”
The team will have two current Irish underage internationals in their squad, U16 international Emma Tolan and U18 international Niamh Tolan. Their sister, Ciara Tolan, was also part of the Irish U18 squad in 2019.
Kerry club St. Paul’s Killarney will return to the women’s National League for the first time since 2012, a year when they won the Women’s Division 1 National Cup.
Head coach James Fleming returns to his home club, after being involved with Fr. Mathews and Limerick Celtics in recent seasons. His aim is to establish the team as a competitive force, with Canadian Sophia Paska and Irish underage international Leah McMahon already committed to the team.
“We’re delighted to be back in the league, we have several signings from Team Garvey’s St. Mary’s, including former St. Paul’s Killarney player Rhiann O’Shea. We also have current Ireland U16 international Leah McMahon and also a number of other former St. Paul’s Killarney players, who have played internationally, such as Lynn Jones and Cassandra Buckley.”
“We’ve also recruited Canadian Sophia Paska, who I worked with at Limerick Celtics last year, and American Yuleska Ramirez Tejeda (pictured above), who was MissQuote.ie Division 1 Player of the Year last season, while playing with Limerick Sport Huskies.”
McGowan’s Tolka Rovers are no strangers to playing at this level, having captured the Women’s Super League crown in 2001/02 season.
Oblate Basketball Club will field a team in the upper echelons of Irish basketball for the first time since 2016/17. Their most recent titles coming in the form of a Division 1 National Cup in 2013 and Division 1 League Playoff win in 2015.
Every game from the InsureMyVan.ie Super League and Division 1, and the MissQuote.ie Super League and Division 1 will be streamed live this season on Basketball Ireland’s new streaming service with Joymo and we will have more on this on Sport for Business tomorrow morning.
