Results

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Round 1
02.11.1997	Openet Naomh Mhuire	109	Sporting Belfast	41
02.11.1997	Lee Strand Tralee	57	Sligo Dairies	45
02.11.1997	Tolka Rovers	89	Riverisland Castleisland	58
02.11.1997	Snowcream Wildcats	95	Supermacs Limerick	53
	Quarter-Finals
07.12.1997	Blarney	73	Snowcream Wildcats	80
07.12.1997	Lee Strand Tralee	45	Meteors	62
07.12.1997	Openet Naomh Mhuire	58	Killester	50
07.12.1997	New Ross Bullets	31	Tolka Rovers	80
	Semi-Finals
24.01.1998	Openet Naomh Mhuire	64	Tolka Rovers	62 ot
24.01.1998	Snowcream Wildcats	71	Meteors	60
	Final
25.01.1998	Snowcream Wildcats	72	Naomh Mhuire	58

MVP Award: Michelle Maguire (Wildcats).

Report

There were no surprises in the Irish Basketball Association Women’s Sprite Cup 1997-98 when the First Round Tipped-off in the first weekend of November, with Regional Team Sligo Dairies losing by 12 points to struggling Super League Team Lee Strand Tralee, while there were big wins for Openet Naomh Mhuire, Tolka Rovers and Snowcream Wildcats against Sporting Belfast, Riverisland Castleisland and Supermacs Limerick.

Meteors provided a minor shock in the Quater-Finals in the middle of December with a 17-point defeat of Lee Strand Tralee. Elsewhere there were wins for Snowcream Wildcats, Openet Naomh Mhuire and Tolka Rovers against Blarney, Killester and regional team New Ross Bullets respectively.

In the Finals at the National Basketball Arena over the Weekend of 23rd to 25th January 1998, Michelle Maguire was awarded the MVP Award as she scored 24 points in the Final as did Jillian Hayes, as the Wildcats remained unbeaten throughout the season, defeating Naomh Mhuire 72-58. In the Semi-Finals Openet Naomh Mhuire overcame Tolka Rovers in overtime while the Wildcats won by 11 against Meteors.

About Basketball Ireland / Irish Basketball Association Cups

The Irish Basketball Association ran the National Cup for the Top Two Divisions as well as any regional teams that wished to enter in both Men’s and Women’s as well as Junior (Under 19) Cup for both Men and Women. The Cups were Knockout (single elimination) from the First Round. They were replaced by Super League and Division 1 Cups when the Association rebranded as Basketball Ireland in 2003. The Junior (U19) Cups were replaced by Under 20 and Under 18 Cups. Other Cups included the Irish Wheelchair Basketball Cup and introduced in the late 2010s the National Intermediate Cup Competition (Tier 3).

References

Newspapers

[1] Anon. (1997) “A-Z of Weekend Sport: Basketball” Irish Independent. Monday, November 3, 1997. Pg. 34

[2] Anon. (1997) “A-Z of Weekend Sport: Basketball” Irish Independent. Monday, December 15, 1997. Pg. 32-33.

[3] Anon. (1998) “A-Z of Weekend Sport: Basketball” Irish Independent. Monday, January 26, 1998, Pg. 31

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ann Hanley (Killester).

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 19 December 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

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