Sport « Thurles Information

LIT Announced As New Basketball Ireland Centre Of Excellence.

Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) is now a Basketball Ireland Centre of Excellence.

Earlier today (Wednesday June 16, 2021), the national governing body for the sport on the island of Ireland, announced LIT and Trinity College Dublin as the latest Basketball Ireland Centres of Excellence, taking the number of centres to six nationwide.

Welcoming the announcement President of LIT Professor Vincent Cunnane said LIT was delighted to further develop its relationship with Basketball Ireland, thereby allowing for the further development of basketball in LIT and the region.

“The centre of excellence at LIT will provide a one-stop-shop for all the needs of Basketball Ireland teams and visiting teams. Here at LIT we have a renowned strength and conditioning programme as well as recognised expertise in sports data and analytics, and nutrition. These areas of expertise will be available to Basketball Ireland and the Centre of Excellence, along with our courts, meeting and presentation facilities, media facilities and changing rooms.”

Mr Jimmy Browne, [LIT Vice President Corporate Services & Capital Development] stated, “LIT is delighted to announce this important further development of our relationship with Basketball Ireland. LIT and Basketball Ireland have an ongoing relationship which culminated with the appointment of basketball development officer Niall Berry in 2020. The inclusive nature of basketball as a sport is perfectly aligned with LIT’s ethos, community reach and sporting philosophy. Today’s announcement will provide a platform to further enhance this ethos and the growth of basketball in the Mid-West region.”

Mr Niall Berry, BasketbalI Ireland Development Officer LIT added “Ireland’s international basketball teams have been doing a great job over the years competing in Europe. The Basketball Ireland Centres of Excellence, like the one here in LIT, give young basketball players a vision of a collegiate structure that will in turn encourage them to work hard to be involved in a Centre of Excellence. These young players will also see their own club members going to Centres of Excellence and travelling just down the road to LIT, to train and to play. These players will want to emulate that success and this in turn will have a massive impact on both the players and basketball in the region.”

Speaking about the LIT and Trinity College Dublin announcement Basketball Ireland CEO, Mr Bernard O’Byrne said, “This is another significant announcement to have renowned institutions like Trinity College Dublin and LIT as Basketball Ireland Centres of Excellence. They both have a strong track record in basketball and this commitment further reinforces it. With Ulster University, NUI Galway, Waterford IT and Letterkenny IT already announced, it illustrates our commitment to have a geographical spread of these facilities across the country, to reach all corners and provide top notch facilities for our basketball community, continuing to provide platforms for the growth of our sport.”

The Centres of Excellence will be used for national training camps for international sides, along with Basketball Ireland academies. There will also be the ability to host international fixtures, national senior competitions, intervarsity competitions, as well as local schools’ cups and blitzes.

Thurles Skateboard Park Padlocked.

The Thurles Skateboard Park, used mainly nowadays by the new scooter generation, the older BMX generation, daredevils using hijacked shopping trolleys, yes and even one or two skateboards; suffered an unwarranted, serious act of vandalism, possibly last night.

This amenity here in Thurles remains padlocked today, in the interests of health and safety.

The already graffiti clad skateboard arena had one sheet of its surface ripped out, (See picture above), leading to a complete closure of the whole facility.

Of course there was, once again, a failure to identify those involved, due to the non existance of CCTV cameras.

Our readers will remember back in August 2017 (Over 3 years ago) we asked the question, “Does Thurles CCTV Actually Work?” Read HERE and see also blog of July 2019, “Is Thurles CCTV System Just A €100,000 Bird Perch?”. Read HERE.

Did anyone hear anything, see anything or has anyone got further information. It should be noted that calls made to Crimestoppers are completely anonymous and callers do not need to leave names or addresses.

Historic Grand National Win For Killenaule’s Rachel Blackmore.

After capturing the attention of the Horse-Racing world at Cheltenham 2021 with her Champion Hurdle win aboard ‘Honeysuckle‘ and ending the week as top rider, Rachel Blackmore today has made history as the first female rider to win the world’s most famous race, the Aintree Grand National on ‘Minella Times‘, for Waterford trainer Henry De Bromhead and owner J.P. McManus.

Ms Blackmore, the daughter of Charles and Eimir Blackmore, of Killenaule, Co. Tipperary, kept her mount out of trouble throughout the race and struck the front after the 29th and 2nd last fence. A fantastic jump at the last propelled ‘Minella Times‘ into a few lengths lead over ‘Balko de Flos‘, and Rachel never relinquished her lead despite the long run in from the famous Elbow at Aintree.

This is a famous achievement for Ms Blackmore, being the first female to win the Grand National. She has shown what hard work and dedication to her craft can do, and it is a proud day for Co. Tipperary, as her Star shone brightest on the biggest stage of all on Grand National day.

She has shown that when given the opportunities, this Tipperary lady is as fine a jockey as ever produced from within these shores, male or female.

Online Hurling & Football Session For Kids With Thurles Sarsfields Stars.

On Easter Saturday, April 3rd, Thurles Sarsfields GAA Club are hosting an online kids’ hurling and football zoom session with its club stars Ronan Maher, Karen Kennedy and Marie Creedon.

The session starts at 11:00 a.m. and is suitable for ages 6+. It costs only €5 to take part and all proceeds are in aid of the running costs of Thurles Sarsfields’ teams.

As already stated the session will be undertaken by three of Thurles Sarsfields’ biggest role models, Ronan Maher, Marie Creedon and Karen Kennedy.

Ronan Maher is a Sarsfields and Tipperary Senior Hurler, one of the top hurlers in Ireland, winning 2 All-Irelands with Tipperary and has been twice an All-Star. He has so far won 5 County Senior Hurling titles with Thurles Sarsfields and 4 County U21 Titles.

Marie Creedon is a Sarsfields and Tipperary Ladies Footballer, and has won an All-Ireland Intermediate title with Tipperary, and Captained the Thurles Sarsfields Ladies Football team to an Intermediate County Football Title in 2020.

Karen Kennedy is a Sarsfields and Tipperary Camogie Player and the 2020 All-Star Camogie Centre Back. She has captained Tipperary to underage All-Irelands and was one of the Thurles Sarsfields Camogie team which won the Intermediate County Camogie Title in 2020.

This will be a fun online training session run by three of the Club’s shining Stars.
All you need is a hurley, a sliotar / tennis ball and a football.

To book your place visit HERE.

Note: Zoom registration link will be attached in a receipt email sent to the purchaser once payment is received.

Thank you for your valued support!

€9 Million Upgrade To Semple Stadium Delayed.

Tipperary GAA County Board secretary, Mr Tim Floyd has confirmed that plans to upgrade facilities on the Kinane Stand in Semple Stadium will be delayed for some time in the near future.

Planning permission, granted for 5 year, to undertake a €9 million upgrade, within ‘Semples field’, latter which including a state of the art gymnasium at nearby Dr. Morris Park, had been granted just last year
[Note: Tipperary have been hiring the gym in the LIT Thurles Campus].

Same planning had also included a corporate area, under the Kinane stand, that would have had a capacity for 250 patrons.

We understand that plans to extend player dressing rooms in Dr. Morris Park and the all-weather pitch in Thurles LIT will continue as planned, with the development at Dr. Morris Park, coming to fruition at the end of this year, just as soon as Munster Council and Croke Park finances are made available.