Basketball

Our most recent trip was to Boston in 2019

Boston in 2016.

2013

In February 2013 a boys team made the same trip and did much of the same things however they became the 1st European team to play a game on the basketball Hall of Fame floor in Springfield Mass.

2012

In February  2012 Mounthawk made their first trip to Boston in the USA with a girls basketball team. The girls played high school teams in the Boston area, watched the Celtics played and saw the University Of Connecticut womens team train and play.

Every year  Mounthawk has run a basketball camp for all the school players, boys and girls,  in August.

The purpose of the camp is to improve the players’ potiental as basketballers. We are fortunate that, for the past 4 years, we have been able to bring over some top class American coaches to run the camp. In 2013 we had Michael and John Mc Veigh, 2013 Boston  hall of fame high school coaches,  and the years previous to this we had Greg Herenda, New Jersey’s Division 1 university coach.

Summer Camp 2013

Cian Sullivan

It is every young basketballer’s dream to play college basketball in the United States, Cian was no different. Making his dream become reality required dedication and hard work. During transition year he visited the United States as part of the Mounthawk Senior Boys Basketball Team. This visit inspired him to work hard both academically and athletically, as academic performance is just as important as basketball potential to be accepted into a US college basketball programme.

It wasn’t long before he was recognised for his talent both on the court and in the classroom. He was offered to join the student body at the prestigious St Andrews School St in Rhode Island, whose former students include current NBA star Michael Carter Williams.

Cian also studied independently to take the SATs to ensure that he fulfilled all the requirements to study in the USA. His hard work paid off and he was academically accepted to be a student athlete..

Cian then progressed in the American education system and honed his skill set as a student basketballer. It wasn’t easy as he was required to take a number of different academic subjects he had never studied before and training with people that played his sport as one of their national sports. However he once more prevailed and was recognised and offered an athletic scholarship for basketball at the prestigious La Salle University in Philadelphia, he sealed this offer with achieving more than the necessary grades to be accepted academically to this college and is to begin studying in the autumn of this year. In addition Cian has been awarded the prestigious Founders Scholarship by La Salle University in recognition of his academic record and achievements outside the classroom

We would like to wish Cian all the best in his future endeavours and hope to
see him progress and excel at what he loves.

Born:1996

Currently a post Grad student at St Andrews School, Barrington , Rhode Island

Signed Letter of Intent with La Salle University Philadelphia, Division 1 Atlantic 10

Selected for the Ireland U20 squad

January 2016: Ranked No2 in Rhode Island and No58 in New England (6 states)

Past Pupil of Mercy Mounthawk

Highlights:
Competed in Local and National competitions for Mounthawk
Represented Kerry in Basketball.

Attended Mounthawk Summer Camps where he came to the attention of US High School coaches.

4th year basketball team tour of Boston and New England strengthened his dream of playing college basketball.

TY afforded him the time to mature and improve his skills and knowledge of the game.

Achievements:

2011-2012
A League Regional Winners

2012-2013
A Schools Regional Winners

2012-2013
A Schools All Ireland Cup Bronze Medal

2013-2014
A Schools Regional Finalist

2014-2015
A Schools Regional Winners

A schools All Ireland League Bronze Medal

Mounthawk U19 Invitational Tournament 2014

Mercy Mounthawk American Basketball Award 2015

Darragh O’Hanlon

Born: 1994

Height: 6’3

Third year student in Cork Institute of Technology

Studying Recreation and Leisure Management

Senior Scholarship Recipient for CIT Men’s Basketball

Club: C&S UCC Demons

League: Premier League

Position: Shooting Guard

Player of the first ever Premier League team to win the National Cup, League and Champions Trophy all in the same year in the Premier League’s history.

Student and Basketball player of Mercy Mounthawk from 2007-2013

2007/2008

1st Year Southwest champions

Reached All-Ireland “A” School’s Final

2008/2009

2nd year Southwest Champions

Reached All-Ireland “A” School’s Semi-Final

2009/2010

Under 16 Southwest Champions

2011/2012

Reached All-Ireland “A” School’s Quarter Final

2012/2013

Reached All-Irealnd “A” Schools Semi-Final

Also first ever South West Senior “A” Boys Title winners in Mounthawk

Top scorer and Co Captain for Mercy Mounthawk in Senior Year

Co Captain of Senior team’s tour to Boston in 2013

Recipient of 2 individual basketball awards in Mercy Mounthawk

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Mercy Mounthawk basketball All Ireland Champions

Mercy Mounthawk School U-14 Winning Basketball Team front l-r Conor O’Brien, Joe Reidy,, Mikey McCarthy, John Feely, Jack Dakissia Back l-r Jimmy Diggins, Asst Coach, Brian Godley, Brian McElligott, Tim Pollmann- Daamen, Sean Pollmann- Daamen, Odhran Pierce, Daniel Bowler, John Dowling, Head Coach, Lindsay Moriarty, Ast Coach

On Sunday the 7^th of May at 4pm in the University of Limerick, Mounthawks 1^st year boys team create history becoming the 1^st boys team to capture an All-Ireland A schools title defeating a St Pats of Castleisland on a score line of 29 to 26 in a nail biter. It capped off a magic weekend for the team where they won 6 games in two days to be crowned All Ireland champions.

On Saturday the boys played St. Josephs of Galway, Ard Scoil Ris of Dublin and Summerhill of Sligo in their group games. They won all 3 games convincingly and was a tough day which required the help of all players with some great performances by Conor O Brien, Brian Goldey and John Feely. This set up a quarter final match up on Sunday with Oranmore of Galway a team they had lost to a week earlier in the All-Ireland Cup Final .

The game vs Oranmore was played at a quick pace with both teams eager to get up the court for easy baskets. Oranmore had some big tall players which we struggled to get to grips with but Brian Mc Elligott did and excellent job in the 1^st quarter. In the 3^rd quarter we really stepped up our efforts on the big men inside, with Odhran Pierce leading the way. We played some brilliant defence but with 2 minutes to go we found ourselves 5 down and timeout was need. After the timeout with some adjustments made, the team went on a scoring run and in the last minute took the lead for the 1^st time and held out to win by just one point.

The Semi-final match up was an all Kerry affair vs Rathmore. This team had also beaten us earlier in the year in the regional league, so again another huge effort was needed from our first years. It was a game of high quality with some great shooting on both side. Tim and Sean Pollman – Daamen really rattled Rathmore with some great shooting and layups in transition. The game was close until the end with Mounthawk offence power finally winning out by 5 points and setting up an all Kerry final with St Pats.

The final started out a very tense affair. It was a rematch of the regional final where St Pats had emerged victorious, so there was a lot at stake. The opening quarter was very low scoring with neither side pushing ahead. A lovely move by Jack Dakissia toward the end of the quarter saw him level up the scores . Again Mercy Mounthawk had to attend to St. Pats’ size  but showed a lot of fight and determination by Daniel Bowler and Joe Reidy right through the game that they were not going to be pushed over and defeated. The last quarter was nerve racking for all involved, Tim Pollmann – Daamen opened the quarter with some great shots and with just over a minute to go the sides were deadlocked. In the dying minutes Mounthawk seemed to find an extra gear and some huge shots by Mikey Mc Carthy and big Free Throws by Sean Pollmann – Daamen sealed the sweet victory for Mercy Mounthwk.

Thanks to all the players who have been training together since September and a special word to their parents who supported us in the final on Sunday and who dropped the boys to training on school breaks and weekends. Well done to everyone involved.

All Ireland Champions

The Team

Sean Pollmann- Daamen,Tim Pollmann – Daamen,Mikey Mc Carthy,Daniel Bowler,Joe Reidy,Conor O Brien,John Feely,Odhran Pierce,Brian Mc Elligott,Bryan Godley,Jack Dakissia

Coaches

John Dowling,Lyndsey Moriarty,Jimmy Diggins