Castlerea CS chase All-Ireland basketball glory
The Castlerea Community School senior boys' basketball team that will take on Kildare Town CS in the All-Ireland B League final at Neptune Stadium in Cork on Thursday.
Castlerea Community School could add another proud chapter to its rich basketball history on Thursday when the senior boys’ team takes on Kildare Town CS in the All-Ireland B League final at Neptune Stadium in Cork (1 p.m. tip-off).
Basketball has long been woven into the sporting fabric of the West Roscommon school, which has enjoyed memorable moments on courts across the country — including All-Ireland successes in 2008 and 2010.
More recently, in 2017, a Lisa O’Rourke-inspired squad completed a remarkable double by winning both the U-16 C Schools’ Cup and the U-16 C Girls’ League.
Now, Castlerea CS face a Kildare Town side with a student population roughly two and a half times larger. But that statistic does not faze team manager Thomas Callaghan, who believes his players are fully capable of producing something special.
“For this group, they probably don’t even realise how big this is. At A level, we could compete, but you’re up against players who might go on to play professionally, for Ireland, or in the Super League. Even now, some teams have one or two National League players.
“It probably suits us to be blissfully unaware of the standard we’re at. Basketball in Ireland is constantly rising. Castlerea has a strong history in the sport, so to still be competitive at the top end of the B level is absolutely huge,” Callaghan told the .
Callaghan, who played on the Castlerea CS team that won the All-Ireland First Year B title in 2009, says morale is sky-high. His players regularly joke that they would “hammer” his old team — and they have the results to back up their confidence. This group secured back-to-back regional titles for the first time in the school’s B-grade history.
Their commitment, according to Callaghan, has been central to their success.
“The hardest thing is committing when you might not get much game time, but these boys are in the gym more than me. They’re always asking if they can go in and shoot for an hour. The standard they’ve brought to training and preparation has been massive.
“Our first game in the competition came the same week as the Castlerea St. Kevin’s minor football final, so we were down a few lads. We lost by a point to Gortnor Abbey, but the performance was huge — and it set the tone for the season.”
Despite a setback against St. Flannan’s College in the Schools Cup, Castlerea CS have grown stronger as the season progressed. They claimed the regional title by defeating a talented Sligo Grammar side. In their quarter-final pool, they took sweet revenge on St. Flannan’s before overcoming St. Mary’s Dundalk.
They subsequently advanced to the semi-final pool, where they edged out Limerick Educate Together Castletroy and defeated O’Carolan College from Meath to seal their place in the final.
Callaghan knows his players have the hunger to finish the job. Many of them narrowly missed out on national honours in recent seasons, losing the U-16 C All-Ireland Schools’ Cup final in 2023 and falling by a single point to eventual champions Ballymakenny College in the U-19 B Cup semi-final in December 2024.
“Schools’ sport is special — it's a moment in time. Some of these lads might go on to play for the Castlerea Cavaliers men’s team, but it’s unlikely this exact group will play together again. That’s the beauty and the heartbreak of schools’ sport.
“No matter what happens, we’ve had a special journey. We’re going to enjoy the day and hopefully finish it by lifting that title,” he concluded.
CASTLEREA COMMUNITY SCHOOL: Kevin Hester, Dara Curran, Jack Dolan, Jamie Dowd, Joseph Botton, Seán Vaughan, James Hawkshaw, Michael Keaveney, Adam Varga, Cian Fitzmaurice, Harry Clavin, Ryli Mania, Tyler Waldron, Nicholas Du Toit, Ismael Osei, Oisín Fleming, Cathal Mockler.
