Mayo basketball legend resurrects his playing career
Liam McHale’s career as a basketball player may not be quite finished just yet, writes John Melvin.
Liam is the youngest member of a trio of brothers who were synonymous with Ballina’s basketball success at national level over three decades ago.
With his brothers, Seán and Anthony, Liam helped drive the Ballina team to two National Senior Cup titles (in 1991 and 1996), and he made a return to the basketball court on Thursday evening last as he lined out for Ballina Braves in their LLR Senior Men’s clash with Sligo’s EJ All-Stars at Ballina Community Sports Centre.
It was a game the home side won comfortably, with strong performances from Ronan O’Malley, Rory Upton and Mark Cunningham.
At 58 years of age, Liam mixed with some of the younger guns on the Ballina Braves team, who defeated the All-Stars by 72-61, McHale scoring nine points and coming up with seven rebounds and five assists having played for half of the game.
Liam coaches with the club and also coaches extensively with Gortnor Abbey Secondary School in Crossmolina, while he also participates in some of the training sessions.
However, his involvement as manager of the Mayo LGFA senior football team is likely to curtail his basketball, with the season now turning for home, but I expect he will he will feature in some of the remaining games in both the LLR League and the Basketball Ireland Developmental League (BIDL).
It is unlikely he will feature against Mayo Meteors next Saturday night week back at Ballina Community Sports Centre for what is a vital game in the more competitive BIDL, where Meteors will be aiming to reach the semi-final of the competition.
For that contest, Mayo Meteors coach, Terry Kennedy, could also be without Mattie McHale, who is facing possible disciplinary sanctions following a complaint lodged by Monaghan team, Carrick Cruisers, in relation to an incident in their clash with Meteors in the BIDL at the De La Salle Hall, Castlebar, three weeks ago. It resulted in McHale being dismissed from the game in extra-time as Meteors were defeated by seven points in the end.
The hearing into the case was held by Zoom but no decision has been made yet in relation to possible sanctions facing Mattie McHale over his involvement in the incident which is the subject matter of the complaint by Carrick Cruisers.
The referee’s report is also likely to play a pivotal part in deciding the appropriate sanctions.
When Meteors and Ballina clashed in the LLR League earlier this season, the Braves carved out a narrow win, but the stakes will be much higher on Saturday week when they face each other at 7 p.m., the bragging rights even more important between two teams who are unlikely to disappoint given the rivalry that has developed between them over the past two years.
Both teams are coming off big wins in the LLR league, Meteors beating Mohill two weeks ago 73-58 and Sligo All-Stars crashing to Ballina Braves this week.