Young basketball star Cian Gleeson talks about ambitions for this season, government funding in the sport, and the people who inspired him to play.
It was a successful start to the Limerick Celtics season as they opened their account in Division One of the National League with a 98-70 win at home against Tipp Talons on Saturday.
Tony Hehir’s side were impressive in pre-season and continued their good form into the first game of the new campaign with a commanding 28-point victory. This was largely thanks to the scoring attributes of new signings Ariyon Jamal Williams and Finn Hughes who combined for 56 points.
After reaching the playoffs last season and winning the U20 National Cup, U20 captain Gleeson was happy with how the Celtics performed and is confident that the club can have a successful season.
Speaking to the Limerick Voice about the game he said, “We started very slow, we had a good start in pre-season against Killorglin. The way we played against them is how we want to perform going forward.
“Unfortunately, our ex-player Miles (Felletti) wasn’t playing, I was looking forward to playing against him, but nonetheless, I feel we picked up in the second half compared to the first half.”
Talking about the upcoming season Gleeson said: “I believe we have a very strong team for National League and the U20s, I’d like to see how far we can go in both of those leagues and the cups. We also have a BIDL team now, so hopefully we’ll be going towards play-offs as well”.
Though he played in primary school, Gleeson got his start with the club at their Halloween and Christmas basketball camps and credits one coach in particular for encouraging him to play the sport:
“Michelle (Aspell) was coaching the primary school team at the time, and she recommended me to go to the camps during the school holidays, I loved them, and I haven’t looked back since”.
It was announced that sport will be allocated a total of €230,260,393 from the government budget. Despite this, basketball will get just over €1.2 million in grants. Cian, however, feels that although it’s not ideal, he feels the level needs to go up first before they can approach for more.
Commenting on the funding that basketball will receive from the government’s recent budget, he said: “We might feel like we’re being left behind, but there is also the idea that we’re a lot smaller of a sport. I’d say the community is great, it’s small and not as big as the others, but the general scale hasn’t been brought up yet, but we are on the right track, and it’ll grow over the years”.
Next up for the Celtics is another home game this Saturday as they take on Galway side Moycullen in Crescent College at 7 pm. Moycullen had a seven-point win over fellow Limerick side Limerick Sport Eagles last weekend with both sides hoping to maintain their 100% starts to the season.