Big things have small beginnings. A 19-year-old teenager and his 21-year-old friend sitting in the car thinking: You know what? Let’s give it a shot. It turned out to be a three-pointer from the halfway-line. Swoosh. 

When Alex Evans tells the story of how he and Daniel Nyland founded the Mayo Meteors team, one cannot escape a certain feeling of magic. They started out with nothing but the idea of a basketball club in their heads. 

“It was just after Covid in 2021. There was no senior team in Mayo at the time,” Alex explains: “But we had a few guys around that were playing. We ran a recreational night on a Monday and there was this local league that we had kind of thought about entering.”

It took off from there. Three years on, they have managed to steadily grow and improve their performance every year, culminating in a national Plate final last April in Dublin, that they ultimately lost to the Dublin Raiders.

Evans himself plays on the team, and he also acts as chairman, organiser and social media manager for the Meteors, sharing responsibilities with Daniel Nyland.

“It’s hard for a small club like us. We don’t have a load of guys registering, that means we don’t have a big income. We rely on a few sponsors that we have, and then money from the gate. We’ve been very lucky with a lot of parents volunteering. Even still, we’re always looking for volunteers and for sponsors.”

But you can never have enough help. There’s so much that goes into organising a home game: “We have three or four guys that do the scorekeeping. We need someone on the door. We need someone to sweep the floor or mop up if a player falls. We stream all of our home games, so we need someone on camera.”

ENTER KENNEDY

It’s a challenge. Thankfully on the sports side of affairs, Alex Evans and his teammates can rely on an absolute basketball pro on the sideline in the shape of their coach, Terry Kennedy. The legendary sportsman is best known for winning national titles with Ballina with the likes of Liam McHale and Deora Marsh on the team. 

It didn’t take much to get Kennedy on board for the Meteors as he and Alex had been friends already.

“It wasn’t actually too hard,” Alex laughs. “Terry just loves basketball, loves being involved. Almost too much you could say.

“For a new club, a lot of us with not a whole lot of experience. To have someone with that much experience, that many contacts and that knowledgeable in the game, not many clubs of our age get it. It’s a stroke of luck.”

One of Kennedy’s many strengths is huge experience in observing what’s going on during a game.

“Because he’s seen so much, he sees what other teams are doing. And he knows where we can exploit them. So when we get into a time out, he’s drawing something up for us and giving instructions.”

Kennedy is also famous for his passion, that helps spur on the Meteors. “I don’t think, I’ve ever seen Terry sit down. A lot of coaches will sit down. Not him. From the second the ball is tipped, he’s up shouting. Bright red in the face. He’s broken a few chairs. Broken a few coaches’ footboards” says Alex. “It inspires a bit of fight in us.”

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Apart from his passion, Terry brings a strong contacts book. He knows pretty much everybody in basketball. Just last season the Meteors signed Paul Freeman, who’s a former Irish international. He played for Terry before. So he was able to convince Freeman to join the Castlebar outfit.

Last but not least, Kennedy brought the rivalry with Ballina to the Meteors. Granted, there always is an extra edge to it when Castlebar and Ballina sports teams meet. 

“I think the rivalry with Ballina stems from Terry. We were like: Terry wants to beat them, so we want to do it for Terry.”

The first few encounters went Ballina’s way, but for Alex Evans, who is Castlebar born and bred, and went to St Gerald’s College, finally getting over the hump and beating the former kingpins Ballina, was a huge achievement.

FAST PACE

The Meteors’ success is built on being a pretty fast-paced team. Point guard Matty McHale, the son of Anthony McHale, who is a legend in Mayo basketball and won countless titles with Kennedy in the Ballina years. 

“Matty is really fast, tall, and he can take the ball from a rebound and go coast to coast. We’re running with him. 

“Also we like to pride ourselves on our defence. Herman Heyl, who’s another guy for us, who has played on a really high level. He’s one of the best defenders I’ve ever seen or played against. I hate playing against him in training” Alex laughs.

Then there’s the aforementioned Paul Freeman inside who is a former international, at 6 foot 7. He sends a lot of guys back and from blocking shots. So primarily the Meteors are defensively focused with fast break abilities.

Alex Evans says, the pre-season has been wholly positive. And the Meteors are ambitious for the future: “We are currently on the highest level of amateur basketball in Ireland. But our goal is to make it into Division One, which is the second highest league in Ireland.” 

There is no direct promotion to Division One. But the Meteors want to be ready to rise up, in case a team from that league team drops out. Additionally, the fact that the Meteors lost that Plate final last season is still a thorn in their side. The future is very bright for basketball in Castlebar.

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