January award Breen rewarded for drive to the title

Irish Times/Vhi Healthcare Sportswoman of the YearWe're off again, just a few weeks after choosing Derval O'Rourke as our 2006 Sportswoman of the Year, the athlete joining previous winners Cathy Gannon (horse racing) and Briege Corkery (Gaelic football and camogie) on our roll of honour, it's time to begin the search for our 2007 winner.

And, as it proved, it was an undemanding start to the year for the panel of judges. Yes, there were other contenders for our January award, not least badminton's Chloe Magee and Karen Bing, who helped Ireland to the final of the Helvetia Cup.

But one sporting performance stood out above all others, that of Glanmire basketball captain Marie Breen in the Superleague National Cup final at Tallaght.

If you had to choose one word to describe her display, you'd really have no option but to go for "awesome".

The final, between reigning champions University of Limerick, going for their fourth title in five years, and Glanmire (aka Team Montenotte Hotel Cork), appearing in their first Superleague Cup final, really shouldn't have been a contest. UL went in to the game as the leading team in the Superleague, while Glanmire were second from bottom.

"So no one gave us a chance," said Breen (21), when we caught up with her between lectures in UCC yesterday, where she's in the third year of her Commerce degree. "And that's what motivated us, we were the underdogs, written off, but all year the Cup had been our main ambition."

Glanmire opened by easing in to a 20-point lead, but the champions rallied, narrowing the Cork club's advantage to 11 points by half-time, 44-33.

In the third quarter UL stepped up another gear or three, to the point where they led 57-54 going in to the final quarter.

Game over? Not quite. As Glanmire coach Mark Scannell put it, "We never panicked - remember, this is an unbelievable basketball team, they are too good a team to be kept at bay".

And so it proved. Breen, inspirational throughout, hadn't scored in the first quarter, but finished the final with a tally of 29 points, 12 of them coming in the final quarter, enough to see Glanmire emerge as 89-75 winners.

Breen, then, accepted both the Superleague National Cup trophy and the MVP (Most Valuable Player) award.

"Ah yeah, it would probably have been my best ever performance, everything just came right," said the Mallow woman. "It's my fourth season with Glanmire and we've had some good days, but, of course, this was the best of them all. We were just so fired up before the game, we were so determined. And that's really what it was all about in the end, guts and determination, although, I suppose, you need that bit of luck too."

The success completed a remarkable weekend for Glanmire at the National Basketball Arena, as their senior victory made it a treble after the club had also won the National Under-18 and Under-20 cups.

"An unbelievable weekend for the club," said Breen. "There is so much talent coming through, not just at Glanmire but all through Cork and Munster. I'm beginning to think we'll have to have trials for the senior team next season, there are so many great young players pushing us all. That puts the pressure on us, but that's the way you want it."

Each sportswoman is eligible for just one monthly award, but her achievements through the year will be taken into account by the panel of judges when the decision on the overall winner is made. If Breen shines again, for example in Ireland's September internationals, she might just make herself a contender for that overall honour.

Corkery, O'Rourke . . . Breen? You know what that would mean: a three-in-a-row for the People's Republic of Cork.