National League

Apr 11 2026

Kilkenny Stars edge Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell 61-59 to lift U18 Girls All-Ireland League title

Kilkenny Stars overhauled a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to win the first edition of the U18 Girls All-Ireland League, as they edged Gurranbraher Credit Union Brunell 61-59 in a thrilling encounter at the National Basketball Arena on Saturday. It’s a first ever national title for Kikenny Stars, which was formed in 2011.

Aimee O’Reilly put in a huge performance for the victors, with 22 points and 20 rebounds, to inspire her side the victory and claim the MVP award.

Kilkenny Stars player Aimee O'Reilly presented with MVP award after the U18 Girls All-Ireland League final by Basketball Ireland president Margaret Miley.

It was a low scoring affair in the opening exchanges, a fastbreak and layup from Caoimhe Timmons had Kilkenny Stars 7-2 up midway through the first quarter. A Lena Zydek three and a Kayla Wall free throw followed to put Kilkenny Stars 11-2 up with three and a half minutes to go and they’d lead 14-7 by the end of the quarter.

Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell reeled in their opponents and baskets from Francesca Kyamagero and Abbie Lyons helped bring parity at 23-23 with just under three minutes to go in the second quarter, prompting a timeout by Kilkenny Stars. They came out of it with a 11-point run, finished off by O’Reilly’s layup and a Zydek free throw to lead 34-23 at half-time.

Brunell dominated the third quarter and set the tone in opening minute of it, rattling off eight quick-fire points and when McKenzie Lucey landed a three to make it 34-31 there was a swift timeout called by Kilkenny Stars head coach Puff Summers. Brunell were relentless in the quarter, back-to-back layups from Abbie Lyons layup and a steal and layup from Francesca Kyamagero had them 41-36 in front just before the midpoint. The Cork club hadn’t finished yet, back-to-back three’s by Lucey and Jean Aherne, followed by Kymagero’s fastbreak and layup saw Brunell 49-36 ahead with 4’11 to go and they’d lead 50-39 by the end of the quarter.

Francesca Kyamagero of Brunell during the U18 Girls All-Ireland League final at the National Basketball Arena.

Kilkenny Stars got themselves back into contention and three minutes into the fourth quarter it was back to a six-point game, 53-47, following O’Reilly’s layup. Brunell’s hopes were dealt a major blow when they lost Abbie Lyons with 3’49 to go, after she picked up her fifth foul, she finished with team-high 20 points, along with 10 rebounds. A long two -point shot jump shot by Aoibhean Walsh followed shortly afterwards and Kilkenny Stars trailed 55-53. They got it back level at 55-55 after free throws from Timmons and O’Reilly.

Brunell then carved out a four point lead once more, following Lucey’s three, but Kilkenny Stars responded with back-to-back layups from Timmons and O’Reilly, to leave it poised at 59-59 with 1’39 to go. The winning points would come from MVP O’Reilly in the final minute and Brunell couldn’t bring matters level once more.

Kilkenny Stars celebrate winning the U18 Girls All-Ireland League title, the first national trophy that the club has won since its formation in 2011.

Kilkenny Stars head coach Lawrence ‘Puff’ Summers said: “I am over the moon right now, there’s been so many years of getting so close and even starting off being so far away, just the everydayness of trying, and wishing for this moment and saying to all the young kids in our club that at some stage we’ll be on the national stage. For these girls, for this to be my first team that I started with, at under 8’s, for it all to come to fruition is amazing, an amazing day for our club.”

Asked about the topsy turvy nature of the game and how he kept his cool, Summers added: “I was everything but cool, but I knew that we played them in the Cup semi-final and we were close at half-time and they came and blitzed us in the third quarter, so I didn’t even take my team into the changing room at half-time, we’ll keep that momentum that we have. And they blitzed us in the third quarter again, and we said you know what, if we can get it down to seven points with six minutes left we’ll make a game of it again, because we know we can get up on this team and they were down by six with seven minutes left, so we did one better. So it was just an incredible show of resilience by our girls and I am just so proud of them.”

Purchase tickets for National League Finals weekend here. All games from National League finals weekend are live on basketballireland.tv, while you can watch ‘Super Sunday’ live on TG4 from 1300 on Sunday, with the Domino’s Women’s Super League final between UCC Glanmire and Trinity Meteors at 1315, followed by the Domino’s Men’s Super League final featuring Ballincollig and Killester at 1615. Get live stats from every game on the Swish All Hoops App.

Quarter Scores: Q1: 14-7, Q2: 20-16, Q3: 2-26, Q4: 22-9

Game Scores: Q1: 14-7, Q2: 34-23, Q3: 39-50, Q4: 61-59

Kilkenny Stars:

Amie Leigh (DNP), Sally Power (4), Sarah Burke (1), Juno Vanhengel (DNP), Kayla Wall (3), Jill Dempsey (DNP), Aoibheann Walsh (5), Niamh Mulhall (4), Aimee O’Reilly (22), Lena Zydek (10), Caoimhe Timmons (12)

Head Coach: Lawrence ‘Puff’ Summers

Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell:

Jean Aherne (6), Sophie O’Keeffe (0), Abbie Lyons (20), Megan Cowhey (DNP), Millie Murphy (7), Francesca Kyamagero (10), McKenzie Lucey (16), Sarah Sheehan (0), Ava O’Mahoney (0), Abbie Power (DNP), Saoirse O’Driscoll (0), Saoirse Lyons (0)

Head Coach: Kieran O’Leary

National League Finals Results

Friday, April 10th

U20 Men's National League Final

Templeogue BC 46-78 Titans BC (full game report available here)

Saturday, April 11th

U18 Boys All-Ireland League Final

Oblates BC 92-68 Titans BC (full game report available here)

BIDL Men's Final

UCD Marian 68-70 Limerick Celtics (full game report available here)

U18 Girls All-Ireland League Final

Kilkenny Stars 61-59 Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell