Conor Meany Exclusive Interview

Conor Meany has established himself as one of the most tallented guards in the Superleague with his best season yet this year in the Superleague. With Varsity time coming soon we catch up with Conor and find out how the UCD Varsity team is shaping up and what it was like playing in the National Cup Semi finals.

Conor, you grew up in a basketball family how young were you when you were introduced to the game and was it a sport you gravitated to naturally?

Yeah the family is definitely heavily involved and have been for so many years. I had a basketball around me for as long as I can remember really. I used to tag along to St. Michaels spending entire weekends watching the club play, especially Kev and Niall and even watching my dad at the end of his career. I definitely took to it pretty fast and always enjoyed playing underage. I was lucky enough to play for my dad and Fran Ryan in Marian and they both helped me a lot and they kept me interested even when we didnt have the greatest teams.

You represented Ireland a number of times undeage, what are some of your favorite memories form these times?

I had mixed luck with Irish teams over the years but always was glad to be apart of the squads. I'd have to say that the U20's europeans was one of the best experiences I've ever had. Those trips were always a good laugh away with the lads. The night life in Varna was pretty crazy too!I'm also pretty fortunate to have been on one of Joey Boylan's squads who is a legend in his own life time. you make good friends on those teams too that stay with you for a long time so I still enjoy meeting some of the lads especially at varsities.

Was it difficult moving up to play in the superleague at such a young age?

It was an interesting step up definitely. I've been watching superleague for so many years so I always wanted to play in it eventually. I have to say that with the injuries our team has had over the last few years I got a different introduction to the league than i expected. We had very few senior Irish players so I had to learn more on the cuff than most youhg players. Im starting to learn a lot more about the game and this league so hopefully in the next couple of years I'll be able to make a bigger impact for the club.

How did you find your first season in the league?

Personally I was reasonably happy. We didnt compete at all as a team and there was a lot of instability due to the coaching situation but I got my first taste and you really learn a lot playing against some of the great players in this league. Its also a confidence boost to realise that you can come in and compete against some of those players.

This season with Marian your young side has shown considerable signs of improvement despite the continued absence of Barry Glover, why do you think this improvement has happened?

Yeah unfortunately Pat and Barry werent able to play this season and Gary Edge tore his achilles the week before the semi final so we are young again. I think that all are young players are more confident this year which is helping. Peter Finn is going to be one of the best players in the country in a few years, Barry Drumm showed everyone what he can do in the semi with Tralee and Baynes has so much potential. The other main factor I think has been Dave Ryan our bosman. Dave has been a great player for the club this year and I definitely think that Mark Keenan should look at getting him into the senior mens program he can shoot,he's smart and he's a team player. He's also not your typical bosman considering he grew up playing Gaelic in New York and he seems to have more family at each gym we go to then the rest of us combined!

Do you see Marian challenging for honors in the future despite a number of poor seasons recently?

Hopefully!!!With any young team you never know whats going to happen especially when they are connected to a university because who knows where we'll be in a couple of years after we finish our degrees. If we can stay together and keep getting stronger I think we should be a strong team in the next two or three years. We already have one of the best Irish players in the league in Kev Foley so if we can develop and help support him further we could be dangerous.

Tell us a bit a about the link between UCD and Marian?

UCD just celebrated its 60th year in existence and we are celebrating our 40th anniversary next year so theres a lot of history there already between the two. Marian College which is where our club grew from is about 2 miles down the round from UCD and a lot of Marian players have gone to UCd over the years so a link was always there and a tie was inevitable. The club decided to join up with UCD fully about 3 years ago. We now have a development officer within UCD and there are a number of scholarships given out each year. We also have access to the high performance gym in UCD and the strength and conditioning coaches there. Its still early days in the partnership and hopefully we'll be able to develop it further and take full advantage of the deal.

How is the UCD side shaping up for this years varsities?

We're pretty excited about the varisites this year to be honest. Myself, Ian and Kev all finish our course in May so this is our last one together and we havent lost a game yet so hopefully we can finish it out! We've got a few new guys like Luke from our Div.1 team who is a great player. On a personal note it's going to be my first chance to play a college game with my brother Kev as he's back in UCD this year too so im looking forward to that!UU have their two americans and their Irish players are going to be tougher having played nat. league all year so it should be interesting!Then the usuals like UL are always going to be tough.

Is there added pressure going for three in a row a feat achieved recently by UCC and are you confident of winning again?

I dont really think there is. It would be fun as i said to win it in each year I was in college but apart from that there doesnt feel like theres any more pressure its really just a fun weekend for us.Its a welcome distraction at the end of the season. Hopefully our girls will be able to bring home the cup this year too!

As your a varsity veteran at this stage what are some of your favorite memories both on and off the court?

Without a doubt Eddie Crudden's bankshot!!!It was my first year in Limerick and the final with Limerick was a great game and Eddie came up with that big shot. Ian in last years final was amazing too, although he couldnt score 40!!!!Off the court the banquet has been great fun each year having the cup kidnapped from Limerick was very funny, the effort put into the Bebo site was impressive! This year thanks to the great scheduling we're playing Killester superleague the afternoon after the banquet which should be interesting!!!

What do you plan on doing when finished college?

I dont think I'm ready to leave college yet. I'm looking into a masters program in UCD, I'm pretty sure I want to teach eventually.

You played in your first SBI all star game this summer how did you enjoy it?

HAHAHA oh god!!It was a good laugh I have to say.My fastbreak is a memory that wont leave me for a while!its good having something like that for a good cause each year, hopefully this year more people will come out and support it because it is entertaining and the money is helping support something important.

Who are the toughest match ups for yourself in the league?

The toughest player I've had to guard was definitely Rob Taylor he was so quick and good that there was little I could do. Stephen Dawson is an underrated irish player and Scottie always caused me some trouble, chasing O'boyle around is never fun either.

What steps would you like to see being taken to improve the league?

This is a major issue the league is having to look at. I think we need to stand back for a second and look at what the league is trying to achieve. Are we trying to have the highest standard we can right now or are we trying to develop basketball in this country. I think everyone agrees that attendances are down and the standards of Americans are down. With so many clubs in or close to financial trouble I dont think we can continue the way we are going at the moment. I would be in favour of one american and one bosman for clubs with 3 irish players being on the court at all times. This means that its up to clubs how they spend their money. Clubs can choose to develop their Irish players at underage levels or they can still try and spend money to bring in good americans and bosmans. For clubs with talented foreign players now living in Ireland (killester and Goj being a good example) they can spend all their money on a higher standard of American then is currently coming here. Ultimately Basketball ireland needs to set an objective for the league to make it sustainable while developing Irish talent.

For the first time in a long time UCD played in the National cup finals this year almost beating holders Tralee. What was this experience like and what did it mean to the club?

We were pretty happy as a club to get 2 teams to the national cup finals and the superleague team to the semi's. I know a lot of people felt that we didnt deserve to be there because we had gottena bye in the first round but i think we showed a lot of people who had only seen our record and not us, that we arent that far off the rest of the league. For a lot of the senior people in the club it definitely meant a lot. Having gotten our first taste of it all we're definitely looking forward to the competition next year and hopefully making it back. ,/p>

Anything else you want to add?

Yeah actually, GET A JOB BAYNES!!!!

Conor, Thanks for taking time to talk to www.streetballireland.com, best of luck for the rest of the season.