RTE to focus on Letterkenny after successful SuperLeague finals at Aura Leisure

News released: 30th March 2009

The town and people of Letterkenny will take the limelight on national television this weekend when RTE programme ‘OB Sport’ reviews the men and women’s SuperLeague National Basketball Finals, which were held at Aura Letterkenny Leisure Complex last Saturday, March 28th.

Over 1,000 people from all over the country filled the sports hall in Aura on Saturday to watch UCC Demons claim their first treble in their 43-year history by beating DART Killester on a scoreline of 81-76 to win the Men’s Superleague final, and witness DCU emerge as Women’s SuperLeague winners with a 87-67 defeat of Team Montenotte Hotel, Cork.

The biggest games on the Irish basketball calendar, it was the first time that the SuperLeague finals were staged in the north-west region. OB Sport will highlight the event with presenter Shane O’Donoghue on their show at 2.15 p.m. this Saturday, April 4.

“This was the biggest sports event that we have held here since we opened our doors 19 months ago. It was a hectic but very enjoyable few weeks and given the positive feedback we received from players, the supporters and officials from Basketball Ireland, we are happy that it was a job well done,” said Patricia Coyle, Operations Manager at Aura Letterkenny Leisure Complex.

“Along with the local basketball club here, Letterkenny Blaze, and especially their chairman, Vincent O’Brien, we worked hard over the past year and a half to bring a major basketball event like this to Donegal.

“Following Saturday’s success, there is no doubt that Basketball Ireland and other national sporting organisations can now consider Aura Letterkenny as one of the prime sporting destinations in the country.

“Thanks to the successful staging of Saturday’s event at Aura, events like this will continue to come to the town in the future, which is great news for Letterkenny. The sports hall has the capacity, seating, car-parking and many other facilities required to host major sporting events,” added Patricia.

Already scheduled for Aura this summer is an ‘International Sport Kickboxing Association’ world kickboxing event on May 30, 2009, while the complex will also be the principal venue for The Special Olympic Regional Games from Friday, June 12 to Sunday, June 14, 2009.

There were two other National Basketball finals played at Aura on Saturday, with Sligo All-Stars claiming the Women’s Division One title with a 64-61 win over Scruffy’s St Paul’s and Ballon BC of Carlow closing out the day’s action by seeing off Titans by 79-59 to lift the Men’s Division One title.

It was the second weekend in-a-row that Aura Letterkenny staged a major event in their sports and events hall. Over 1,600 people from all over the north-west enjoyed a concert by one of the world’s most–famous country music stars, Kenny Rogers, on Sunday, March 22nd.

Meanwhile, Aura Letterkenny is still taking bookings for their ‘Easter Fitness Camps’, which will feature swimming, rookie-lifeguard and sports camps for children and teenagers over nine days from Monday, April 6th to Friday, April 17th.

Children who wish to learn to swim or improve their swimming skills can also enrol for the new set of lessons in ‘Aura Swim Academy’ from this Saturday, April 4th. For further information visit Aura Letterkenny or contact reception at 074 910 6422.