Luke Moloney Attacker No. 19
What a year it has been for the Easkey man
from playing in Croke park for his club to playing at the Men's Senior Lacrosse
World Championships in San Diego in June/July
Luke was born in Easkey, but he then goes on
to explain to us how he began playing Lacrosse. “So, I grew up in Manchester
from when I was about 8 to 20. So, I would have picked up the cross as a kid
started playing lacrosse in primary school. Secondary school I went and started
playing field lacrosse and just kind of went with it from there.”
It was always going to be difficult for the
young Sligo man to pursue his Lacrosse career, but he worked hard and managed
to achieve his dream. “My first start with the Irish team was in 2019 for the U
20 European Championship in Prague and then off the back of that. One of the
coaches was also coaching the men's box team. He called me off as an alternate
for the 2019 Men's box team and I haven't looked back since then. I have made
every squad I could have since then at senior level.”
While sitting in San Diego Maloney explains
how he felt when he got the call to play for the men’s senior side at the world
championships. “When the team got announced we got the email that got
announced. That was a relief obviously after you know the hard work that goes
into preparing and trying it out. It's always a good feeling to represent Ireland.
Yeah, I was obviously a little bit shocked, in a good way. Felt like I had to
step up and really live up to it and just kind of went in there trying to learn
as much as I could. Just try and be a student, rather than the older more
experienced guys and just try to help out in any way that I could to help the
team in whatever way I possibly could.”
Maloney, who spent part of last year in Canada
developing his lacrosse skills, points out to us that he will find it difficult
to play for Ireland if he stays in the country.” My plan is always just to try
and try and get as good as I can to try to improve as much as I can to be a
more impactful player for the national team. So, I've got the visa for Canada.
I am going to train and go back and play some box lacrosse out there. I was
there last year. Hope to get back out there this wintertime and just keep
trying to develop you're trying to get better and be a better place to help the
Irish team in the next few competitions.
It is clear Luke has a plan and let’s hope we
will see the Sligo man wear the Irish jersey at European, world and maybe even
Olympic level in 2028.
Brendan Boles Defender No. 43
Next up we have American born defender Brendan
Boles who points out to us how strong is Sligo heritage is. “So, my grandfathers
from Sligo are from Geevagh and then emigrated over to Canada and then down
into New York and was a bar down in New York City.” Boles explains to us how he
started playing the sport in elementary school around 8th grade and hasn't
really looked back since. He also went on to play college lacrosse at a high
level near to where he lived until he graduated. “I played division 3 lacrosse
in Morrisville State College which is up in Syracuse, New York where I
graduated from in 2021.”
For a man who was well aware of his Irish
roots he always had a feeling he could represent Ireland at an international level,
and this was the case once he talked to his cousin. “My cousin actually played
for the 2002 World Team for Ireland, and he was the one who mentioned it to me.
“
Boles then goes onto to detail how he went to
the first Irish trials and his experience since then.” I started trying out at
Rutgers University and then got invited to Ireland and Limerick. So, we played
in the festival and as a triumph alongside the world, you 21 World Games and
then found out I made a team just really, really happy to be here and just
excited to represent my family and the country of Ireland.” Brendan then
reveals his initial feelings when he got word that he had made the Irish team. “It
was Just a great feeling. You know, just a lot of hard work paid off and I'm
just happy to represent my grandparents and my family that are still in Ireland.”
He finishes off by explaining that “I want to
keep playing for the Irish team as long as he can so I can honor that heritage
and make my grandfather proud.”
Conor Shears Attacker
The final member of the Irish team we hear
from is Conor Shears who reveals to us he has very strong Irish/ Sligo
connections. “, My grandfather's family was all from curry and Sligo. And I've
too many second cousins to count the belief my mom had 51 first cousins, all
Irish born and been able to visit the country several times. Once when I was
two, once when I was about 10, and then a couple of times recently going out
there to Limerick for the island training camps. And like grandfather, was a
Gaelic football player who played for the Curry team. His name was Patrick
Henry. “
Even with the Irish blood Shears picked up
lacrosse at a young age from his mother. “I started playing lacrosse when I was
six. My mom didn't play growing up, but she picked up the sport in a gym class
in college. T So she wanted me and my brother to give it a try. And she ended
up setting up these after school clinics at my school, which is the local high
school. “Due to Covid Shears was lucky enough to play lacrosse for five years
in college. '' I first went to Bucknell University before being lucky enough to
move to Florida and play for a year in Jacksonville.”
Shears could see that a number of his college
teammates had played international lacrosse for different teams so he went out
to see if he could represent Ireland. “
I'd heard that if you just have a grandparent that was born in a
different country, you're eligible to get the passport and eligible for dual
citizenship that I actually heard from Coach Curran back in 2019 from the same
area as him to play against his high school lacrosse back when I was in high
school. And he reached out to me, so I ended up applying for a passport and
tried out for the team and went to training camp in 2019 for the 2020 euros.
`Conor informs us of how he felt when he first got the call to play for Ireland.
“It's been an awesome experience. Every experience I've had with the teams
before it's been great, like having a blast training camp I went to and then
this was my first time competing with the team. That's been awesome here at
SDSU in San Diego with all the other athletes with all the other guys
representing their respective countries. And it's really been an honor to wear
the Irish uniform and actually go out there and compete. “
Now that he has finished college that amount
of Lacrosse Shears will play will be less, but this doesn't mean he won't wear
the green jersey for a number of more years. “I'll definitely be playing again.
You know, being graduated from college this is the only competitive lacrosse I
get to play anymore. I am hoping for the best in these next two seating games.
You know we want to lock down the nine seed t and hopefully get a good seeding
for the next go around. “
Let's hope we see all the boys play again at European,
World and hopefully even Olympic level if the game is accepted by the
International Olympic committee for 2028 and beyond.
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