MARY WHITE 

ON Friday, two former WNBA players will go head-to-head in Cork.
Albeit they won’t be playing, Andrea Congreaves and Susan Moran will be at the helm of Team Montenotte Glanmire and St Joseph’s (Philadelphia, USA) respectively when their sides clash on Leeside later this week.
This will be the first outing for Glanmire’s newly-signed English-born coach, Congreaves, while Moran, from Tullamore, was Ireland’s first ever export to make it into the WNBA.
Their teams will do battle at Team Montenotte’s new home for the upcoming season — Upper Glanmire Community Centre — with tip-off at 7.30pm.
Moran made a name for herself on scholarship playing division one basketball in St Joseph’s College, before playing with the New York Liberty and also professionally in Spain, New Zealand and Australia.
Since retiring, she has been St Joseph’s assistant coach.
Her opposing tactician, Congreaves, has also had a glittering career and was also her nation’s inaugural WNBA star (Charlotte Sting and Orlando Miracle), before playing with some of Europe’s powerhouse clubs, including Barcelona (Spain), Como (Italy) and Bourges (France).
The Cork game is included in the Hawks’ 11-day tour of Ireland, which will include visits to Galway, Limerick, Dublin and Belfast.
They will play their first game in Limerick against UL, before travelling to Dublin to play DCU.
From there, the move to Belfast, where on Monday, August 20 they play an ‘Irish Select’ team, which includes Glanmire players Claire Rockall and the Dwyer sisters — Gráinne and Niamh — as well as Brunell’s Danielle O’Leary, at UUJ (6.30pm).
On Friday, however, they will get their first taste of Irish basketball against the former national cup and league champions.
Tickets cost 5 for adults and 2 for children, and can be bought on the door.