MAYO basketball star Hazel Finn and her team Trinity Meteors were crowned national league champions on Sunday.

The Irish international from Kiltimagh helped win the club's first ever Domino's Women's Super League title. In a thrilling final in the National Basketball Arena Dublin, Meteors edged a fantastic UCC Glanmire team 87-81 in a game that ebbed and flowed until the final minute.

“It's been brilliant. You couldn't write it,” said a happy Hazel Finn, speaking to The Mayo News after the final: “It's just a great experience and not many people get to be in these situations or experiences. I need to sit down and just actually think about how lucky I am.”

Finn and Trinity Meteors already had to overcome two stiff challenges in the previous rounds. They knocked out defending champs Killester BC in the semi-final. And then this decider for the league title went right down to the wire as well. 

“The last two games we had, or three games, including the final, they were neck and neck and they were tough. It just shows all the hard work we put into it, throughout the year.”

'BLEW ME AWAY'

Among the many messages coming in to congratulate Finn on her achievement, one of them stands out, because it came wholly unexpected: “What blew me away was Kieran Donaghy texting me, replying to my Instagram story. It was just such a really nice message to get from someone like an athlete like him. It makes you take a step back and be like, this is huge, like, what we just won.”

Before and during the game, Finn could draw on huge support from her family. Her sister Dayna, who plays Australian Football for Carlton, was pundit on TG4 for the match, and Hazel's parents Bernie and John were there as well:
“Dayna loves just even coming to the games and supporting us and just being there, and my parents will attend every single game every year. They're honestly the best people ever. Mom would give up a trip away with the women and dad would give up a round of golf with the lads just to come to our games. And loads of further family and friends were there, the support we had was just insane.”

It was needed, as UCC Glanmire pushed Trinity Meteors to the limit and proved to be a challenge worthy of a final. 
Neither team was able to build a significant lead over the course of 40 minutes. Each time Meteors had distanced themselves from Glanmire by seven or eight points, the Cork women found a way back into the game.

Trinity's work under the basket paid dividends as center Ava Learn grabbed several offensive rebounds and also added 23 points and two crucial three-pointers   before being rightfully named MVP (Most Valuable Player). Also, Kylie Horstmeyer was inspirational, bringing on huge physicality and athleticism.

Hazel Finn might not have had her biggest scoring match, but she had many crucial interventions, steals, assists and lay-ups, as well as two clutch free-throws to finish off the game. She had only transferred to Trinity Meteors last summer and in her first year with the team, they made it to the cup semi-final and secured the league title.

After winning the national cup last season with her previous team FloMaXX Liffey Celtics, Finn's trophy cabinet grows steadily. Next year she will stay with Trinity Meteors. Who knows, surely there's still some space for more trophies.