SCHOOL REPORT PRESENTATION THURLES AND BASKETBALLTHURLES AND its sporting iconography. Semple Stadium. Hayes's Hotel and all that. If Michael Cusack's ghost returns to haunt the town, he would do well to pass the Presentation Convent with eyes averted. The school has made basketball its own.
Enter the building and two mascots stand sentinel, bedecked in the school's red and white.
Walk the corridor and team photos abound, in a colour scheme of striking uniformity: red and white and the glinting accompaniment of silver. Take a right turn to the vice-principal's office and there is a framed montage of images from the NBA.
Áine Staunton and Mary Ryan, basketball coaches, attended and played the game in the school before returning as teachers.
"From an outsider's perspective, when people think 'Pres Thurles', they think basketball," says Áine. "When I was in college in UL people would ask where I went to school. When you say 'Pres Thurles', people would say, 'Oh, basketball.'"
The school hall has for decades resounded to the percussive thunk of ball on wood. A teacher, Sister Stephanie, introduced the sport in the 1960s. A long-standing tradition was whittled to a competitive edge in the mid-1990s. Pres started venturing beyond its own walls in search of opposition. Opponents were duly found, and usually dispatched.
As a student, Ryan experienced those early forays: "When I started it was just blitz days and county leagues. Then, in 1995, when I was in fifth year, we entered the first round of the leagues.
"In 1996, we got to an All-Ireland semi-final and that was the start of it, really. We were a C team that year. The following year, we were promoted to B, then to A, and the momentum started."
Nine All-Ireland trophies have since been acquired. The school is at present between finals, an interval bracketed by defeat in the All-Ireland under-19 schools cup decider in late January and next Tuesday's under-19 league decider against Calasanctius Oranmore in Tallaght (3.30pm).
The school fizzes with anticipation before finals. The art department becomes a banner factory. Chants are devised. At half-time during the cup final in January, some Pres girls performed a cheerleading dance. No, Mr Cusack would probably not be impressed.
Finals mean the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. Setanta Sports covered the recent cup decider, lost 73-78 to Calasanctius. Seven busloads of pupils followed the team in raucous support. For Ryan, the attention of the cameras was a welcome novelty and a pleasing affirmation.
"It was so professional, with the action replays and the close-ups. The girls loved it; it was a great thrill for them. And they used surnames in the commentary; it sounded like the NBA. It got huge publicity.
"Kieran Donaghy was commentating on some of the boys' finals. And Niamh Dwyer, a past pupil of here who plays for Ireland now, was commentating on our game. She'd have known all the girls."
Even those big days in Tallaght were eclipsed last Easter, when by virtue of winning the under-16 All-Ireland Cup, Pres went on to represent Ireland at the World Schools Championship in Pau, southwest France. They finished 12th of 24 teams, having taken the scalps of Brazil, Israel and Italy.
The rich soil of success nourishes further achievement. No little perspiration is expended in the cause, as Mary points out.
"The girls come in for basketball at mid-terms and at Christmas, so they do take it seriously. We were in three times over this Christmas break. Once they sign up they know the commitment that's there from looking at previous years' teams.
"And, I suppose, looking at previous teams' success, they know they have to commit to it. But they do; they never have any problems. They're very passionate."
Girls generally come to Pres Thurles raw to the sport. Tipperary lacks the club scene prevalent in other Munster counties.
Staunton elaborates: "The club scene in Cork and Kerry is huge, but in Tipp, not so much. We're just a school, whereas a lot of other schools have connections with a club. In other schools, a lot of girls would have played with clubs before going to secondary school. School and club can work hand in hand to develop."
A new Thurles club, The Knights, was formed two years ago. Thus far it has no underage teams - though there is the Tipp Talons girls' teams, who train at Thurles Sarsfields GAA clubhouse in the shadow of Semple Stadium.
Many ex-pupils of Pres, including Staunton, play for The Knights. In their search for an indoor court - the school hall is below regulation size - they have trained in Tipperary town.
Pres Thurles teams have, in fact, always had to trudge the 27 miles to Tipp town to play home games, hiring out a court there. This dearth of facilities puts the school's success in sharper relief.
"The first and second years just play on the outdoor courts," says Ryan. "Even the seniors train outdoors till October, because the school musical is on in the hall, so we don't really have access until after that.
"Playing outdoors toughens them up because they get the old falls and cuts on the knee playing on the tarmac. That's just the way it's been. The kids can't wait for the new hall."
That new hall, currently a spindly skeleton of concrete and steel, should be ready by the beginning of the next school year.
An artist's impression depicts a slick, gleaming arena, squaring future ambition with past success, at a cost of €3 million, provided by a combination of state funding, donation from the Presentation Sisters and private fundraising.
The court will have seating for 600. It is envisaged Thurles Knights will also use it and Basketball Ireland will use it as a regional centre of excellence.
Mary hopes the arena will give Pres an edge: "You'd hope that the Thurles Knights club would grow with the new facilities here and maybe an underage team will get going, so we can have a club hand in hand with the school.
"The standard in schools is getting higher and higher through clubs. Underage clubs are driving standards up . . . and we need to stay up there."
Pass by, Michael Cusack.
Nothing to see here.
Presentation, Thurles
School:Presentation Secondary School, Thurles
Founded:1817
Number of pupils:511
Sports played:Basketball, hockey, camogie, athletics, squash
Major sporting honours:The school has won nine A All-Ireland basketball titles since beginning to compete in the mid-1990s. In 2007, the Pres under-16 side represented Ireland in the World High School games in France, finishing 12th of 24 nations
School sports colours:Red and white
Notable past pupils:Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin; Irish basketball internationals Niamh and Gráinne O'Dwyer.
