The Dublin Masters had over 40 competing teams with 16 women’s teams, and Castlebar outfit Mustangs were grouped with Sheffield Pick ‘n’ Mix, Dublin Allstars and Dublin Lions.
Mustangs left the starting stalls in true racing fashion. Player coach Siobhan Kilkenny was in her usual galloping form, hurting the Sheffield side with her 15 point tally. She was joined in the scoring by freshly freeze-branded Mustang, Louise Harte (7pts ) and Sinead Hughes (5pts ), Aedin Nic Fhlannchadha (5pts ), Ciara Griffin (4pts ) and Sheila Cunningham (2pts ). Mustangs also benefitted from the strong presence of Mary Grealish, Derval Coyne, Susan Rowland and Karen Mulherin. The Mustangs had a comfortable win on a score line of 38-18.
The second group game was against Dublin All Stars and Mustangs stayed on course with another impressive win of 36-18, with Aedin Nic Fhlannchadha hitting three three-pointers, damaging the All Stars comeback chances.
In the last group game of the day, Mustangs played the home side, Dublin Lions from Clondalkin. Louise Harte had a huge presence inside the zone for Mustangs while Sinead Hughes had fast hands and feet of fire for the Castlebar side. It was a feisty encounter and Mustangs cleared the final hurdle on a score line 28-14, winning all their games and topping the group.
Sunday morning came and Mustangs played the gold semi final against next group toppers, Oblate Dynamos from Inchicore. Mustangs had a flat footed start in this extremely physical game and they found themselves playing catch-up for the first time over the weekend. Everyone fought hard to close the gap to the tightest of margins only to lose out on the final whistle by six points.
This weekend, Mustangs travel to compete in the Santander Masters tournament in north western Spain.
