By 
OMAGH Thunder head coach Ronan McKenna has enjoyed a successful campaign in his first year in the role leading them to a 12-3 record in Conference 1 of Division 1 this season.
Following Aidan Bradley’s retirement last season, McKenna took the helm of the senior team, doubling up his playing role on court.
Combining the player/ coach role he stated has brought additional responsibility in terms of his on-court awareness as to how the game is unfolding tactically.
He compared it to when he was previously a junior coach and admitted it was a lot more difficult now that he has to manage his fellow players’ minutes on the court as well as his own.
“I came into the season with ideas on how I wanted us to play. Getting used to playing with the squad we have, the style we have now has developed out of that.”
More turnovers
He went on to say that the team had focused on generating more turnovers and creating easy scoring opportunities.
Ulster University Tigers Jordanstown had to forfeit in their recently scheduled game against the Omagh Thunder due to a lack of players.
Ronan stated that these circumstances do crop up from time to time, but mostly when the away team has a large distance to travel along with low numbers of players.
Ronan stated that Omagh Thunder had no games this season where they have had to forfeit due to lack of numbers, always having 7 or 8 players there for a consistent rotation.
“We’ve not struggled, and always been able to get by with what we have.”
McKenna believes the growth of the sport would be aided by greater access to facilities, as the Thunder’s biggest operating cost is rent for their training sessions and their home games.
This also includes paying the referees at their home games who receive a rate plus mileage.
Most of their money goes towards court fees and is limited to the amount of time that they can afford out of the team’s small budget, which is made up mostly by the players and sometimes receives funding from the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
Ronan said that his biggest challenge this season has been taking over the responsibilities on the administrative side and managing the finances of the club.
Ronan explained in detail why he enjoys the sport of basketball.
“There’s an immense satisfaction in playing a game and getting into a flow. It’s never about being strict and defined.
“I love the speed of it, I love the ability for one player to come in and make an impact in a short space of time and that can completely turn a game.
“ We’ve had games where I’ve watched guys come in for 5 minutes and play absolutely out of their skin and completely flip a result.”
The Thunder travel to play Hazelwood Hawks for their final game of the regular season tonight. After that they play in the Plate final against Belfast Star 2 scheduled for March 1st.
Ambitions
Their season started back in September and will end in March after the playoffs to decide the Division 1 champions.
The Thunder side led by Men’s Premier All-Star Charlie McKinney had been relegated to Division 1 at the end of the 2024/25 season.
When questioned on Omagh Thunder’s ambitions of playing in the Premier Division again following their potential promotion this season, McKenna added:
“We’ve been there before and we’ll get back and try and do better than we’ve done before.”
Omagh Thunder practice on Mondays in St John’s Dromore Sports Complex and on Thursdays at the Station Centre in Omagh.
Ronan encouraged new players to come along on Mondays following the end of the season in April, as there will be less focus towards trying to win games, and more about giving everyone an opportunity to get a good run out.
