In our brand new series, our resident sports fanatic Mary takes on some of Ireland’s top female athletes to see if she has what it takes to compete with the best.

From chatting about their rigorous training programmes to taking us on to the pitch and right into the middle of the action, some of Ireland’s biggest names show Her.ie how it’s done.

Last week, we went head-to-head with Wexford Youths ladies soccer team, while this week we faced off with the Irish Women's Basketball Select squad. 

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Mary says: Despite being a little (just a little) bit on the small side, I’ve always had a major grá for basketball so when I got the opportunity to train with some of the members of the Irish Women’s Premier League Select squad, I jumped at it. Literally. Heading to the Sports Centre at UCD to meet what is essentially the crème-de-la- crème of female basketballers in Ireland right now, I was more than a bit nervous. I caught up with the girls just before they headed off to compete in Luxembourg (which you can catch up on here) and they certainly put me through my paces. Despite not having the height, I like to think I made Shaquille O’Neal quake in his boots just a little bit… or maybe the girls were just being extra sound by telling me how good I was. Either way, I had a blast and they’ll be doing well to keep me away from their training sessions in future. Girls, you officially have a new groupie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgz9Q0gl0JU&feature=youtu.be