St Vincent’s and Limerick Lions qualify for semi-finals
In last Saturday’s play-off games St. Vincent’s saw off Gleneagle Lakers 98-91 while Limerick Lions beat DART Killester 66-60.
Limerick Lions have lost the services of Jon Steven and Ricardo Leonard since the sides met in the semi-final of the cup.
“And Killester had brought in a new player - Alexander Ketic - and he was a big guy. Without Ricardo he was always going to be a problem,” said Lions coach Tom Hehir.
“But our guys handled matters quite well. We knew we had to contain him and Rob Lynch did just that. I was depending on the Irish players to come up trumps and Ger Myles did a good job on Grennell while Neil Campbell worked well against Sealy. It was one of those games when you were fighting every offence.”
Killester led 40-36 at half time and were still two points to the good at the end of the third quarter. Limerick got going in the fourth quarter, took the lead with four minutes to go, went four points up and then six, and never looked back.
“We are in the semi-final now and we have never been there before,” said Hehir. “We were very disappointed with the cup final result but the guys have bounced back and they are very positive right now.”
After Neptune had opened the door for them by beating Tralee a week earlier, Gleneagle Lakers were hoping to reap the benefits when they travelled to Greendale to play Roma St. Vincent’s. And with Tim Sullivan and Justin Wingard setting the pace it appeared as if they might make to The Mardyke Arena next weekend.
St. Vincent’s were quick to respond and, with Joe McGuirk imposing himself on Winguard, they had a comfortable 14 point cushion at half-time, 56-42.
But Tim Sullivan proved a thorn in their side in the third quarter as he found a way through to score nine points. McFarland, the Donnelly brothers and Eoin Darling hit them with big three pointers and St. Vincent’s went into the fourth quarter with a 79-66 lead.
Still Lakers fought back doggedly with Goggins and Wingard stepping up a gear. Shane Horgan sunk two three pointers and suddenly Lakers were leading by two points.
James Donnelly came on for brother Dave and hit a big three-pointer to regain the lead for Vincent’s. Lakers were level again with two minutes on the clock but when Turner went to the line for two free throws St. Vincent’s got the upper hand again.
The women’s final at the weekend will feature Vienna Woods Glanmire, who shot the lights out at Little Island on Saturday night, beating the former champions, Bausch & Lomb Wildcats 79-54, and Carna Transport Mercy, who had a sensational 78-51 victory over the defending champions, UL Aughinish, at Mount Temple.
In the case of Glanmire and Wildcats, their most recent meeting in Waterford went to Wildcats but once the Cork girls got them outside of their patch they made the most of it.
“It was a tough game,” said Glanmire coach Mark Scannell. “They are physically strong and very fit and I knew if we could match that we had the basketball to win it.
“We got a big of a lead early on and stayed in control for most of the game. Sinead Leahy was magnificent but this was a team performance - we had six players in double figures. We have a lot of experience through Sinead Leahy, Denise Walshe and Michelle Fahy, the captain of Ireland senior women’s team, and our young players coming through gives us great depth.”
A blistering second quarter from Mercy made all the difference in the other semi-final. Mercy scored 19 points to UL’s three points in that quarter. Michelle Aspell sustained an ankle injury with four minutes to go before the half which didn’t help the Limerick side, but Mercy were playing great defence and running in fast breaks at that stage.
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