Reigning champs look forward to showdown with UCD
The draw for the quarter finals of the Cup was held after the game and also gave Neptune, beaten finalists last season, a home tie against Gleneagle Lakers. Roma St Vincent’s will be at home to Limerick Lions, who won the title in 2002.
The big game of the round will undoubtedly be between the leaders of their respective divisions, DART Killester and Abrakebabra Tigers.
Tigers are the only team to have beaten Killester this season but they suffered an unexpected defeat at the hands of Merry Monk Ballina over the weekend - their second loss of the campaign having gone under to Demons last month.
Demons are riding high right now having hit form at precisely the right time, having lost just one of their last seven games and the draw against UCD won’t faze them.
“A home game in the Cup is good at any time and we will want to take advantage of that,” Coach Pat Price said.
They played UCD in their very first game of the season and won by 105-92, but while they will take hope from that, they won’t take any chances.
“The cup is the cup no matter who you are playing,” coach Price insisted. “We have been so busy getting back on track in the league that we have given zero thought to the cup up to now.”
There will be little festive fare for the team with the quarter finals just a week after Christmas. “We will be getting in some good training over the break. We have our schedule drawn up and will practice twice over the coming week. Then we will be back on December 28,” Price said.
“We won’t be thinking about the opposition. We will just be focused on ourselves. It will be up to them to make whatever adjustments they feel they need to make. Up to now we have not had many breaks but we are hanging tough despite all that. I admire the fact that the guys are fighting in every game. We are competitive and we are getting the balance right at this point. We are scoring from different spots on the floor and defensively we are very committed.”
He was delighted with yesterday’s 87-96 victory. Leading by a point at the end of the first quarter and by six at half time, they appeared to be in total control going into the final quarter, but Vincent’s fought back and had cut the lead to just two points when Brian Clernon hit them with a big three pointer. Emmet Donnelly was then fouled out with three and a half minutes remaining, soon to be followed by Glen Worley, and Demons went on to win an intense and bruising game.
“It was as good a performance as you could hope to see on the road,” Price said. “They were a tough team with so many options and so many weapons.”
Neighbours Neptune beat Shamrock Rovers Hoops 82-67 in the third round on Saturday night at Neptune Stadium to begin what was a miserable weekend for the Dubliners who yesterday suffered a 107-89 drubbing at the hands of Limerick Lions.
With Adrian Fulton out through injury and Gareth Maguire a late withdrawal due to illness, Danny Fulton had to turn to youth team members Ciaran McVeigh, Michael McKillop and Chris Smye for their game against DART Killester on Saturday night. They turned in a battling first half performance to trail the conference leaders by just one point at the end of the first quarter and by nine at half time. In the third quarter Chambers was hampered with a hand injury and Summersgill was in foul trouble, Smye suffered an ankle injury and DART eased into a 13 point lead.
In Ballina, Merry Monk played host to an understrength Abrakebabra Tigers and the home side won 97-85 in a disappointing encounter. The visitors set the early pace but, with Josh Lewis and Ronan McGarrity on target, Merry Monk went into a two point lead at the end of the first quarter and led 32-17 at half time. Despite having only seven players, Tralee fought back with O’Hea, Teahan and Chris Craig cutting the deficit to 10 points. Lewis, McGarrity and Laurence Young kept Ballina in front.
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