Tigers on alert as Demons bid to banish Cup blues

Brendan Mooney

On Saturday night, they face Mardyke UCC Demons, (the side they defeated in the semi-final in Tallaght) in the NIVEA for Men SuperLeague at the Tralee Sports Centre.

And the hosts are expecting some payback.

“Demons are going to be gunning for us,” player/coach Chris Craig insisted yesterday.

“We have to be prepared for that. We are going to have a couple of days rest before it’s back to business. After we play Demons we are in Dublin against Hoops on Sunday.”

The National Cup will be paraded for fans on Saturday, causing some concern for Craig.

“I wish we could parade the cup on a night we did not have a game because I am going to be keeping these guys in check, keeping their eyes focused and their hearts on the game.”

Craig praised college buddy, Roy Smallwood, who captured the MVP award in the final against Roma St. Vincent’s. “He is probably the No 1 player in Ireland right now,” said Craig. “But the whole team rallied around him. We had a tougher semi-final game than Vincents but we had the battlers when it came down to it. We had the warriors.”

None more so than John Teahan who has given a lifetime of service to the club.

“It was great to see John get that elusive national cup medal,” said Tigers Press Officer, Timmy Sheehan. “John is on the road for 14 years now and he finally got his medal just as his brother-in-law, Maurice Fitzgerald, got his first county football medal last year. He is a former international, former player of the year, won two SuperLeague medals and now he has completed the set and there is no one more deserving. He is a man with a young family, he makes the long trip from Caherciveen two nights a week for training and it is a very difficult regime to keep going.”

Sheehan also paid tribute to the US contingent. “Chris Craig gave tremendous leadership on and off the court. He was inspiring on the court when we needed him and Roy Smallwood is the best American player in the country right now.

“We thought we would not be able to recover when we lost three big players at the end of last season but Chris, Roy and Luke O’Hea stepped in. Chris took on an enormous task when he took over the coaching position vacated by Rus (Bradburd) and he has been excellent.

Those were also the sentiments of Micheal Quirke, who added a the National Cup medal to his All-Ireland football medal which he collected last year.

“It was a fantastic achievement for the club,” he said. “And it was massive especially for myself and Kieran Donaghy. We have been playing with Tralee Tigers since we were kids. Every guy who plays basketball in Ireland has the dream that he will be up in Dublin on National Cup weekend and that he will win a cup medal with his club.”