Lions will be wary of a Demons backlash

THE happenings of last weekend rendered the formbook for tomorrow’s Men’s SuperLeague Cup Final meaningless.

Finalists UCC Demons were demolished by Gleneagle Lakers in the final ten minutes of a league encounter while opponents Limerick Lions had to battle through overtime for an 89-91 victory over basement team, Neptune.

Demons were hot favourites to lift the cup but, last Sunday, they were licking their wounds after a sensational turnaround saw them lose by seven after leading by 27 at half-time.

“That Demons performance was totally out of context,” insisted Limerick Coach, Tom Hehir. “It was important only to Killarney.

“They took the points. It won’t any bearing on proceedings tomorrow. We certainly won’t be thinking about it.”

And neither will Demons Coach, Pat Price. “Every season has a defining moment and for us I think this was it. If in the future we can look back on it and promise never to allow it to happen again then we’ll have learned from it.

“This is a very good Demons team and I am proud of them. But we are going into a cup final and Limerick are there for a reason.

“They can hurt you from different positions. Ricardo (Leonard) is having an outstanding season and if there was a comeback player of the year award he would get it.

“Jon Steven and Rob Taylor are primarily perimeter guys and he carries them from the post.”

James Whyte remains a doubt (shoulder injury) but Price is hopeful of his availability. “He is getting physio - it’s an aggravated old injury that he’ll have to redress in the off-season - and I am not going to run the risk of playing him for one game and then losing him for the season.”

And he insisted that he will not be changing the game plan for the final.

“There is no mystery, we don’t have any secrets,” he said. “They’ve played us three times and know what we do and how we do it. We just have to keep a tempo they cannot sustain. Maybe they will sustain it for 11, 22 or 33 minutes but not for the whole game. If every guy is committed to our cause, our style of play and our whole approach then we can win this game.”

Expect Michael Doles, Gary Johnson and Colin O’Reilly to lead the Demons charge.

Said Coach Hehir: “Demons keep scoring over 100 points, even when they lose, and we’re struggling to score points at the moment - it finished 91-89 against Neptune in overtime and we hit 70 points in the cup semi-final. But we are not there without a shout. Ricardo (Leonard) is having the season of his life. He is enjoying it and that is reflected on and off the court.

“I know somebody said after the Neptune game that we did not play well. But we won and that is what this game is all about - winning.

“People will laugh at me but we lack that bit of experience. If you look at the bench you will see Stuart (Hehir), Aidan O’Brien and Stephen King and they are all between the ages of 17 and 19. I will be looking for big games from Robert Lynch, Neil Campbell and Stephen King to complement Rob Taylor, Jon Steven and Ricardo Leonard. It is going to be a competitive game but we won’t mind that. We were dead and buried against Neptune but we came back and I think that showed we have character.”