Back to basics as Price’s deadly Demons chase the double
“We have a tough stretch of road games ahead of us,” the Coach admitted yesterday. “And I would predict that six of our seven opponents are play-off bound. In fact I would suggest that, even post cup, nine of the 11 hopefuls are still there with a chance.”
When the dust settled after the cup weekend there was a shock in store for Pat Price who discovered that Barry Kelleher had broken his foot at work the previous Friday.
“He did not tell me. He practised on Friday and Saturday in the hope that he would play on Sunday but when he had the foot X-rayed on Monday it revealed a fracture. I did not know whether to hug him or punch him,” he said. “Unfortunately he is going to be sidelined until March.”
Everyone else turned up for practice on Wednesday night at a time when the coach admitted the players thought they would have more time off.
“But, there is no room for error at this point and the session was more of a statement that we were coming back,” he said. “We did not need to work on anything in particular.”
There was even worse news for Limerick Lions’ coach Tom Hehir, when Jon Steven was sent for an X-Ray on Monday to discover that he had broken his leg in a fall at the start of the second quarter and went through the pain barrier to play out the remainder of the game.”
Steven had just hit a three-pointer when he crashed through the advertising hoarding on the side of the court and while he was obviously hampered for a short time he ended up with 17 points and nine rebounds.
“I can’t think of many players who would have done that,” Coach Hehir admitted. “But now we are faced with a huge problem, - compounded by the fact that our Bosman, Adrian Walsh, who has not started since he picked up an injury in October, is still not OK.
“We expect a tough game from Hoops at the weekend but, if we get a player in, I would hope that he will be settled for the Demon’s game the following weekend.”
Hoops will have a tough game behind them when they face up to Limerick because, tomorrow night, they will entertain resurgent Neptune.
The Cork side have made a dramatic turnaround since Michael Evans took over but he will have to plan without point guard, Michael McGinn, who has a prior engagement to fulfil.
“Our biggest difficulty is the fact that we have only had two games in the past month,” Coach Evans said. “Where we are right now we would need a game every weekend to keep the momentum going.”
That will change pretty quickly because they’re at home to Gleneagle Lakers on Wednesday and Abrakebabra Tigers the following Saturday, followed by a home game against UCD before returning to The Mardyke Arena for Demons.
“We could be nicely poised right now if things had gone right for us the weekend before last,” he said. “And they only went wrong by a hairs breadth - when we should have beaten Limerick and Demons should have beaten Killarney. Those results would have been worth six points to us.
“But if we beat Hoops on Saturday I will be happy. It’s not going to be easy. People think Lennie (McMillan) is gone but he can come in and hurt you with some big baskets and Hoops have some exciting young players like Scott Kinevane and Ciaran White. Unfortunately I would not have seen their American players.
“While they may lack the confidence of previous years, I think this Neptune team is beginning to gel. Our next three games are huge and the whole run up to the play-off stages is interesting.
“We play Tralee three times, Killarney twice and we have Demons and UCD so if we beat Hoops it will give us a lifeline. Like I said, I think we have a nice team.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
