Lakers coach is all smiles

DEFEAT for his old club, Neptune at the hands of Horan’s Healthstore Tigers on Saturday night, coupled with their own big win over Mardyke UCC Demons on Thursday night had Gleneagle Lakers coach, Mark Scannell rubbing his hands in anticipation of things to come last night.

"It was very interesting,” he said. “It puts everybody back into the melting pot. From our point of view we are there battling with a big chance of a play-off spot.

“Demons are on six losses and Neptune and ourselves are on eight and, Limerick, too, are not out of it.

“I don’t think that there were ever so many teams in with a chance at this point in the season. Taking the North Conference into account there are about eight in there,” he said.

But he warned that there was no room for complacency, pointing out that every one of those teams know exactly what they have to do. In the South, Tigers are in an unassailable position with all the others battling it out for two places.

“And we have a pretty tough schedule ahead of us,” he said. “We have five games left. Next weekend we travel to Waterford for a difficult game and we have another difficult game away to St. Vincent’s.

“But at the moment we are one of the better form teams in the league. We have lost only one of our last seven games so we have put a nice little run together.”

Neptune went into their game against the Tigers hoping to put the memories of their tight Cup final defeat behind them. Bbut they were not helped by the legacy from that game as the injury to Dave Langrell left them without the lionhearted Kiwi.

Tralee stormed into the game to take an early lead, before two 3-pointers in the closing minute of the first quarter kept the Neptune in touch, but trailing 21 -24.

While Kenny Gamble and Charron Watson failed to produce their usual spark, the home players picked up their game, with Shane McCarthy and Michael McGinn keeping Neptune in contact, 40-43 at half time.

Eighteen first-half points from Chris Bracey, along with 15 from Brandon Mason had Neptune under pressure, while Watson and Gamble only managed 15 points between them.

A fast third quarter saw Bracey and Mason add further points to keep Tralee in control 62-67, at the end of the third quarter. Tralee extended their lead to 9 points with five minutes remaining in the game, before Neptune rallied.

With two minutes on the clock, 3-pointers from Stephen McCarthy and Marcus Wally cut the game to three points , 84-87.

In the dying seconds, Neptune were forced to foul Travaris Bennett, allowing him his only points of the game to allow Tralee the 84-91 victory.

Shamrock Rovers defeated St Vincent’s 109-99 on Friday night, with new signing Wayne Houston impressing on 28 points and adding inside presence for the Hoops, a quality the team have lacked all season.

Rovers led 28-26 at the end of the first quarter, with new Vincent’s signing Michael Chadwick slow to find his form. The second quarter saw Rovers take control of the game as Ron

Bruton began to dominate, picking up 12 points as the game opened up. For St Vincents some indiscretions on the defensive end saw Jermaine Turner pick up three fouls costing the

Glasnevin men a 16-point half time deficit as he sat out several minutes, 53-37 at the break.

Chadwick and Turner assisted by Stephen McGuirk and the Donnelly brothers Emmet and Dave took the fight to Rovers and got back to within eight points of the Hoops midway through the third quarter. Turner, however, picked up his fourth foul and Houston and Bruton took advantage to lead 78-64 at the end of the third.

Vincent’s worked hard in the final quarter but Shamrock Rovers never allowed them back into the game, with Scott Kinevane converting 6/9 from the line, while Marcario made 4/4 to keep St Vincent’s at bay.

In the ESB Women’s SuperLeague a superb final quarter from Grainne Dwyer earned Bausch & Lomb Wildcats a 69-60 win over Dart Killester.

Crucial players were absent for both teams, Suzanne Maguire and Shannon Reid out for Killester, while Nicole Conway continues her recovery from a shoulder injury.

Killester started well, opening up a brief lead before eight successive points, including two 3-pointers from Lisa Palmer earned Wildcats the 17-15 edge at the end of the first quarter.

Twelve first half points from Jenny Coady earned Wildcats the 32-27 lead at half-time, while some nice outside shooting from Killester kept the hosts in touch.

Killester worked hard to gain a one-point lead at the end of the third quarter but Gillian Ennis limped off the court with an ankle injury and Carmel Kissane required stitches to a gash above her eye, which prevented her finishing the game.

Ten final quarter points from Grainne Dwyer, coupled with the influence of Olivia O’Reilly allowed Wildcats seal the nine point victory.