Basketball: Waterford face daunting mission against Neptune
“If we are going to have to play them we might as well get it on,” Crystal coach Michael Evans said as he geared up to face his fellow Waterford man, Gerry Fitzpatrick.
“But it was a draw nobody wanted. Neptune are playing very well, they have a very good five and are very balanced.
“We would prefer to meet them in Neptune Stadium rather than here in Waterford because we play well there and they sometimes look a bit vulnerable there.
“We have brought in a scoring guard, Tony Atchinson, from Killester. He played for Kansas State - a Big 12 school - where he was first off the bench so we are looking forward to getting him into our programme. We have until January 3 to get it right.
“We have to be satisfied - if not happy - with the draw. Ballina would have been the nightmare scenario, but we will be underdogs.”
Defending champions, Mardyke UCC Demons have a home draw against three-time cup champions, St. Vincent’s. “We are fortunate to be at home,” coach Pat Price admitted. “Vincent’s are one of the strongest teams and they are always tough around the cup.
“We are going to need to produce our best defensive day of the year.
“Joe Boylan is a very good coach and he will have them well prepared, but in the short term, we are just trying to get better as a team and hope that when January 4 rolls around we will be good enough.”
Gleneagle Lakers produced a giant-killing performance to beat Shamrock Rovers at the weekend and they might just have to do it again away to BurgerKing Limerick.
“At least we avoided Neptune and Killester and that is something but we would have liked a home draw,” coach Mark Scannell said. “But you can’t have it every way and we are going into the game in the right frame of mind.”
BurgerKing coach, Tom Hehir, pointed out that Lakers beat them pretty convincingly when they met in the SuperLeague at the UL Arena.
“We will have exactly the same team now, so I would rate Lakers the favourites,” he said. “But home advantage is a good thing and it is turning out to be a pretty exciting competition for Munster clubs. We are guaranteed two Munster clubs in the semi-finals and, if Demons do it against Vincent’s, we will have three.
“And that bears out what I have always felt about the Conferences. Teams can come out of the South and beat the North teams so the whole thing is pretty uneven.
"If it was just one SuperLeague the teams in the South would be well up there. Lakers are a lot better than people think and the Cup will suit them. You have one shot at it and it can come down to how badly you want it.”
The quarter-final draw is: Neptune v Waterford Crystal; Team Merry Monk Ballina v Dart Killester; Mardyke UCC Demons v St. Vincent’s; BurgerKing Limerick v Gleneagle Lakers.
The quarter-finals round will be played on January 3 and 4 with the semi-finals and finals scheduled for January 30-February 1.
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