Hehir relishing Wildcats challenge
The Limerick man coached UL to three cup titles in the past four years before joining Wildcats and handing over the UL coaching job to Corkman Jim Nugent.
“You can change roles a lot in sport,” he said. “But I must admit I am looking forward to the challenge. We know each other quite well and that should make it a really interesting game.”
He coached UL Aughinish to three National Cup titles in the past four years and at least as many Superleague titles. In fact, his old club would be going for five-in-a-row were it not for the fact that Killester took them by surprise a couple of years ago. That time they were on an unbeaten run extending back over 56 games when they suffered a three point loss to the underdogs.
“When it comes to the cup, favouritism can go out the door,” he insisted. “But, on overall form, UL would be expected to have our measure in this semi-final. They were able to get Courtney McDaniel back. She is an outstanding player and the fact that she played before means that she was able to fit in straight away. It can be a huge change for an American player coming into our game.”
He was thrilled with the way new signing Crystal Coston played last weekend and she could have a big influence on the outcome.
Michelle Aspell, the outstanding Irish player of her generation, returned to Wildcats with whom she also won cup and league honours before joining UL. Her defection will boost Wildcats and will be a huge loss to UL but it is not something they can’t handle.
They have a formidable line-up that includes several players from past cup winning teams — the likes of Dearbhla Breen, Jillian Ahern, Maura Guiney and Miriam Liston — while Eileen Lyons has moved in to strengthen the bench and Louise Galvin, Cathy Grant and Louise Gray have graduated from under-age ranks.
Busiest team around over the weekend will be Mark Scannell’s Montenotte Hotel Cork side who face DCU Meteors in tomorrow’s other semi-final. They are also involved in the U-18 and U-20 cup semi-finals and Jessica Scannell, daughter of the coach, will be involved in all three semi-finals.
While DCU Meteors go into the semi-final with an outstanding superleague record, the outcome is far from clear cut. Team Montenotte never had a chance to get off the ground due to a succession of injuries that plagued them all season.
They got a huge pre-season boost when the Irish captain Michelle Fahy joined them but she broke her foot playing for her country in a pre-season friendly and then Denise Walsh damaged cruciate ligaments and has been out of action pending surgery next month.
Michelle Fahy returned to training a couple of weeks ago and while her court time may be limited, coach Scannell makes no secret of his delight at her return.
“She will have a rigorous test tonight and, pending the outcome, will play some part in Sunday’s game,” he said.
“Denise Walsh is a huge loss. She has been doing light training all along but it would be very risky to play her.
“I would rate our chances 50/50 going into this game and I am very confident that if we perform and we don’t allow the occasion to get to us we will win.”
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