Kerry ‘Star’ Donaghy set to shine for Tigers in Cup decider

FOOTBALLER of the year, Kieran Donaghy, will be available for the men’s superleague national cup final at the National Basketball Arena when his, Abrakebabra Tigers, bid to wrest the trophy from UCC Demons.

The Kerry star was in Tralee on Sunday night to celebrate their semi-final win over St Vincent’s after returning from a trip to Australia with the All-Ireland SFC champions. Donaghy is set to join the All-Stars on their trip to Dubai next week but sources close to the player and the Tigers club say that he will be back in Ireland and available for the cup final on Sunday week.

“Personally, I have not discussed the matter with Kieran as of now,” coach Dave Falvey said yesterday. “I know he will be turning up for training tomorrow night and we will have an opportunity to talk about it then.

“To know that he would be available would give us a huge boost in the lead up to the final and to have him on the court would be a huge bonus.

“We have only had him for four games this year and two of those were in the earlier rounds of the cup. He was superb each time.

“He is a great clubman and the fact that he turned up to meet us on Sunday night after such a long trip home proved that.

“On Sunday night we were able to relax and watch the game and we had to be pleased with what we saw. I think the lads could not have done more.”

Another Kerry footballing star, Micheál Quirke, emerged as the star of the weekend at the National Basketball Arena.

“I don’t think any player, Irish or American, has turned in a final quarter to compare with his last quarter,” coach Falvey said.

“And I don’t think people really appreciated the contribution made by James Mooney. The talk before the game was that if St Vincent’s could close down James Mooney they would win.

“But it was not a just a case of St Vincent’s closing him down. He held Jermaine Turner to four points in the first half. And we also had to shut down some players. Young James Donnelly shot the lights out at Neptune Stadium the previous week when he hit four three-pointers. In a tight game we could not have allowed him to come off the bench and do something like that. From that point of view John Teahan, Aidan Holden and Liam Culloty did well.

“We know what we are up against going into the final. Demons are a cup team.”