Tigers hit by double blow
This means they will be absent when the newly crowned champions travel to the Mardyke Arena on Sunday to play UCC Demons in a repeat of the cup final.
“Micheál Quirke is going to be a huge loss to us,” Falvey insisted. “He has become central to our whole game and without him we are going to be short on height. We will struggle offensively.”
At the start of the season the Tigers set themselves three goals: to win the cup, to win the Nivea for Men SuperLeague and to go through the campaign unbeaten.
“We lost two games early on and each time we were without Micheál (Quirke),” Falvey recalled.
And when they lost to Belfast Star last weekend they were missing Quirke again, as well as Donaghy.
“Without him (Quirke) we don’t have height under the boards and his rebounds are so important,” the coach said. “We can’t really blame them for opting for the Kerry football team. With Pat O’Shea there you can sense a bit of a buzz around the county.
“From our own point of view we will just have to go in there and try to win every game. We have six games left and if we win three of those we will qualify for the play-offs.
“It is still our aim to win them all. When we signed three professional players at the beginning of the season this is what we signed them for. But if we bring in Roscoe Patterson we have to take off Dave (Fanning) or James (Mooney) and offensively we will struggle. We just have to get on with the job.”
With Shane Coughlan nursing a groin injury, Arturos Gavenia out with a knee injury and Niall Murphy and Michael Plichta laid low with ‘flu, Demons’ coach, Pat Price, is in the same situation he was in November when his bench was decimated.
“We gave a great under-manned effort against St. Vincent’s last weekend but this is not the time of the year for moral victories — it’s all about results right now,” the beleaguered coach insisted. “And its a lot easier to find our where you are at when you actually have all your players.”
There was a bit of good news when Shane Coughlan responded well to physiotherapy on the groin injury he picked up early in the cup final.
“He will be evaluated at the weekend and there is a slim chance he will play against Tralee,” said Price. “But, let’s face it, this not the time to be searching for angles. We need results.
Tigers were brought down to earth with a bump last weekend when they lost 110-89 to Star in Belfast but they are virtually assured of a place among the top four come the mid-March play-offs. However, Falvey knows that multiple losses can introduce doubt into the squad.
Team Motenotte Hotel will put their cup celebrations aside tomorrow night when they entertain Mark Ingle’s DCU Mercy in Little Island.
They beat DCU in a dour struggle to qualify for the cup final and the visitors will be out to avenge that defeat.
“From our point of view this is a must win game,” Phillips Manager of the Month, Mark Scannell, insisted. “In fact we will have to win all our games from here on in and that is a tough ask.”
They will be missing April Cahalane this weekend as she has important
exams coming up and will be devoting her time to her law studies.
But with Marie Breen, Michelle Fahy, Donna Buckley and Amanda O’Regan all playing so well, they should be able to put another big game together.
“We have been very unlucky with injuries this season and that has given us a mountain to climb,” Mark Scannell said. “But if we qualify for the play-offs we are going to be very, very dangerous.”
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