Demons return to haunt Tigers

IT may have done precious little to ease the disappointment of their cup final defeat two weeks earlier, but UCC Demons handed Abrakebabra Tigers a clear warning that their Nivea for Men SuperLeague ambitions could be under threat when they visited the Mardyke Arena yesterday afternoon.

Their message to the all-conquering cup champions came in the form of a spectacular, if not overwhelming 105 to 94 victory that puts Demons back in contention for a place in next month’s play-offs.

Tigers, who remain top of the Southern Conference, are virtually assured of a place at the business end of the competition but this loss, on the back of a similar experience in Belfast a week earlier when they suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Star, could easily send an air of doubt sweeping along the bench.

Coach Dave Falvey makes no secret of the fact that the double is still their target, but he will have to do something to fill the huge blank that has been left under boards through the defection of Micheál Quirke and, to a lesser extent, Kieran Donaghy to the Kerry football team.

But he must realise that it took massive performances to beat them over the past two weekends and, like Star, Demons played their best basketball of the season yesterday.

“We got a monster effort from Benito (Flores),” Demons coach Pat Price pointed out.

“I mean 29 points and 18 rebounds. It’s hard to beat that.

“LeShon Sheffield had 30 points and David Murphy was superb. He had 19 points and 11 rebounds and that must be a career high for him.

“In fairness to Tralee they shot the ball very well. We had to be a bit more disruptive in the second half and we got the ball out of David Fanning’s hands. Niall O’Reilly and David Murphy made sure that they only got one shot.

“We have had seven losses by six points or less so it is just a matter of getting a few more possessions to turn the tide.

“We need to stay upbeat and stay focused from here on in.”

Mustang Sally’s/St Paul’s also bounced back from a lean spell to beat Limerick Lions 106-87 in Killarney and set up an interesting clash with Neptune at the Presentation Gym tomorrow night. Coach Cormac O’Donoghue had big games from Dainius Varanauskas, Ger Noonan, Matt Hilleary, Antonio Cool and Justin Wingard to instil hopes of even better to come.

Mary Fox signed off with a massive return of 33 points as DCU Mercy beat newly-crowned women’s national cup champions Team Montenotte Hotel 86-58 at Little Island on Saturday night.

While it also gave them some measure of revenge for their cup semi-final defeat, Mercy will see this as reinforcing their SuperLeague challenge.

Bausch & Lomb Wildcats also enhanced their SuperLeague claims with a 71-59 win over DART Killester, the home side only asserting their superiority in the last five minutes when Jenny Maher, Grainne Dwyer and Olivia O’Reilly stepped up to support Crystal Costan, Niamh Mullally and Michelle Aspell who had set the early pace.