Coughlan blow for Demons

COACH Luke D’Alessio will have to plan the next couple of weeks without UCC Demon’s captain and star player, Shane Coughlan.

Coughlan went into last weekend’s National Cup final against Killester nursing an injured left shoulder and he came out of the game having damaged the other one.

“He was injured before the game. He did not train Thursday or Friday,” D’Alessio said. “He played (in the final) but he wasn’t the same and then he injured the other shoulder.

“That’s always the way. You have an injured shoulder and you tend to compensate and then you injure the other one.

“Shane went to hospital that night to have the injury assessed and he will be out for a time with it.”

It is another huge blow to the coach who has been plagued by injuries throughout the season. In fact he only had a healthy team for one game since the campaign got under way.

Last weekend’s painful loss to Killester had already left Coach D’Alessio with the task of restoring confidence and morale within the squad.

“Killester were sensational in the first half, you have to hand them that, and it was not that we were not trying or anything like that,” he said.

“I thought we would pull something back after half time, maybe get it down to 20 or even 10 points and then see what happened.

“The guys could have given up but the fighting spirit was there and they fought all the way to the line. We played much better in the second half, things calmed down.

“Our team came under considerable criticism. Demons are used to winning cup games but let’s not forget what we had to come through to get to the final. We had to win three games to get there including a big semi-final against Neptune. It was not easy.”

This weekend they get back to defending their SuperLeague title with what could be an ideal game against UCD Marian at The Mardyke Arena on Sunday afternoon.

“It looks like a fight for second place (in the Conference) between ourselves and Neptune,” the coach said. “We have seven games remaining so it is going to be tough all the way.”

National Event Hire Neptune have been enjoying a nice run that included wins over both cup finalists.

“We are still sticking with the one-game-at-a-time stuff,” coach Pat Price insisted in advance of tomorrow night’s clash with old rivals, DCU Saints. “We have had a great week in training and the lads are really focused. The absence of any opportunity to win the cup narrows the focus.

“What happens to Limerick or Demons is out of our hands so all we can do is take care of our own business and gather enough wins to be placed nicely.

“We are a completely new set-up and we may have caught a few teams off guard but that will not happen any more so we have to be prepared because we are not going to surprise anybody now – they will be prepared.

“But it is so much easier to progress when there are so many people on board. Our progress depends on the unreasonable. The committee is tremendously supportive of what we are trying to do with the programme. They trust us to get on with it.”

Meanwhile, UL Eagles coach, Tony Hehir, sees the stretch in sight as they face up to the beaten Cup semi-finalists, UCD Marian, tomorrow night.

“We just have to make sure that we stay focused over the next few weeks,” he said. “The league comes down to the play-offs. We have to win the conference title and we also want to finish strong. When you are out of the cup you get that break for a few weeks.

“We have five or six weeks of hard games and there is no easy game at this stage of the competition when teams are either in contention or anxious to finish the season well.”

Belfast Star will host the newly-crowned National Cup Champions Killester on Sunday when Mark Keenan’s focus will be on the SuperLeague.

“Our goal is to retain our position in the standings and obtain a play-off spot,” he said. “The loss from last year continues to be our motivating factor.”

DCU Mercy will have the opportunity to parade the women’s national cup when they play at home to Sligo All Stars while Team Montenotte Hotel will be back home at the Little Island Sports Complex to refocus after their cup final defeat. They play host to Tolka Rovers tomorrow night (7pm) in what will be an ideal setting for Mark Scannell to get them refocused.

UL continue their IrishSport.tv’s SuperLeague quest with a home game against Bausch & Lomb Wildcats, many of whom were involved in the under-20’s final against Glanmire last weekend.