Kelleher sweats on captain Coughlan
Coughlan is struggling with a back injury he picked up in the game against UL Eagles and is extremely doubtful according to coach Paul Kelleher, who also has an injury concern over Niall O’Reilly.
“We have a number of injury worries,” confirmed Kelleher. “Shane Coughlan is struggling with a back injury and Daniel O’Sullivan is out for the rest of the season and we are still not certain if Niall O’Reilly will be available.
“We need all the experience we can get down the stretch,” he said. “That’s our biggest concern right now. But we have been hit by injuries all year so it’s nothing new.
“Star are certainly up for this one. They are coming down (on Saturday night) to practice on the court. They feel they should have beaten us twice and they mean business.
“No team has beaten another team three times this season so, from that point of view, what has happened in the past is pretty meaningless. We are going into this as if it was a new season, fresh faces, old faces – like as if it was our first time meeting.”
Belfast Star were unlikely candidates for a play-off at the start of the year but a collapse in form by UCD Marian after their cup win opened the door for the Belfast side.
When the sides met last October it took a last-gasp three-pointer from Ciarán O’Sullivan to claim the points for Demons, who were pushed all the way again by Star in last month’s league win.
Star have big hitters in Clayton Longmire, who is topping the points average this season with 28.27 points per game, and Scott Summersgill and Paul Kelleher has identified them as the big threat to his side’s ambitions of making the last four.
“Star are a very accomplished and well coached team with a nice mixture of youth and experience,” he said.
“Scott Summersgill and Clayton Longmire are explosive scorers and any team that can defeat Killester on their own patch twice has to be respected.”
Star’s coach, Danny Fulton, wasn’t overly concerned about their back-to-back losses last weekend pointing out that they might have been feeling a bit battle weary from a succession of three double-headers.
“I believe that three double-headers caught up with the players,” he said. “We have given Demons two good games this year so we have a real chance if we play well.”
Bord Gáis Neptune face a difficult trip to Dublin to play old rivals DCU Saints.
Saints were not overly impressive in the first half of the season but they emerged as the form team of 2011, recording eight league wins in nine games.
Neptune, inspired by a magnificent display from Michael Bonaparte, beat Saints by 10 points back in December but coach Pat Price still believes they go into this game as underdogs.
“We are excited about the game but are well aware we must be massive underdogs,” he said.
“With Saints having home court advantage it is truly a David & Goliath challenge.”
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