Neptune look to clip Eagles’ wings again

IF THERE are questions being asked about Bord Gáis Neptune and UL Eagles a lot of them will be answered at Neptune Stadium on Sunday afternoon when they cross paths in the Nivea for Men SuperLeague.

The first time they met resulted in a somewhat unexpected victory for Neptune’s new coach, Mark Scannell, just settling into the Superleague role.

However the timely arrival of new American signing, Robert Taylor, helped Eagles dethrone the cup champions last weekend and while he will face a bigger test against Neptune, Scannell is taking nothing for granted.

“The first time we played them they had no American and now with Robert Taylor they have an experienced professional who will pose us problems if we fail to shut him down,” he said.

The mood in the Eagles’ camp is also one of caution as coach Mark Keenan sees Neptune as a dangerous team on their home court.

“We were relieved to get over UCD Marian in the national cup quarter final and now we have another huge test in taking on a very good Neptune side on their home court,” he said.

“When we played them in the first game of the season back in October they outplayed us and this will be a good gauge for me to monitor our progress.”

UCD Marian and DCU Saints both bowed out of the cup last weekend and meet tomorrow night in the SuperLeague with both coaches looking forward to rediscover winning form.

“It’s very simple — we did not play well enough last weekend,” Marian coach Fran Ryan said. “Eagles laid the foundation for their win with a good first half display and we were forced to play catch up in the second.”

Saints coach David Donnelly added: “We went to Cork in a good frame of mind but had no excuses at the end of the game because we came up against a very good (UCC) Demons side.

“It’s always a hard game at Belfield but I am confident my players will rise to the challenge and keep our winning league form intact.”

UCC Demons came out of that game in a winning frame of mind and will be expected to maintain their form against Moycullen at NUIG tomorrow night.

The game of the weekend in the Nivea Women’s SuperLeague will see the champions UL travel to Dublin to play DCU Mercy while Team Montenotte travel to play 11890 Killester.