Rival coaches must put friendship aside

CORMAC O’DONOGHUE and James Weldon played basketball together with Gleneagle Lakers in Killarney but will put that friendship aside this evening.

The duo have taken to management and O’Donghue’s Team Montenotte Hotel Cork meet Weldon’s UL in the women’s SuperLeague National Cup semi-final at Neptune Stadium.

“We played together in Killarney and, in fact, it was James who got me involved in coaching,” recalled O’Donoghue.

“He stopped playing when he was younger and maybe I played on a bit longer than I should have. I went out coaching when he asked me so it’s somewhat ironic that we should be meeting like this.”

O’Donoghue, who coached Lakers in the Men’s SuperLeague, returned to the top flight when he was chosen to replace Mark Scannell at Glanmire. It was a difficult role but he has already made his mark.

Now Team Montenotte are close enough to the top of the women’s SuperLeague table to keep the pressure on UL.

Weldon, as coach, has developed the Limerick side into the most potent force in women’s basketball but he is prepared to hand out the credits to his former clubmate for what he has achieved.

“We played together in Killarney and I have huge respect for him,” he said.

“He then coached the men and I coached the women when they were SuperLeague.”

UL really came of age when they beat Montenotte early in the current SuperLeague campaign but everyone agrees tonight’s game will be a lot closer.

“That was Cormac’s fifth game in charge and he was just getting used to the system,” the UL coach recalled.

“They have improved since then and so have we but this is will be a pretty tight game.”

UL will go into the game as favourites with all the talent they need to wear the tag with confidence. They have Michelle Fahy, probably the best Irish player over the past 10 years, and their bench has been strengthened by the addition of Rachel Clancy. She enjoyed a spectacular US collegiate career and has been playing professionally in Spain.

“Her presence will make a hard job that bit harder,” Cormac O’Donoghue admitted. “We are still a very young side but they are young players who have a lot of experience, winning big competitions at underage level.

“This is their first year shouldering a lot of responsibility and they have been excellent alongside Niamh [Dwyer], Amanda [O’Regan] and Grainne [Dwyer]. They are a team that’s evolving but they have the right attitude and are used to winning.

“When they beat us by 15 points this year they were missing Michelle Fahy and we were missing Val O’Driscoll. We have improved but so have they.”