Final feeling simply never grows old for Coughlan

In Ireland the game of basketball is truly a family affair, writes Kieran Shannon

MEN'S NATIONAL CUP FINAL:

C&S UCC Demons V Dublin Inter

C&S UCC Demons captain Shane Coughlan will break an Irish record tonight when he leads his team into his ninth Premier National Cup final against Dublin Inter.

Coughlan, who has four winning medals in his trophy cabinet, will be trying hard to equal the former Notre Dame and Killester stalwart Damien Sealy, who won five in his illustrious career.

However the experienced guard is warning his team-mates that the trend of this competition has gone the way of the underdog in the last three finals.

“UCD Marian, UL Eagles and Neptune were all given little or no chance in the last three cup finals and this evening many pundits are predicting an easy win for us,” Coughlan said.

When you are in your 16th season playing at this level, you are bound to experience the highs and lows of the sport and Coughlan rates losing cup finals as amongst the worst feelings in the game.

“Looking back, I think when we lost to UL Eagles in 2012, it mentally affected some players who felt many errors were made on the night,” Coughlan added.

“Dublin Inter deserve the right to be respected as they have defeated the previous two winners on their way to the final and they are a team who could shoot you out of the gym if not given the proper attention in defence.”

The Demons captain says he is not interested in records though, and all he wants is to bring the cup back to Leeside.

“Our fans have suffered big time since 2009 and they deserve their moment of glory and hopefully we can produce the goods,” he said.

Dublin Inter coach Sarunas Cesnakauskas hopes it will be a memorable night in the club’s short history.

“We are raging underdogs, and rightly so as Demons have a superb side, but we’ll give it our best shot and hopefully we can pose them problems,” Cesnakauskas said.

Inter are made up of mainly Lithuanian players and coach Cesnakauskas is hoping their fans can upset the Demons rhythm.

“The one guarantee I can give is there will be plenty of noise and hopefully my players can respond to the carnival atmosphere,” added Cesnakauskas.

When Demons played Dublin Inter in the league in October they accounted for them easily, 89-65.

All season, Demons have played a high-tempo game and their fitness proved crucial coming down the stretch in their narrow extra-time win against Killester in the semi-final.

The big plus for Demons is that they have strength in depth and that gives player coach Colin O’Reilly the comfort to mix his rotations.

In American Lehmon Colbert, they have a player lively around the hoop and a decent defender that could be given the job of restricting the influence of Dublin Inter’s ace player, Mindaugas Tamusauskas.

Tamusauskas and Aurimas Statkus are lethal shooters and Demons will need to be aware of this twin threat.

Verdict: C&S UCC Demons