Weldon hoping it’s not a last hurrah as Huskies hunt for honours

WOMEN'S NATIONAL CUP FINAL:

Meteors, Tralee, Blarney, Wildcats and Glanmire have all won three or more league titles in-a-row since the league was formed in 1978 but only one side has managed it on two fronts.

The league may be barometer for talent but the National Cup holds a mystique and allure that every club can buy into. On the women’s roll of honour only Glanmire have managed to win three cups in-a-row (2007-09). It’s a honour the Cork club hold close to their hearts. It’s the record that confirms them as dynasty makers.

Tonight, UL Huskies will attempt to bookend their own domination when they take on arch rivals Team Montenotte Hotel of Glanmire.

Under coach James Weldon, UL have rebounded as a force in Irish basketball by pushing the perceived norms and going the extra mile.

It led to a domination of the league. Teams were obliterated. The old practice of two sessions and a match at the weekend became outdated. Whereas once only UL underwent strength and conditioning courses, sports psychology and GPS tracking, now it’s the rule rather than the exception.

And in that evolution UL have become a far more fragile force. Whereas once they could go an entire season unbeaten, they’ve now been beaten twice in the league and lie third on the Premier table. Winning has become tougher.

“It has. That’s a good thing and can only be healthy,” Weldon said this week.

“Teams have invested in two professionals. That’s going to raise the standards of practice for those teams as well. A lot of these professionals are from the stronger European countries or America and they bring a huge influence towards the attitude for training for the younger members.

“In the last year or two, a lot of teams have followed the routes we’ve taken with strength and conditioning and sports psychology. Coaching has evolved. It’s not just one person doing everything now, just like an inter-county team.”

With the league catching up and the core of his side ageing, there’s a sense tonight could be the last time for this side to claim the dynasty tag. Even Weldon’s own future remains uncertain.

“We’ll get over this weekend and the season first. It’s year five for me and an hour and 45 minutes’ drive. Like the players I’ll sit down at the end of the season. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.”

A last hurrah then?

“It’s hard to say. You have a turnover of players every year and we lost Michelle Fahy at the end of last season. But you have others stepping up like Louise Galvin and Aoife McDermott and Rachel Clancy.

“Rachael [Vanderwal] has been there for the five years. I couldn’t speak for her. She’s turning 31. You have to gauge it each summer to see what’s best for them and the club. There’s always fresh faces coming into the college who know they’re coming into a good program.”

The program has suffered big losses before. In 2011 New Zealand international Natalie Taylor returned home when her husband’s professional contract with Connacht was cut short. That same year captain Fiona Scally emigrated. But they’ve still claimed the last three league titles and two cups.

“It’s such a great facility,” he said. “Every night you go to train you feel like you are high performance and you feel like you should work that hard. You can be walking out the door and meet Paul O’Connell on the way in.”

And that’s the key. Weldon has built a championship winning team based on the culture of high performance in UL. Whether he or Olympian Vanderwal is there next season probably matters less than you might think. The systems and players are in place to cope and move on: “There’s an expectation here. There’s a lot of senior leadership. How do you motivate them? They are so dedicated and focused they end up motivating me.

“Look at the progression of Aoife McDermott, who four years ago was an 18-year-old kid who came down from Sligo. She didn’t play with us that first year, she went home to play with Sligo. If you put the structures in place they’ll become addicted.

“UL will always attract and recruit players and will always be in the top three or four teams in the country because of that.”

Tonight though is all about being Number One.