Huskies braced for ‘crucial’ DCU clash

Defending Premier Women’s champions UL Huskies will be eager to seal the regular season trophy when they host DCU Mercy at the UL Arena tomorrow.

UL enjoyed a comfortable win over Singletons Supervalu Brunell on Wednesday and coach James Weldon believes his team is on track to win the first of the two league trophies available to them this season.

“We played very well in the first half against Brunell but credit to them they fought hard in the second half and it was the ideal preparation for DCU,” Weldon said.

The Limerick side defeated DCU comfortably in a first round game in Dublin but Weldon believes this will be a test of his team’s character.

“DCU are a good team and are well organised in defence but we will be ready for what we class as a crucial game in our season.”

In the men’s competition, joint leaders C&S UCC Demons player coach Colin O’Reilly came in for criticism for his lack of participation in last week’s derby defeat. However, O’Reilly responded this week with an explanation for his restricted minutes on court.

“In our three top games this season I have played 63 minutes out of the allocated 120 and have been fouled out on each occasion,” O’Reilly said. “On top of that our American Lehmon Colbert received similar treatment in two of the games and to be honest, I am totally frustrated with the whole situation.”

The Demons boss was philosophical when looking ahead to Sunday’s game against Belfast Star.

“All I ever wanted out of sport is fair play as I am not looking for any special treatment but we will have to erase many of the errors made against Neptune and hopefully we’ll get the desired result,” added O’Reilly.

Fellow leaders Killester will be strongly fancied to defeat Templeogue when they clash at Clontarf tomorrow.

Elsewhere, Dublin Inter bounced back to defeat UCD Marian and they should have too much for Moycullen at Mountview while in Belfield, there is an interesting derby with UCD Marian and DCU Saints clashing.

Bord Gáis Neptune created a major shock last week when defeating UCC Demons and will travel with confidence to play UL Huskies at the UL Arena. For the Neptune chief Mark Scannell this will be another tough assignment for his team.

“Both teams are familiar with one another but after UL’s win over DCU Saints in Dublin they will feel confident of doing the business against us on their home court,” Scannell said.