Huskies battle on

UL Huskies secured the regular season in the Women’s Premier League with a hard-earned 71-64 win over DCU Mercy at the UL Arena.

The Limerick side led 42-39 after a thrilling first half but had to show real mettle in the closing minutes to gain maximum points.

Liffey Celtics gained their first ever win in the Women’s Premier League a fortnight ago against Meteors and the Kildare side followed up with a thrilling 50-46 win over WIT Wildcats at Leixlip.

For coach Vinnie O’Keeffe it was another night to savour: “To go almost two years without a win in the Premier league is stressful but to be fair to my squad they have worked hard in training and have been rewarded with two wins in a fortnight.”

In the Men’s Premier League joint leaders Killester had too much firepower for Templeogue, winning 94-80.

UCD Marian caused an upset in their Dublin derby clash with DCU Saints, running out 84-73 winners. Marian led 46-41 at the interval but inspired by Conor Meany they surged ahead to gain maximum points.

Dublin Inter continued with their good run when defeating basement side Moycullen 71-65.

The two big games yesterday were both competitive with UCC Demons overcoming a tricky Belfast Star challenge 95-72 at the Mardyke Arena.

In the opening quarter Demons player coach Colin O’Reilly was simply awesome when scoring 24 points as his team surged into a 40-25 lead.

The O’Reilly scoring well dried up in the second period as Star came storming back to trail 52-46 at the interval.

Two minutes before the half time buzzer, Demons’ Kyle Hosford and Star’s Paul Dick were both sent off after clashing on court. The introduction of Daniel O’Sullivan brought more intensity to Demons’ defence as they recovered a 14-point lead entering the final quarter.

Demons were never again troubled as captain Shane Coughlan paid tribute to his team.

“Star are a good side and although we dropped our tempo in the second quarter I thought we showed good character in the second half.”

Bord Gáis Neptune, fresh from their derby win over UCC Demons, were brought down to earth by defending champions UL Eagles as the Limerick side toppled them 91-79.

Inspired by American Delwan Graham with 35 points, UL were seldom troubled by an out of sorts Neptune outfit.