Big weekend for Ballina in SuperLeague

It is a big weekend for Merry Monk Ballina, who play two home games as week two of the Nivea for Men SuperLeague gets underway.

Ballina opened their league campaign with a comprehensive win over Dart Killester last weekend (103-86). New Americans Dapier and Pelleran were in great form as was local GAA star Ronan McGarrity, who was the top scorer on 28 points.

Ballina will face Limerick Lions, who also opened their SuperLeague campaign with a strong win over Gleneagle Lakers (105-94), on Saturday night.

This is Limerick's first trip to Ballina in recent years and they will have to work very hard to get a result. Coach Tommy Hehir will be looking to Robert Beattie Taylor (28 pts) and Jon Steven (39 pts) for another big game.

Merry Monk will play their second home game against MDS Star on Sunday afternoon. Star lost away to Hoops last weekend so they will be looking for a win in Ballina, with their Americans Reggie Winkfield and Dave Langrell performing well.

Ballina coach Terry Kennedy is anxious to secure two home wins for his side. This would set the scene nicely for Ballina's home Cup tie with current holders Abrakababra Tigers the following weekend.

Tigers kick-start their NFM SuperLeague campaign this weekend having had no game last weekend.

They will take on Shamrock Rovers Hoops (who have acquired Limericks initial signing Andre Pereira) at home on Saturday night at 8pm.

Tigers have recruited two new Americans for the 2005/2006 season. Eric Bush is a six-foot point guard who will take the place of Chris Craig as player-coach.

He will be joined by his University of Alabama team-mate, 6'7"Chris Sockwell. Australian Luke O'Hea returns for another year as bosman but the bad news is that Micheal Quirke has retired.

Also on Saturday, Gleneagle Lakers make the long trip to take on Roma St Vincent's. Both teams lost their opening games, St Vincent's losing to UCD 104-86, Lakers defeated by Limerick.

New Killarney coach Cormac O'Donoghue is confident that they can acquit themselves in the league and will be hoping that Wingard, Coggins and Sullivan can build on their performances last week.

Coach Boylan will suffer a serious blow to his side this weekend, as a number of players are unavailable through injury (Dave Donnelly - calf muscle, Simon Flynn - elbow injury, Phil Taylor - ankle injury).

Also unavailable is Joey McGuirk, who will play in the intermediate GAA final this weekend. Boylan says he may be looking to recruit Stephen McGuirk for the weekend's game in order to boost their chances.

UCD face a tough task on Sunday, playing defending champions UCC Demons in Cork. Demons are looking strong after their significant win over Neptune last Friday night (66-114).

UCD will be no pushovers as they also put on an impressive performance against St Vincent's last weekend.

Damion Morbley had a huge game with 21 points and 19 rebounds while Nate Lufkin produced 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Lorcan Precious also had an outstanding game with 21 points and 9 assists. Mark Keenan will be hoping all will be in top form again on Sunday.

Demons will rely on the luxury of depth and will expect a different affair from their opening easy win over Neptune.

DART Killester are delighted to play host this weekend to Neptune at their newly refurbished gym at Greendale Community School.

It is a Mecca of their team colours (black and orange), complemented by a newly installed wooden floor. Killester will be hoping to up their game after a disappointing opener against Ballina. Damien Sealy and Jerome Westbrooks will be unavailable through injury.

Neptune, on the other hand, are hoping to make a few changes to their team before Saturday’s clash.

They are in the process of signing two new Americans and a new American coach, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

In the Women's SuperLeague, rivals DART Killester and UL Aughinish will play at Greendale on Saturday before the men's game.

Killester lost out to Wildcats last weekend in a close thriller (52-53) but this week will have a stronger squad as Gillian Morris and Elaine O'Neill return to the squad.

New recruit Orla Dempsey will be lining out against her former club and she will not relish the inside battle with UL's new American Ashley Biggins.

Following her impressive debut last week, Killester's American Sue Altman will need close guarding and coach Tony Hehir will be looking to Carol Fennell (who has transferred back from Meteors) to repeat the excellent defensive work she displayed last week against Drimnagh Dynamos.

UL are hoping that Miriam Liston will make her debut this weekend following her absence last week due to family bereavement.

Lisa Palmer (who transferred from Wildcats) had a super start to the season with her new club, top-scoring on 24 points.

Elsewhere, Peugeot Meteors play Bausch and Lomb Wildcats on Saturday at 6.45pm. They will want to build on last week’s win over Vienna Woods Glanmire and, with the return of Sinead Harvey who missed last weekend’s encounter, they have a strong campaign.

Wildcats will still be missing Jenny Cody and Jenny Maher. However they displayed great spirit last weekend against Killester and will certainly be hungry for another win this week.

The final women's game of the weekend will see Mustang Sally's St Paul's play another away game, this time against Vienna Woods Glanmire.

Both teams will be disappointed with their first-week losses and will be hoping to get a better result this weekend.