Basketball: All eyes on Cork for National Cup semi-finals

All eyes will be on Cork this weekend as the much-anticipated Hula Hoops National Cup semi-finals get underway from Friday January 6 until Sunday January 8.

Neptune Stadium and Parochial Hall will host a massive festival of basketball over the course of the weekend, with the eagerly awaited local derby clash between Ambassador UCC Glanmire and Singleton SuperValu Brunell taking centre stage on Friday evening.

With a long-standing history between the two sides, their journey to this weekend’s game is very different, with current Cup champions Glanmire aiming for four titles in-a-row, while Brunell are looking forward to their first Cup semi-final at this level in 25 years.

“We are hungry for victory,” said Brunell Head Coach, Francis O’Sullivan, whose charges secured their first win of the season when they overcame NUIG Mystics in the Cup quarter-final. “It’s 25 years since Brunell last played in the Cup semi-final at this level. We’re certainly the underdogs, but our girls are not afraid of anybody.”

Mark Scannell of Glanmire was also relishing the prospect of the local derby: “We’re ready and we’ve trained hard. Hopefully our big players show up on the night. We’re not underestimating Brunell they’ve had a good run the last few weeks. It’s going to be tough.”

In the other women’s semi-final, DCU Mercy take on Courtyard Liffey Celtics once more, having met them just before the Christmas break in the League in a game that DCU won.

“Liffey Celtics are a very good team,” Mark Ingle of DCU reflected. “They have two very good American players too, so we know what we’re facing. It will be an interesting challenge.”

“We’re feeling good,” reflected Head Coach of Liffey Celtics, Mark Byrne. “It’s the first time Liffey Celtics have made the semi-finals at this level, so we’re excited and really looking forward to it. Hopefully, this game will be different and we’ll give a good account of ourselves.”

All roads lead to Cork this weekend for the #HulaHoopsCup semi-finals. Find out all about the games here: https://t.co/f3YkWG26Y2 pic.twitter.com/H4cHIYP9v2

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) January 3, 2017

Meanwhile, two interesting clashes await in the Men’s National Cup, with SSE Airtricity Moycullen facing Griffith Swords Thunder and Pyrobel Killester taking on UCD Marian.

“It’s great to be there,” said Moycullen’s John Cunningham as his side prepares for their first ever Cup semi-final at this level. “We’re heavy underdogs being up against Swords, but I think we have a shot. I have faith in the lads and we’ll be hoping we can catch Swords on the day.”

Head Coach of Griffith Swords Thunder, Dave Baker, added that they won’t be taking anything for granted this weekend: “Moycullen have a lot of different options, their American is very good. Cup is special and I think anyone on their day can beat anyone else so there will be no complacency here.“

Pyrobel Killester meanwhile are hoping to right the wrong of last year’s Cup semi-final which saw them pipped in the dying minutes by Templeogue.

“We feel like we left the Cup semi-final behind us last year against Templeogue,” admitted Brian O’Malley. “We felt we let that one get away from us so want to get over the line this year. UCD got the better of us the last time we played in the League and we want to correct that performance. They are in a really good place so it’s going to take a lot for us to get through.”

UCD Head Coach, Ioannis Liapakis, is also relishing the experience of being in the Cup semi-final: “There is no tomorrow in this game – it’s not like the League, we are treating this as a final, there’s no second chance, so we have to be ready. We will need 110% from everybody.”