Black Amber Templeogue will be hoping to continue their winning start to the season this weekend, but they know they will have it all to do when they face Pyrobel Killester at Oblate Hall on Saturday night.
Mark Keenan’s side overcame DCU Saints in the opening Dublin derby last weekend, but the head coach said they are not underestimating a Killester side who always poses a challenge for them.
“It was great to get off to a good start against DCU Saints last weekend, we were delighted to win,” he said. “We know that this weekend’s game against Killester will be tough though. They had a tough game against Thunder last week, so will be aiming to get a win under their belts this weekend and they have some very good players this year, with some new players in too.
“We will be concentrating on our own game though. We want to build on last week and get off to a good start with our first home game. I’m really happy with how our team has come together in this short space of time,” he continued.
“The expectation on us after last year’s success is not a burden – it’s going to drive us. We all want to repeat the success of last season and being crowned League champions, so it’s definitely not a burden, but something that will push us on and inspire us to do well.”
Elsewhere in the Men’s Super League, all eyes will also be on UCD on Saturday evening as another big clash gets underway when UCD Marian welcome UCC Demons. For Marian, it is their first game of the season, and Head Coach Ioannis Liapakis looked ahead to the challenge.
“We’re really looking forward to our first game,” he stated. “We know that it’s going to be really difficult because Demons had a huge win against Tralee last weekend, so they have the momentum, they have the right mentality after that.
“We have three new additions to the squad and I think the chemistry is there. It’s up to us now to win the games. All the pieces are there and it’s up to us to put them together. Overall, we want to play good basketball, be healthy and we want to be better than last year.”
Meanwhile, Maree will travel up to Belfast Star this Saturday evening, Garvey’s Tralee Warriors will go head-to-head with KUBS in their first home game of the season, while Moycullen welcome Joey Boylan’s DCU Saints to the Kingfisher at NUIG and Griffith Swords Thunder meanwhile will welcome Éanna to the ALSAA on Sunday.
Basketball Ireland Fixtures: September 23-24th
Saturday, 23rd September 2017
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
Belfast Star v Maree, Methodist College, 19:00
UCD Marian v UCC Demons, UCD, 19:00
Moycullen v DCU Saints, NUIG Galway, 19:00
Garvey’s Tralee Warriors v KUBS BC, Tralee, 20:00
Black Amber Templeogue v Pyrobel Killester, Oblate Hall, 20:00
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division 1:
LYIT Donegal v Ulster University Elks, LYIT, 16:00
LIT Celtics v St Paul’s Killarney, SportsHub Limerick IT, 18:00
BFG Neptune v EJ Sligo All-Stars, BFG Neptune, 19:00
Keane’s Supervalu Killorglin v Fr Mathews, Killorglin Sports Centre, 19:15
Sunday, 24th September 2017
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
Griffith Swords Thunder v Eanna, ALSAA-Dublin, 15:00
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division 1:
Ulster University Elks v Dublin Lions, Ulster University Elks, 15:00
Titans v Ballincollig, The Jes, 15:30
Portlaoise Panthers v IT Carlow Basketball, St Mary’s Sports Hall, 18:00
