All roads will lead to the National basketball Arena on Saturday evening as University of Galway Maree face DBS Eanna in the InsureMyHouse.ie Pat Duffy Cup Final (Tip off - 8pm, LIVE on Galway Bay FM).
University of Galway Maree are contesting their first ever final, boasting an impressive average winning margin of 14 points in victories over Flexachem KCYMS, Belfast Star and Bright St.Vincent’s in the tournament thus far. Not one to get ahead of himself, head coach Charlie Crowley wants to keep things as routine as possible in the build-up: “We’re trying our best to treat this as a regular game, even though we all know it's not. We have a great group here that have put in the work and it’s rewarding for them to be in this position. It’s just about channelling that in the right way. We’re under no illusions that we will be going into the game as underdogs, but there’s 100% confidence in the team that we can get the result that we want,” Crowley said.
DBS Éanna’s Stefan Desnica believes a difficult run to the InsureMyHouse.ie Pat Duffy Cup Final proves their presence in the decider at the National Basketball Arena on Saturday evening is no accident.
Darren McGovern’s team knocked off the defending champions Garvey’s Tralee Warriors 85-79 in round one, before downing high-flying Cork duo Energywise Ireland Neptune 97-93 and Emporium Cork Basketball 77-71, to set up a meeting with University of Galway Maree. Asked about the importance of that initial win in Kerry, Desnica said: “It helped us realise how good we can be if we stick together and implement the plan our coaches have for us each game. We’re excited to be in this spot, I think it’ll be a great game and usually in cup finals, it is the best team who comes out on top so I really hope that’ll be us on Saturday night.”
The InsureMyHouse.ie Paudie O’Connor Cup final pits two teams of varying National Cup pedigrees against one another.
Trinity Meteors haven’t lifted the trophy since 1996, but on the back of some very strong off-season recruitment in the form of Irish international Claire Melia and American centre Celena Taborn, head coach Niall Berry appears to have found the perfect formula. The Dublin side have defeated both of last season’s finalists, The Address UCC Glanmire and DCU Mercy to reach this stage, giving fans confidence that a 27-year drought might come to an end. Melia is playing in her second final in succession, having taken home MVP honours with The Address UCC Glanmire a year ago. Averaging 15-points per game in the competition to date, she is very wary of the threat posed by opponents Killester: “They’ve great shooters, Mimi (Michelle Clarke) and Jenna Howe, they’ve very good post players and their Americans are brilliant and bring a lot of energy. It’ll be a very tough game, we played them the third game of the season and we’ve just gotten close as a team since then, so really looking forward to seeing how we can put it all together on Sunday.”
Conversely, Killester are no strangers to National Cup glory. Mark Grennell’s side returned to Clontarf with silverware as recently as the 2019/20 season, but have dealt with a high turnover of players in the aftermath. They’ve made an experienced roster count during their run to the final, accounting for a youthful University of Galway Mystics and Waterford Wildcats in earlier rounds. Irish international Michelle Clarke can draw from positive memories of their last trip to the National Cup decider, but she isn’t drawing too many comparisons between the 2019/20 side and the current Killester team: “They’re very different teams. We’ve lost so many key players from that year, but the girls have really stepped up so far this season and this is just another challenge we’re looking forward to. It should be a really good battle. Two good teams and each one presents a very difficult matchup for the other, so it should lend itself to a really enjoyable game on the court,” said Clarke.
InsureMyHouse.ie National Cup Final Fixtures
Friday, January 20th
Session 1
InsureMyHouse.ie IWA National Cup Final
1800| Rebel Wheelers v Limerick Celtics
InsureMyHouse.ie U18 Men’s Billy Coffey National Cup
2015| Limerick Celtics v Templeogue
Saturday, January 21st
Session 2
InsureMyHouse.ie National Intermediate Cup Competition Women’s Final
1000| Glanmire BC v Liffey Celtics
InsureMyHouse.ie U20 Women’s National Cup Final
1215| University of Galway Mystics v Limerick Sport Huskies
InsureMyHouse.ie Presidents’ Cup Final
1430| Moy Tolka Rovers v Ulster University
InsureMyHouse.ie Women’s Division 1 National Cup Final
1645| Phoenix Rockets v Abbey Seals Dublin Lions
Session 3
InsureMyHouse.ie Pat Duffy Cup Final
2000| DBS Éanna v University of Galway Maree (LIVE ON TG4 – Coverage starts at 1945)
Sunday, January 22nd
Session 4
InsureMyHouse.ie National Intermediate Cup Competition Men’s Final
1000| UCD Marian v Leixlip Zalgiris
InsureMyHouse.ie U20 Men’s National Cup Final
1215| Blue Demons v Tolka Rovers
InsureMyHouse.ie U18 Women’s National Cup Final
1430| Singleton SuperValu Brunell v Meteors
Session 5
InsureMyHouse.ie Paudie O’Connor Cup Final
1730| Trinity Meteors v Killester (LIVE ON TG4 – Coverage starts at 1725)
