It’s back to Super League action this weekend after the Christmas break, with four games tipping off around the country.
Templeogue, who topped the table last weekend, have a weekend off this week but will be watching the result from Pyrobel Killester’s clash with Griffith College Swords Thunder as, if Killester take the win, they will join their fellow Dubliners at the top of the League table. This weekend's clash will be an interesting one, as it sees brother face off against brother in the IWA in Clontarf with Michael Westbrooks lining out for Killester on the night against his brother Isaac, who plays for Swords.
Down in Cork meanwhile, C and S Neptune will be hoping that they can get their winning streak back on track when they host third place, Garvey’s Tralee Warriors on Saturday evening. After a slow start, Neptune have been steadily climbing up the table in recent weeks, thanks to a four-game winning streak. This streak was halted in their last game though when they fell just short against Templeogue in a nail-biting overtime loss at Oblate Hall.
Neptune head coach, Paul Kelleher was looking forward to the challenge this weekend: “We’ve had a wonderful run recently, and we were unfortunate not to continue that run against Templeogue. Now, it couldn’t be any tougher to try and get back to winning ways as we face off against a Tralee team who are pacey, experienced and have a killer instinct with tons of scoring power. We believe in what we do though and we’ll just have to continue working on that and developing certain areas and give it our best shot.”
Tralee boss, Pat Price, was also eagerly anticipating the Cork clash: “We’re really looking forward to the Neptune match. It will be a very strong test as they’re playing good basketball right now, having won four out of five games recently and they were very unlucky with the Templeogue result. They’ve balanced scoring from point, wing and post and that’s a big challenge. We’ll get a chance to clear some Christmas cobwebs at the Castleisland blitz this week, but we’ll have to play very well to get the result in Cork.”
Elsewhere, DCU Saints and Maree are set to dish up an exciting clash at the university, with Saints just ahead of the Galway side on the league table, while the last game of the Men’s Super League for the weekend will be an interesting affair as Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin host UCC Demons in Kerry. Templeogue, UCD Marian, Moycullen and Belfast Star all have this weekend off.
Basketball Ireland Fixtures: December 29-30th
Saturday 29th December 2018
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
CandS Neptune v Garvey’s Tralee Warriors, Neptune Stadium, 19:00;
DCU Saints v Maree, DCU Complex, 19:00;
Pyrobel Killester v Griffith College Swords Thunder, IWA-Clontarf, 19:00;
Keane’s Supervalu Killorglin v UCC Demons, Killorglin Sports Centre, 19:15;
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division One:
UL Sports Eagles v Waterford Vikings, UL Arena-Limerick, 15:00;
Limerick Celtics v LIT, St Munchins, 18:00;
DBS Eanna v GameFootage.net Titans, Colaiste Eanna, 19:00;
EJ Sligo All-Stars v Abbey Seals Dublin Lions, Mercy College, 19:30;
KUBS BC v LYIT Donegal, Greendale, 17:00;
Sunday 30th December 2018
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division One:
Ulster University Elks v Bad Bobs Tolka Rovers, Ulster University Elks, 15:00;
Portlaoise Panthers v Tradehouse Central Ballincollig, St Marys Sports Hall, 15:30;
