THE pick of UL basketball will be aiming to defend their respective national Super League titles as the cup finals take place this Friday at the National Basketball Arena.
Firstly UL Huskies put their women’s title on the line against Team Montenotte before UL Eagles vie with Bord Gais Neptune for the men’s crown.
The women’s final begins at 6:45pm on Friday evening, with UL Huskies facing a Cork team that defeated them earlier in the season.
UL Huskies coach James Wheldon hopes that the experience of winning the cup last year will stand to his girls.
He says: “These opportunities don’t come along very often and the players know that. The girls are really eager to try and make it two in a row. I’m sure everyone will be nervous come Friday but we do have the experience of last year. We know that we’ll have to play really well to win and we have to hope that we can produce that level of performance Friday.”
That game will precede what is sure to be a highly competitive men’s final at 8:45pm as defending champions UL Eagles take on the renowned Bord Gais Neptune, another Limerick v Cork clash.
UL Eagles won their second Super League Cup in 2012 and they will aim to make it back-to-back titles against a team that dominated the basketball scene in the early 1990s but has found success hard to come by since then.
UL Eagles coach Mark Keenan is confident that last year’s experience could give his team the edge, but he is wary of the challenge that Neptune will pose.
“No matter how many times you have been there you get the nerves. I’m sure come Friday night I’ll start feeling them, as I have done every time. We do have that experience to call on and maybe that helps us as the game stretches on. They have been in big games too though. Neptune were in the league final two seasons ago and even though they have young players, they have been in a lot of big games for their age,” he acknowledges.
Tickets for both matches have sold out but anyone wishing to catch the action can tune into Setanta Ireland from 6:30pm on Friday evening.
