Templeogue’s 12 year stay in the Domino’s Men’s Super League ended on Thursday night at the National Basketball Arena.
Mark Keenan’s young side went down fighting 116-101 in an overtime loss to playoff bound Griffith College Éanna and will join Maree BC in dropping out of the top tier of Irish basketball as a result.
“It’s a tough night for the club,” said coach Keenan after watching his team go down despite scoring five points in the closing 30 seconds of regulation to force an extra period. “The guys have given it their all tonight and throughout the season and I’m really proud of how they fought it out down the stretch with one of the best teams in the country.”
“We’ve been unlucky with injuries to the likes of Ty (Tavias) Fagan and we’ve lost some really close games, but that’s not an excuse either. We are where we are at this stage of the season. This is a very young core though and they will bounce back.”
Despite pulling the out the win in a game which they trailed by nine points in the third, Griffith College Éanna head coach Darren McGovern was in no mood to celebrate afterwards.
“This has to be a big lesson for us to learn from. I made big mistakes with changes in the fourth quarter that very nearly cost us the game. On the other hand at times we showed unbelievable levels of sharing the ball, finding the right guy and also being that dominant scorer when the opportunity came along.”
“Going forward I need to be better for the team and limit the mistakes and awful decisions I made. Demons on Sunday will be interesting, so we will just give it a go and see what we can do against such a talented side,” McGovern said.
They’ll now turn their attentions to pipping Garvey’s Tralee Warriors to the third seed in the post-season with a victory away to regular season winners UCC Demons on Sunday afternoon.
Earlier this week EJ Sligo All-Stars confirmed their play in the Domino’s Men’s Super League playoffs for the third year in succession with a 108-86 victory against Maree BC to move up to 6th and welcome Energywise Ireland Neptune to the North West on Saturday in the knowledge that extending their winning streak to three could see them move ahead of UCD Marian into fifth place in the final standings, should the Dubliners fail to beat crosstown rivals Bright St. Vincent’s.
Killester have secured second spot in the table with Isiah Dasher’s late bucket sealing an 81-80 win over UCD Marian on Wednesday night, giving head coach Jonny Grennell the luxury of whether to manage minutes of players for their trip to Belfast Star on Saturday evening.
“We are very happy to lock up a home draw for the quarter finals and to do it before a tricky trip to Star is a bonus for sure,” said Killester head coach Jonny Grennell. “We haven't been playing our best the past month, which I think will have us playing with the necessary edge needed for the quarter finals.”
Star are in a dogfight with Irish Guide Dogs Ballincollig @MTU for the final spot in the playoffs and will need to win along with a loss for Ballincollig against Templeogue at the National Basketball Arena if they’re to sneak into next weekend’s quarter-finals.
It’s winner takes all in the battle for the final playoff spot in the Domino’s Women’s Super League between Utility Trust St. Paul’s and Catalyst Fr. Mathews. The duo face-off at 16:00 on Saturday afternoon in Killarney with the winner set to play SETU Waterford Wildcats in the playoffs next weekend.
The previous meeting between the sides came back in December, a 68-47 win for Cork side Fr. Mathews, but both teams have evolved a lot in the intervening three months.
Catalyst Fr. Mathews are coming off a difficult run of fixtures but have failed to win since beating regular season winners SETU Waterford Wildcats 108-87 in January. Since then, it has been six straight defeats, so they will need to utilise all the experience in their ranks to right the ship this weekend.
On the other hand, this is a shot to nothing for Utility Trust St. Paul’s. The Killarney side have acquitted themselves well in their first season at this level, securing another season of Domino’s Women’s Super League basketball and reaching a Paudie O’Connor Cup semi-final. Should they pull of the win in front of what’s sure to be a loud home crowd in Killarney on Saturday, they will be in bonus territory.
James Fleming’s side enter the contest on the back of successive defeats to SETU Waterford Wildcats and Trinity Meteors, but prior to that they had rattled off four straight wins to put themselves in with a shot of post-season basketball.
Wins over Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell and University of Galway Mystics on Saturday and Sunday will propel Killester into the second seed ahead of FloMAX Liffey Celtics, should the Kildare outfit fail to beat The Address UCC Glanmire in their final game of the regular season.
Elsewhere, it’s still all to play for between Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell, The Address UCC Glanmire and Trinity Meteors, who could all finish anywhere between fourth and sixth in the final standings, while Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers – safe in the knowledge that they will be playing playoff basketball next – can secure a 9-9 record win a home win against Wildcats.
The unpredictable nature of the end of the regular season and the remaining possibility of lifting silverware this season due to the new playoff structure in the Domino’s Women’s Super League is something that Ireland women’s captain and Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell star Edel Thornton is relishing.
“Finishing as high as possible in the league table would be great as it could get us a home quarter-final - and with our supporters - it can be a huge boost to the team, but I suppose our main focus as a team right now is trying to build some momentum going into playoffs,” said Thornton.
“I think every team is aware that regardless of standings going into playoffs it’s still everyone’s to play for, with the new structure meaning whoever wins their final 3 games will be league champions - which is exciting.”
Fixtures
Domino’s Men’s Super League
Wednesday March 12th
EJ Sligo All-Stars 108-86 Maree
UCD Marian 80-81 Killester
Thursday March 13th
Templeogue 101-116 Griffith College Éanna
Saturday March 15th
Belfast Star vs Killester, Newforge Sports Complex, 1830
Templeogue vs Irish Guide Dogs Ballincollig @MTU, National Basketball Arena, 1900
UCD Marian vs Bright St. Vincent’s, UCD Sports Centre, 1900
EJ Sligo All-Stars vs Energywise Ireland Neptune, Mercy College, 1930
Sunday March 16th
Maree vs Flexachem KCYMS, University of Galway Kingfisher, 1500
UCC Demons vs Griffith College Éanna, Mardyke Arena, 1500
Domino’s Women’s Super League
Saturday March 15th
University of Galway Mystics vs Trinity Meteors, University of Galway Kingfisher, 1530
Utility Trust St. Paul’s vs Catalyst Fr. Mathews, Aura, 1600
Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers vs SETU Waterford Wildcats, St. Mary’s Hall, 1800
FloMAX Liffey Celtics vs The Address UCC Glanmire, Leixlip Amenities, 1900
Killester vs Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell, IWA Clontarf, 1930
Domino’s Men’s Division One
Thursday March 13th
Titans BC v Limerick Sport Eagles, Ballinfoyle Castlegar, 2000
Friday March 14th
Ulster University vs Carrick Cruisers, Jordanstown Sports Village, 1815
Saturday March 15th
Team NorthWest vs Moy Tolka Rovers, ATU Donegal, 1700
Mater Private Malahide vs ND Audit Portlaoise Panthers, Malahide Community School, 1900
Limerick Celtics vs Killarney Cougars, Crescent College, 1900
Joels Dublin Lions vs Drogheda Wolves, Coláiste Bríde, 1930
Scotts Lakers Killarney vs Limerick Sport Eagles, Killarney Sports & Leisure, 1930
Maigh Cuilinn vs Tipp Talons, University of Galway Kingfisher, 1930
SETU Waterford Vikings vs Titans BC, SETU College Hall, 1930
Sunday March 16th
Carrick Cruisers vs ND Audit Portlaoise Panthers, Phoenix Centre, 1700
Monday March 17th
Tipp Talons vs Scotts Lakers Killarney, Scoil Ruain, 1400
Domino’s Women’s Division One
Saturday March 15th
Limerick Celtics vs Moy Tolka Rovers, Crescent College, 1645
Limerick Sport Huskies vs iSecure Swords Thunder, St. Munchin’s College, 1700
Abbey Seals Dublin Lions vs McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles, Coláiste Bríde, 1730
Oblate Dynamos vs Templeogue, Oblate Hall, 1930
