ON THE weekend that Tralee will hold the Budweiser Super League trophy aloft for the first time, the club's committee members will be preoccupied by their preparation of a defence argument for their outstanding American Ricardo Leonard, who is in danger of missing the post season Top Four tournament.
After a narrow league defeat a week ago against Delta, which was immaterial to Tralee's cause, Leonard was reported to the national competitions disciplinary committee for strong verbal abuse of match referee Denise Rice.
The disciplinary committee meets early next week to discuss the case. If they impose a suspension and Leonard appeals, the likelihood is he will be heard before the Top Four tournament.
The incident and the defeat by Delta have tarnished an otherwise superb achievement by Tralee who will be anxious today to raise the trophy in style as they host their Kerry rivals St Paul's.
At the other end of the table, the IBA have confirmed that Ballina are relegated to Division One after late representations from the Mayo club to the association's president, Paul Meany, were turned down.
Ballina will never really know if their decision not to play Killester in the league has cost them their place in the top division because their fixture with Dungannon this weekend has no bearing on the issue while North Monastery's clash with Neptune is similarly of little consequence.
Before Christmas, Ballina obliged a flu stricken Killester by postponing their scheduled game in Killala. When the IBA assigned a new date in January, Ballina's home venue was not available and when the association insisted that the game be switched to Sligo, the Mayo club refused and Killester awarded the points.
In the scramble for who plays who in the Top Four, the game in Belfast between Star of the Sea and St Vincent's will sort out who finishes second in the table.
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