Star of the Sea's outright leadership of the ESB Superleague will be severely tested over the next week as they face the two leading Dublin clubs in the table, St Vincent's and Killester, in the space of just four days.

Over the past fortnight, St Vincent's, who play host to Star tomorrow, have won their last two games both away from home and after a turbulent opening half to their campaign, they are beginning to find a measure of consistency in the New Year. They are exactly the kind of team, with considerable strength in depth and a proud recent history of success, that will not be overawed by Star, who have now gone unbeaten for two months.

On Wednesday next, Star then play host to Killester, one of only two teams that can realistically challenge the Belfast club for the title.

Star's notably strong squad right down the bench was further bolstered by the addition of Javan Dupree last weekend in the easy win over Marian. Dupree had formally announced his retirement last summer, but is now available again. Killester, who led the table briefly in November, are at a critical stage in their campaign and should they beat Notre Dame tomorrow in Clontarf and then go on to beat Star in Belfast five days later, they will be serious title challengers again.

However, should they lose either game, especially the one in Belfast next week, then they will drop back to a position of little hope and should they lose both they will probably be in an irretrievable position. Following last week's surprise loss to Killarney, Killester are strengthened for tomorrow's game against Notre Dame by the return of the experienced and often inspirational Tony McDonagh, whose presence in an otherwise very young squad will be significant.

Killester lost to Notre Dame by a point earlier in the campaign and in the knowledge that they cannot afford to lose, they will be favourites on their home court to avenge that defeat.

Apart from Killester, it seems now that only early pace-setters, Waterford, are in a position to seriously challenge Star for the title, but there have been cracks exposed in their form since early December.

Waterford's early season burst of seven consecutive wins was followed by only four victories in their next seven games and the last of those successes required a nerve-jangling comeback from three points down in the final minute against Killarney a fortnight ago. Michael Evans and his squad from the south-east have one of their longest journeys of the season ahead of them tomorrow as they travel 200 miles north to Dungannon, whose own season finally turned for the better last week with a deserved win over 1997 champions Neptune, 90-87. Neptune's own title bid effectively came to an end with that defeat and they have subsequently released their "Bosman" player, Derrick Izilein, in the hope of resigning the injured but recovering Nick Chatzinokilis.

The ESB women's Superleague title race is already almost over, even though there is over a month to go in the campaign. Two more wins for Wildcats, who have now gone 32 games unbeaten over the past two years, and the title will go back to Waterford for a fifth consecutive year. They play away to Tolka Rovers on Sunday.