JUST A month after a £300,000 Cospoir grant secured the future of the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght, the venue hosts its fourth National Cup over the weekend.
The biggest weekend in the basketball year comes after a turbulent few weeks for the IBA who saw their severe financial worries alleviated by the intervention of the Minister for Sport, Bernard Allen, while the national league appeals structure became seriously overloaded by complaints.
The Sprite Cup is an upbeat and welcome interlude for the association after those recent troubles and it promises to be a good source of much needed revenue with over 2,000 spectators expected on the three nights of the play offs, including a sell out 2,500 attendance on Sunday.
For the first year a Northern team starts as favourite for the men's competition which for Star of the Sea coach, Danny Fulton is flattering but not comforting. "I think here in Ireland every one likes to be the underdog but it's good for basketball that a Northern team is regarded that way," he said.
Star's opening game, their semi final with Neptune, takes place tomorrow night and Fulton has a fully fit squad. We got a bit of a scare on Tuesday night when JD (Javan Dupree) took a tumble in training and there were a few anxious seconds before he got up and happily it turned out to be nothing serious," he added.
Fulton's team are top of the table and one of the reasons they are favourites is that they are the only league title contenders still present at the play offs. They beat second placed Tralee convincingly in Kerry in the cup quarter finals while third placed St Vincent's went out to Ballina in the first round.
However, Neptune are old hands at cup fare. "They are also the current league champions and can assure you we're not under estimating them," Fulton said. "They've been showing well recently and I was very impressed with their recent win in Killester. In addition, any team with players like Terry Strickland, Paul Kelly and Stephen McCarthy to call on has got to be taken seriously," he concluded.
Fulton is not looking beyond tomorrow night and is slow to predict how tonight's other semi final between Ballina and Delta will go. An admirer of Ballina's Liam McHale, Fulton believes he is the key to their fortunes.
Ballina arrived in Dublin last night and trained on the arena court which has done them no favours in the past. Their winless streak at the Tallaght venue will be tested by a team which has not lost there in any of their three televised matches. In addition, the arena has been Delta's home court for almost two years and they beat Ballina there 94-69 before Christmas.
The flu bug and injuries which forced the south Dublin club to have their league fixture with Star of the Sea postponed last week has cleared up and even their American Anthony Jenkins, who was a serious worry with a knee problem, was passed fit this week.
In the women's cup, Naomh Mhuire are bolstered by the return to at least partial fitness of their captain Eilis Ni Laoire. Pat McKenna's women are chasing their third success in a row and in tonight's semi final they face their traditional Dublin rivals Meteors.
The teams have met twice national level this season and those league outings have been split with a win apiece. Up to a week ago, any bookmaker would have probably made Mhuire narrow favourites due to their higher league position and their recent cup record but after Meteors knocked the wind out of league leaders Wildcats last weekend in Waterford by 90-67, all calculations have had to be reviewed.
Irish team captain Karen Hennessy scored 31 points in that victory and will be a key figure tonight.
While Mhuire won the last league clash between the two on their home court in Inchicore by a narrow 65-60 recently, it will be remembered that Meteors humbled Mhuire 60-45 in Sandyford before Christmas.
In the other semi final tomorrow, Wildcats will be expected to bounce back from the hiding they suffered last week and beat Tralee, who are, these days, without many of their stars of their 1990 and 1993 cup successes.
The return to fitness of Jillian Hayes, who has recovered from an ankle injury, gives the Waterford side a stronger hand than they had against Meteors a week ago.
