Limerick sides primed for mouth-watering National Cup semi-final ties

THREE Limerick sides are preparing for Domino's National Cup semi-final action this weekend.

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The Limerick Celtics Men's side, who are playing Super League basketball for the first time in a decade, have earned their place in the final four of the Super League National Cup.

Tony Hehir's side will be facing off against Munster rivals Ballincollig at Neptune Stadium this Friday, 8.15pm, for a place in this year's decider. The sides met on the opening night of the Super League season in Limerick, with the Celtics running out one point winners in a tight contest.

As Tony Hehir and his team prepare for a Super League cup semi-final in Cork next month, Hehir says that the cup is ‘a very special competition.’

"The cup is a very special competition. It gains a lot of media and public attention. If you can get to the semi-finals in Cork, which we have, it's probably the biggest weekend in basketball.

"You have three or four arenas in Cork that are packed out. It's a festival of basketball and we're focused on going one step further and getting to Tallaght two weeks later. 

"We're definitely progressing as a team and we know how tough a challenge Ballincollig will be but we're focused on our own performance and getting better every week.”

The Limerick Sport Eagles are also in Division One National Cup semi-final action as they prepare to take on Templeogue of Dublin at MTU Arena on Saturday, 8.15pm.

Head coach Niall McDermott stresses the significance of the cup.

"The cup is brilliant. I remember last season, there was a point where we weren't going well in the league but we had a massive cup win and it provided a great boost and momentum going forward. 

"The cup is massive, everyone wants to win it. In the first two rounds, we were drawn as the away side which is never easy and that was a great performance against Carrick which sets up a semi-final for us now.

"It's different to the league, those cup weeks, you just see that the lads are so focused, more so than usual because it's such a high stakes game.

"If you lose you're out and if you win you march on so there's always that bit of added intensity and focus. Templeogue are one of those teams where if you look at their record, it should be a lot better than it actually is.

"They've lost two or three games where they really should've won. To be honest, one of them was against us. They were up by 15 in the third quarter but we came back and managed to win. 

"We're expecting a tough game, every game at this stage is going to be tough. As tough as we are expecting it to be, we're also confident that we can get the job done,” the Derry native said.

The Limerick Sport Huskies are also in Women's Division One National Cup semi-final action as they face Moy Tolka Rovers at MTU Arena this Saturday, 6pm.

Head coach Patrick O'Regan is looking forward to the clash. “In the cup, anything can happen so we're not going to lose the run of ourselves and try to take it game by game.

"We've played Tolka already this season and we managed to come away with the win but they have improved immensely since then. They certainly will be no pushovers but we've also improved since then but then again it's the magic of the cup.

"Anything can happen, there's a different atmosphere around cup games and league form goes out the window so we'll see what happens,” the Kerry native said.