There’s not long left to wait today as the clock is steadily ticking down to one of the most highly-anticipated clashes of the basketball season.
The Women’s National Cup final kicks off at 6pm in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght and will see favourites Team Montenotte Hotel of Cork take on Killester of Dublin.
According to reports, Team Montenotte Hotel were left sweating during the week over the fitness of two first string players ahead of today’s encounter.
Captain Claire Rockall picked up a foot injury in training – she’s been wearing a protective boot and sat out last weekend’s win over Maxol WIT Wildcats – while post player Marie Breen is recovering from a bout of tonsillitis.
The defending champions still boast a deep rotation but coach Mark Scannell is playing down their status as favourites.
“Killester’s league position doesn’t show where they are at the moment,” he said ahead of this evening’s game.
“They have two excellent Americans. You’re not going to stop everything, but we’ll look to negate their big weapons.”
Scannell also feels that the senior players in the squad will be looking to savour the moment.
“We’d been off the pace for a couple of years and some players aren’t getting any younger so we’ll take any opportunity that we can.
“‘Favourites’ and ‘Underdogs’ are just people’s opinions. We’ll just do what we do.”
Team Montenotte will hope to cut off supply to Killester forward Robin Murphy, the top scoring American in the Women’s Premier League.
Murphy’s career has taken her from her native State of Georgia, through US College ball to pro stints in Central America, the Middle East and now Europe.
She looked anything but a journey player in her side’s semi-final win over UL Huskies.
“I wanted to win so bad,” she revealed. “It all clicked eventually in the semi-final and I hope we do the same thing over 40 minutes on Saturday.
“We’re pretty bad in the league so we don’t have anything to lose. We want the title just as much, if not more than they do.”
Killester captain Aisling Sullivan echoed the sentiment.
“We have a strong desire to win this. We’ve played in four semi-finals in the past few years and never got through to the final, so getting over that hurdle I think will be a huge drive for the girls.”
So who is going to have their hands on the cup when the final buzzer sounds?
All eyes are now firmly focused on the National Arena this evening, and with Glanmire and DCU Mercy already after serving up a cracking Under 18 final – which Glanmire won 79-72 – there’s no doubt that the senior final is going to be just as competitive.
Let the games… begin!
