BASKETBALL: The UCC Demons are normally a banker team to be early season frontrunners in the southern conference but only now is their campaign seemingly coming together. They will look to repeat last week's dramatic victory over Killarney club St Paul's when hosting Ballina this Sunday at the Mardyke Arena.
A back injury to Ahmad Smith has yet to clear up so David Murphy should get plenty of court time, not that he hasn't earned that right.
Murphy played 44 minutes against St Paul's without a single breather, scoring 16 points and accumulating seven rebounds in a MVP display.
Neutralise the influence of Ballina's long-range shooting expert Ronan McGarrity and the Demons will go a long way to becoming contenders in this season's Superleague. McGarrity's switch from Gaelic football to the sport he played in American university has been seamless this season and ensures he really is playing competitive sport 12 months of the year.
Killester coach Mark Keenan must plan without Ed Randolph as the Dublin club attempt to maintain their impressive start to the season against St Paul's tomorrow in Oblate Hall, as their regular court in the Irish Wheelchair Association is unavailable this weekend.
Keenan was pleased with the performance of Killester's most recent American recruit Craig Walls against Belfast Star last week. "He literally came off the plane and played without any sleep and was obviously jet lagged but he showed us enough in the game to say that we have a good one."
The Killester women must keep battling on without arguably the Superleague's best player Sue Altman - Michelle Aspell is the other obvious candidate for this title but statistically, Altman is out on her own - as the American returned home for two weeks. Altman's return to the Dublin club at all this season was a real coup and a welcome boost to the league's quality.
However, team captain Carmel Kissane is expected to return for tomorrow's trip to Limerick to play UL Aughinish.
SATURDAY
Men's Superleague: Belfast Star v Neptune, Jordanstown, 7.15; Killester v St Paul's, Oblate Hall, 7.30; Tralee Tigers v UCD Marian, Tralee SC, 8.0; St Vincent's v Limerick Lions, St Vincent's CBS, 7.30. Women's Superleague: Cork v Meteors, Little Island, 7.0; UL Aughinish v Killester, UL Arena, 7.30
SUNDAY
Men's Superleague: UCC Demons v Ballina, Mardyke Arena, 3.15. Women's Superleague: DCU Mercy v Wildcats, DCU University, 3.30
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/d556e13a-143b-4b6b-a708-378fafc6c2ed.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)