OVER the past three months Liam McHale has placed great stock in the old adage that time is a great healer. His comeback to sport of any kind has been a gradual one since his sending off in the All Ireland football final in September, but he now believes that he is again hungry enough to play a significant role in Ballina's attempt to retain the Sprite National Basketball Cup.

Ballina, relegated from the Superleague last season, travel south to Killarney tomorrow night with a team that McHale believes - is the finest ever to wear the club singlet. "With Deora Marsh now a naturalised Irishman and two Americans in our squad, a lot of pressure has been taken off players like myself and Paul McStay, he says.

"I don't think it matters to us that we are in the lower division. We know how to play basketball and we know how to win big matches, and regardless of what division we are playing in I don't think it makes that much difference," he adds.

This is the first year that McHale has decided to give football precedence over basketball, but in the current fallow period in Gaelic sport his devotion to basketball is total.

"I took about a month off after the All Ireland final to get my head together and get myself refreshed after what was a deeply disappointing experience. I'd managed to come back and train quite hard over the past month and I feel as though I am in Pretty good shape at the moment, he says.

Due to the controversial nature of their relegation from the Superleague last season, Ballina are regarded by many as being as strong a team as many in the top division and so they will probably be regarded as favourites to win in Killarney. If anything, they are stronger than they were when they won the cup last January.

"A good pointer to our form recently was our win over the MSB `Dream Team'. They have, effectively, four Americans and we beat them by nine points on their home court two weeks ago, which was a really good result for us, he concludes.

MSB are joint leaders of Division One with Ballina and they will fancy their chances of giving the Superleague leaders, Neptune, a hard time in another quarter final tomorrow night in Clontarf. Neptune's strong squad of Irish players has so far compensated more than adequately for a complete lack of naturalised Irishmen and they are unbeaten this season in league and cup.

The weekend of cup quarterfinal action begins tonight with, the Dublin derby game between Marian and Delta at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.

Marian, who struggled at the outset of their Superleague campaign, have been a changed team, since their surprise first round cup win over Killester. Subsequent league victories over St Vincent's and St Paul's, Killarney have served to emphasise Marian's emergence from the kind of form that saw them lose 100-69 to Delta in an early season league game.

Marian's rejuvenation over the last two weeks was achieved without their Irish junior Player of the Year, Patrick Glover, who returns to the squad for the game this evening, having recovered from an ankle injury which kept him out for five weeks.

One of the prime influences in Marian's revival has, been their new American acquisition, Jason Siemon, who has formed an immediate bond with Kevin Ellery. Delta also have a new face in their squad having signed former Sligo player Matt Thompson, a 6ft 9in American who makes his debut for the Dubliners tonight.

St Vincent's have had no shortage of new foreign players all season but they have not been able to hang onto any for any length of time for various reasons. Eric Stevens, their latest acquisition, has an injured hand and cannot play against St Mary's, Castleisland in the cup quarter final tomorrow. Up until last evening, St Vincent's had not registered a replacement.

While all of the men's quarter finals offer potential cup upsets, there are unlikely to be many in the women's competition, although the previous round did see second division Blarney defeat league champions, Wildcats. The Cork side will be expected to progress further with a victory over Firhouse Coasters tomorrow in Dublin.

The cup holders, Meteors, are also expected to progress to the semi finals with a home success over the unpredictable St Mary's, Castleisland, while Naomh Mhuire should put behind them their league defeat against Wildcats last week by defeating Brunell in Cork.

The only quarter final that is not so easy to predict is the Dublin northside derby game between MSB and Tolka on Sunday in Bayside. Tolka would appear to have the edge on form, while MSB have the benefit of home advantage.