Following last weekend's resolution of the league campaign, there is a lot more than just pride and honour at stake in the final programme of matches in the ESB Superleague this weekend. Star of the Sea's successful defence of the title still leaves the important scramble for the minor placings which will determine the quarter-final pairing for the post-season national championship in a week. Star's closest pursuers during the season, Waterford, have secured the considerable honour of finishing runners-up, even though they lost 73-71 to rivals Blue Demons on Wednesday.
A three-pointer in the last few seconds by Shane Coughlan stole victory away from Waterford on the night, but the narrow defeat means the men from the southeast cannot be caught for second place.
The consolation for Demons is that Wednesday's win has almost certainly secured third position for the Cork club, which is a terrific performance by a team which lost three of their first four league games on their return last October to the national league after an absence of five years.
Fourth place in the table, which carries the prize of a home draw in the quarter-final of the championship, is now open to three Dublin teams: St Vincent's, Killester and Notre Dame. Of the three, Killester are the only club in a position to determine their fate as they will be sure of fourth spot if they beat Demons in Clontarf on Saturday.
Demons may lack a little incentive in that game as they will be sure of finishing third in the table just as long as they do not lose by any more than 23 points.
If Notre Dame are to finish fourth, they must beat Neptune in Cork tomorrow and hope that both Killester and St Vincent's lose at the weekend.
For St Vincent's to claim fourth, they must win at home to Marian on Sunday and hope that Killester lose the previous night. Whatever happens, the three Dublin clubs along with Star, Waterford and Demons are assured of a place in the championship quarter-final, but the remaining seventh and eighth places are open to two of three teams, Limerick, Neptune and Marian.
Even though they lost 75-71 to Notre Dame on Wednesday, Limerick are in a good position as they can still qualify for the championship even if they lost in Waterford tomorrow as long as either Neptune or Marian are also beaten.
For Marian to have any chance, they must win away to St Vincent's, and that is well within their grasp given their recent superb form. Their preparations have been hampered by an injury to their American Chris Doyal, which forced him out of the 98-94 overtime win against Dublin Bay Vikings on Wednesday.
Champions Star of the Sea have a pressure-free final game away to Vikings tomorrow, and it is likely that the Belfast club will rest two players recovering from injuries, Gareth McGuire and Kevin Craig, ahead of the championship quarter-final.
