Notre Dame double up to join the leaders

BASKETBALL: The remarkable winning streak of Notre Dame continued at the weekend with victories over Tolka Rovers and Tralee Tigers leaving the Dublin club as joint leaders of the ESB men's Superleague. They now share the lead in the title race with Star of the Sea, who weren't in action this weekend and so have a game in hand.

Notre Dame overcame Rovers 102-93 after taking an early lead in the game but then struggling to put the result beyond doubt. Kenny McFarland and Gabe Jackson helped keep Tolka in touch, with Joey Haastrup and Eoin Darling also working hard, but ultimately it was the old combination of Brandon Hughes and Anthony Jenkins that ensured Notre Dame emerged as winners.

Their second victory came over the Tralee side, on a 90-78 scoreline. Tralee were without Michael Quirke, a major loss for the struggling Kerry club, yet they opened well through Mike Trimmer and were tied with Notre Dame 27-points each at the end of the first quarter.

Jenkins started dominating by the third quarter, hitting a series of three-pointers to stretch Notre Dame's lead to 15 points. Antoine Gillespie replied for Tralee with 10 points to keep the visitors in the game, but once again Notre Dame proved too strong in the closing quarter.

In the women's Superleague, Meteors delivered the shock result of the weekend by overcoming an understrength Tolka Rovers, who were without two of their key players in Molly Watson and Suzanne Maguire. Still Tolka were defeated 72-90, making retention of their Superleague title increasingly unlikely.

On the international front, the Irish senior men concluded their European championship semi-final round with a heavy 94-77 defeat to Bosnia in Sarajevo on Saturday night. Although Ireland's hopes had long since ended, Bosnia still needed a win to be sure of qualification for the finals in Sweden in September and that was reflected in their game as they dominated the Irish from the start.

MEN'S SUPERLEAGUE - Notre Dame 102 (54) (J Chambers 31, L Evans 29, B Hughes 27) Tolka Rovers 93 (50) (K McFarland 27, G Jackson 22, J Haastrup 13); Tolka Rovers 67 (31) (K McFarland 20, G Jackson 15, J Haastrup 11) UCD Marian 81 (39) (J Kendrick 20, J Turner 20, K Meaney 10); Killarney Lakers 75 (33) (J Estick 23, T Levitt 16, G Noonan 18) Limerick 84 (44) (N Henry 21, N Campbell 16, L O'Hea 17); Notre Dame 90 (47) (J Chambers 31, B Hughes 16, L Evans 15) Tralee Tigers 78 (42) (A Keane 23, M Trimmer 21, A Gillespie 19); Mardyke UCC Demons 61 (27) B Romano 25, S Coughlan 11, J Singleton 10) St Vincent's 66 (28) (M Chadwick 23, S McGuirk 13, T Welch 10)