Saints aspire to make amends

Four wins out of five in the ESB men's league for the Saints should help ease the pain of making an early exit from the cup. Now proving to be one of the stronger teams in the title race, the Saints have lost only once - to the unbeaten Notre Dame - but face into two matches this weekend against UCD Marian and Killester.

Last week's double-header victories without injured point guard Gerry Noone bodes well and if they can handle UCD Marian they may well be close to the final shake-up at the end of the season.

UCD Marian's home advantage and a fully fit squad should ensure that the match is not one way. The disciplinary case on Neville Charles, who was disqualified two weeks ago, will not affect him this week while the Saints have a number of injuries.

John Clancy is out with a broken rib, while Noone's hamstring continues to leave him on the bench. That leaves coach Joey Boylan without his first and second choice point guards.

The second Dublin derby against Killester should be full-house as the Saints make their debut in their new gym at DCU. But they will be without the influential Karl Donnelly, who will miss the match because of commitments to Na Fianna in the Leinster football championship.

Defending champions Neptune will be looking for a lift when they visit Tralee. Having suffered two defeats so far, Neptune need to win. But Tralee welcome back Ricardo Leonard, who has recovered from a hamstring injury and should relish meeting up with his old Neptune team-mates.

No doubt Notre Dame are the team to beat this year, having won all five of their games played with Brandon Hughes top scoring in every game. It is their best start to the season and the feeling in the camp is good enough to believe they can clinch the double.

Their opponents, Demons, will need to improve if they are to rise to a title. Brian Clernon and Hugo Iturralde missed last week's game due to work, but will rejoin the team for the weekend.

Killarney face Limerick with a full squad for the first time this season. Limerick coach Tom Hehir cannot recall the last time his team defeated the Kerry side in their home gym, but the visitors bring in their new American addition, 6 ft 8 in Lance Barnes from Utah.

Having stepped off the plane to play against Notre Dame last week, Barnes did not have such an auspicious beginning in the game against Killarney, but he was hardly expected to perform jet-lagged and not knowing a name on the team.

This weekend, after a week's training with Hehir, Barnes will be offered a more reasonable chance to show his qualities.