Two newcomers will grace Irish basketball’s showpiece this Saturday night when Templeogue meet GCD Swords Thunder in the Hula Hoops Men’s National Cup final.
The men’s and women’s deciders fall on separate days in 2016, with the men taking top billing on Saturday.
Templeogue will go into the game as slight favourites, with four senior Ireland international internationals and former Grenada international Michael Bonaparte on their roster.
Their coach has also been there and done that before - Mark Keenan was a National Cup winner with Killester in 2010 and again with UL Eagles in 2012.
“The league games against them are out of the way and it’s going to be very hard to call,” said Keenan.
“Having lost to them in the league two weeks ago, does that mean we’ll have an extra little bit of motivation? I certainly hope so.”
GCD Swords Thunder look healthy for their maiden final.
“Everyone seems fit and ready to go,” said coach Dave Baker.
“It was a huge thing for us even to get here. We had a rocky start in the league so the cup was another focus for us and so far it’s worked out great.”
The Hula Hoops Women’s National Cup final is a repeat of last year’s decider but both clubs are promising a very different spectacle this weekend.
Team Montenotte Hotel are the defending champions and on the brink of greatness.
A win on Sunday would make them the most successful team in the history of the competition.
“Because we’ve been so good over the last couple of years, people expect us to turn up and beat teams and it doesn’t happen like that,” says coach Mark Scannell.
“Teams cop on and prepare better. The players get tired and injured like everyone else.
Killester lost last year’s final by 26 points but are a much-improved side this season under coach Karl Kilrbride, while they also boast the league’s top scorer in Rae Contreras.
However, Kilbride is happy to play down their chances.
We’re probably the underdogs going into this but with the experience our younger players have gotten throughout the season , we’re certainly ready for this,” he said.
