The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Warriors ready to reach new heights in new hoops season
GARVEYS Tralee Warriors open their Superleague campaign on this Friday when they travel to Cork to take on UCC Demons in the Mardyke Arena (8pm).
Having won the Champions Cup last season Warriors will be endeavouring to build on that particular success, and challenge for the two other major titles, Superleague and National Cup this time round. They will have to do it however without the services of Ryan Leonard, last season’s Young Player of the Year who is currently in the United States, and, will be for the foreseeable future. He is attending the Lawrenceville Prep
School in New Jersey with the possibility that a basketball career might well open up for him in the future at collegiate level. He was part of the Irish International Under 20 squad which played in the European Championships in Romania during the summer, and his loss, obviously, will be considerable.
This season’s line up however has been boosted by the addition of shooting guards Cathal O Sullivan and Pa Mc Carthy, both of whom played with St Brendans with McCarthy having featured with U.L. in the Superleague, along with Eoin Quigley who has also transferred to Tralee.
Dara Kennelly was this year an Under 17 Irish International, while dual player, Michael O’Donnell, is another addition having previously been part of the St Brendans side which won the Intermediate National Cup in 2016.
Irish International Paul Dick, who played in Spain last year, is also registered to play, but, due to injury won’t feature until December at the earliest.
Darragh O Hanlon, who made a big impression last season, is currently in the USA and will be unavailable for the next few weeks, so when Coach Mark Bernsten has a full complement of players available, such as Trae Pemberton, Goran Pantovic, Dusan Bogdanovic, Kieran Donaghy, Gary Murphy, and the O’Sullivans, Fergal and team captain Darren, all currently involved in the pre-season preparation, which included wins over Neptune and Ballincollig last weekend in the Tournament in Tralee the combination with everybody on board, looks to be suitably equipped to challenge on all fronts.
This weekend’s opposition UCC Demons had by their standards a pretty disappointing season in 2016/17, having failed to qualify for the end of season play-offs.
The Cork side did beat Warriors in their opening game last season by fifteen points, but, the result was reversed in Tralee, with Warriors emerging victorious by fourteen.
A few of Demons key players have transferred to Ballincollig, but, Colin O’Reilly is back with them as player/coach, and his input having enjoyed a most successful career with the club, before his stint in England is sure to greatly enhance the Cork side’s prospects this season.
So, it is with a lot of expectation and confidence that coach Mark Bernsen and his assistants Pa Carey and John Dowling will look forward to a season with once again, the main contenders being the reigning Champions Templeogue and, the current National Cup holders Swords Thunder.
Killester are also being talked about as a team who will be challenging at the top end of the table, and of course one cannot ever rule out Demons, given their record down the decades in the top flight. Their game with Warriors this weekend will, maybe, provide an indicator as to the prospects of the respective sides for the forthcoming season.