Preview: Enda Walshe
With just three rounds to go and their place in the end of season play-offs as good as assured, one would be forgiven for thinking that their minds would be straying towards the latter stages of the Women’s Basketball League.
But the remaining games all have enough little twists in them to make them relevant.
This weekend St Paul’s travel to the top team in the division, the McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles, a team they could well face again in the very near future.
The following weekend they are away to Templeogue, a game that could be pivotal to the order of things in their Southern Conference and last but by no means least, Moy Tolka Rovers come to Killarney, themselves chasing second spot in the Northern Conference. So plenty to play for but first up is a trip to the Virginia Show Centre and the high-flying Eagles who have won 15 of their 16 games,
The Tolan sisters have all represented Ireland at underage level. Emma, Niamh and Ciara are mainstays in the squad while dad Graham is the club chairman. Alarie Mayze is their star turn, she played Superleague last season with DCU Mercy. Carnethia Brown from Louisville Kentucky joined their ranks in December and another signing, Imani Dixon, has seen action in recent weeks but with the two import rule, it has seen either Brown or Mayze sit out the fixture on each occasion. Spaniard Elisabet Sagrera and Casey Mulvey are also ones to watch.
St Paul’s had mixed fortunes last weekend with a win over Oblate Dynamos in the Pres Gym on Sunday but that was preceded by a defeat, only their third this season, to the Phoenix Rockets.
That reverse came on the back of a slightly depleted squad with Siofra O’Shea, Lorraine Scanlon, Cassandra Buckley and Leah McMahon all absent due to football commitments. Again this Saturday the Kerry seniors and minors are in action so the squad will have to be utilised.
On the positive side of things Sofia Paska had a welcome return to scoring form after a little dip against the Hawks. She hit 24 points in Lisburn and again against the Dynamos while Yuleska Tejeda is close to being top scorer in the league.
Rheanne O’Shea is one of the division’s best three-point specialists while Lynn Jones is as good in 2023 as she has ever been. Denise Dunlea is inching closer to her true form while Aisling Counihan and Jessica Quirke are linchpins in the squad.
The trip to Cavan will be a big test of St Paul’s credentials and it could well be a case of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.
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