Preview: Templeogue relegated ahead of final round in Domino's Men's Super League

Templeogue’s 12 year stay in the Domino’s Men’s Super League ended on Thursday night at the National Basketball Arena. 

Mark Keenan’s young side went down fighting 116-101 in an overtime loss to playoff bound Griffith College Éanna and will join Maree BC in dropping out of the top tier of Irish basketball as a result.

“It’s a tough night for the club,” said coach Keenan after watching his team go down despite scoring five points in the closing 30 seconds of regulation to force an extra period. “The guys have given it their all tonight and throughout the season and I’m really proud of how they fought it out down the stretch with one of the best teams in the country.” 

“We’ve been unlucky with injuries to the likes of Ty (Tavias) Fagan and we’ve lost some really close games, but that’s not an excuse either. We are where we are at this stage of the season. This is a very young core though and they will bounce back.”

Despite pulling the out the win in a game which they trailed by nine points in the third, Griffith College Éanna head coach Darren McGovern was in no mood to celebrate afterwards.

“This has to be a big lesson for us to learn from. I made big mistakes with changes in the fourth quarter that very nearly cost us the game. On the other hand at times we showed unbelievable levels of sharing the ball, finding the right guy and also being that dominant scorer when the opportunity came along.” 

“Going forward I need to be better for the team and limit the mistakes and awful decisions I made. Demons on Sunday will be interesting, so we will just give it a go and see what we can do against such a talented side,” McGovern said. 

They’ll now turn their attentions to pipping Garvey’s Tralee Warriors to the third seed in the post-season with a victory away to regular season winners UCC Demons on Sunday afternoon. 

Earlier this week EJ Sligo All-Stars confirmed their play in the Domino’s Men’s Super League playoffs for the third year in succession with a 108-86 victory against Maree BC to move up to 6^th and welcome Energywise Ireland Neptune to the North West on Saturday in the knowledge that extending their winning streak to three could see them move ahead of UCD Marian into fifth place in the final standings, should the Dubliners fail to beat crosstown rivals Bright St. Vincent’s. 

Killester have secured second spot in the table with Isiah Dasher’s late bucket sealing an 81-80 win over UCD Marian on Wednesday night, giving head coach Jonny Grennell the luxury of whether to manage minutes of players for their trip to Belfast Star on Saturday evening. 

“We are very happy to lock up a home draw for the quarter finals and to do it before a tricky trip to Star is a bonus for sure,” said Killester head coach Jonny Grennell. “We haven't been playing our best the past month, which I think will have us playing with the necessary edge needed for the quarter finals.” 

Star are in a dogfight with Irish Guide Dogs Ballincollig @MTU for the final spot in the playoffs and will need to win along with a loss for Ballincollig against Templeogue at the National Basketball Arena if they’re to sneak into next weekend’s quarter-finals.