Colin O’Reilly, UCC Demons Head Coach:
We enter the final weekend of the season trying to secure a play-off spot. When we started out the season we felt if everything went right we would have a chance of being in the hunt for trophies however it wasn’t to be. A cup and league run were hampered by work, injuries and illness. In total players have missed 44 games and we have not been able to train with a squad of ten since before the Belfast Star game in October. Without being able to simulate game situations throughout the week our ability to execute down the stretch at the weekend suffered. Our success of 7 trophies in 3 years was built on the practice court where players learned to sacrifice and trust each other knowing that we were always playing for something bigger than each individual.
With that being said as always we cannot fault the fight and commitment of the players when they stepped on the floor. This is what gives us hope moving forward into this weekend and hopefully the play-offs. We have been in contention in every game going into the last 6 minutes bar one Moycullen hammering which always gives us a chance of winning. We currently lead the league in points per game as well as field goal percentage which shows that we have performed to a decent level throughout the season and on our day have been able to beat the best in the league.
To this weekend we head into a double header with only 16 hours between tip off of both games with travel from Dublin in between. We return to the Parochial Hall on the Sunday where we had a thrilling cup victory earlier in the season. This is a must win game for the team and is also an opportunity to see David Lehane from the under 18’s to continue his growth and development. I’m hoping that fans will be able to come out in force as we never know when it is the last time you will see a player in the clubs colours. As we have seen over the past few years, players who have given great service to the club have left and fans were unable to wish them well during their last game for the club.