In a repeat of last season’s first round tie, Belfast Star will travel to Rathfarnham in Dublin to take on the reigning Super League champions Griffith College Eanna. That tie last year saw the men from the north come away with the victory but they won’t have leading scorer from that occassion De Ondre Jackson, but Irish international Conor Quinn has a strong shooting resume in that particular gym. Quinn - who is shooting 37% from three so far in the Men’s Super League, has shot 60% from downtown over the course of his last three visits to Rathfarnham.
Star steadied the ship in the build-up to this cup tie, recovering from an 0-2 start to the league season with back-to-back wins over UCC Demons in overtime and on the road in Kerry against Flexachem KCYMS. That stretch came to an abrupt halt when they played the red hot Garvey’s Tralee Warriors on Monday, but playing on successive days following a 477km trip to the Kingdom is no easy task for any team. Maurice Jones appears to be finding his feet alongside Tamyrik Fields, Max Richardson and company at the right time as they begin their bid to bring the Pat Duffy Cup to Belfast for the first time.
They will come up against an Eanna team who will be reeling from their first defeats of the season against Killester and Energywise Ireland Neptune but beware of a wounded animal. They will also welcome back Stefan Desnica who missed both of those defeats through injury and was critical for them in their 3-0 start to the season prior to that. Ireland international Sean Jenkins will also be a man to watch as he gears up for the upcoming FIBA World Cup qualifying action.
Elsewhere in Pat Duffy Cup action, the past two champions square in a clash of the students as holders UCC Demons host UCD Marian. It has been a middling start to the league campaign for the Demons at 2-3 but they have a victory over UCD already with a narrow 94-89 win in week two. In that game, Sean Clancey and Elijah Tillman combined for an incredible 62 points between them so they will be out to cause more damage to a Marian team who will look to Lovre Tvrdic and Tanner Graham as danger men.
The other two games in the competition are in Dublin with Bright St Vincent’s welcoming EJ Sligo All-Stars to Drumcondra while Templeogue BC and Energywise Ireland Neptune will clash at the National Basketball Arena.
All of these games are 7pm starts on Saturday evening.