In form Killarney aiming for playoffs

Just a fortnight after they pulled off the shock of the season by beating Notre Dame, Killarney have changed one of their Americans…

Just a fortnight after they pulled off the shock of the season by beating Notre Dame, Killarney have changed one of their Americans by bringing in Toriand Edwards for Raymond Foster, ahead of their game in Dungannon tomorrow night.

The commitment to change had been made by the Kerry club before their victory over Notre Dame. In fact, Edward was originally due to come to Killarney last September for the entire season but had to delay his arrival until the New Year.

After a terrible start to the season, which was illustrated by a 96-50 defeat to Star of the Sea in October, Killarney have turned around their form superbly as they demonstrated in their deserved win over Notre Dame.

They are currently in a good position to qualify for the top six play-offs at the end of the season and it would appeal that they are taking quite a risk by making such a significant alteration to their playing staff at this juncture.

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Killester are another club to have made a change in personnel for the New Year programme after signing American, Eric Dailey, to replace the inconsistent Earnest Jones. Dailey comes from a spell playing in the Philippines.

Killester, currently lying just below mid-table, are away to Notre Dame tomorrow, where they will face Randall Mounts, who originally came to Ireland six years ago to begin his career here with the north side club.

One of the reasons Notre Dame lost to Killarney in their last match was the loss of Mounts before half-time on five fouls, the last of which was a "technical". As a consequence, he has reason to put in a good performance against his old club. Star of the Sea, who have recently prevailed in a few close league games, have seen their admirable resilience and consistency rewarded as a result of the recent defeat suffered by Notre Dame and they are now joint leaders and in control of their own destiny in the campaign.

Should they win all remaining eight games, including the return fixture with Notre Dame in five weeks' time, then they will be champions for the first time.

However, there are other tough games ahead for Danny Fulton's side, including Sunday's away match against St Vincent's, who have Dave Conlon back to full fitness after injury.

American Chris Harper, who played twice for Neptune before the Christmas break, will line out for Marian against the struggling league champions in Cork tomorrow night. Marian beat Neptune 86-80 in Belfield last October - a defeat that precipitated a run of seven consecutive losses for Mark Scannell's men.

Two teams who need to improve their form to challenge for a play-off place, Ballina and Tralee, meet in Killala tomorrow night in the only other superleague game over the weekend.

In the women's superleague, there is an attractive double header in Sandyford tomorrow evening, where the meeting of the top two teams, Wildcats and Naomh Mhuire, is preceded by the Dublin derby between Meteors and Killester.

Naomh Mhuire will probably be missing Pat O'Donoghue due to a chest infection, but they have June Blount back after a recurrence of her troublesome ankle injury.