IN the week of his call up to the Irish squad, Darren McGuinness has resolved his differences with Delta Notre Dame, the club he walked out on a month ago. He is expected to be in the team for tomorrow's Dublin derby game in Killester.
McGuinness split with Delta four weeks ago in a dispute over the amount of court time he was getting, but far from slumping since his departure, the club has won seven games in row, including victory in the Roy Curtis international tournament.
That revival is partly due to the extra edge in offence provided by the acquisition of former American Lennie McMillan, who is now a naturalised Irishman.
McGuinness's return came about this week when he made contact with club manager and secretary, Brid Saunders who confirmed yesterday that the dispute over court time was no longer a bone of contention and that the club welcomes him back.
On the debit side, though, is the injury to Clive Brady who tore ankle ligaments last week. He will be out of action for at least four weeks.
The movement of Americans around the clubs continues to be the major factor on the transfer front, with two new faces set to, make their debuts this weekend.
Marian have brought in 6 ft 9 in Jason Siemon, formerly a player in the English and Belgian leagues, to replace Decarlo Deveaux, who had to leave the country due to a calf muscle injury.
Siemon will line out against St Vincent's equally towering Kevin Vulin, who showed good touches but lacked consistency in his 23 point debut last week in the defeat by Neptune.
The second new American in the country, is 6 ft 7 in shooting forward Chris Powell, who has joined the winless Division One team Marathon as a replacement for stand in Brett Nicholls.
In the Budweiser Superleague, the two Kerry teams, St Paul's Killarney and Tralee Tigers, have it in their compass to change the order of affairs at the top of the table.
In a fascinating fixture at the Neptune Stadium tomorrow, two, old team mates with the great Neptune team of the 1980s, Tom Wilkinson and Jim Nugent, will be coaching on opposite benches.
Nugent has returned to the National League this season to guide the Killarney men, who currently stand in a four way, midtable logjam with three wins from their six outings.
Wilkinson is in his second season with Neptune and so far has got the blend exactly right in an early season run of seven straight victories, six of them in the league.
Nugent has either coached or played with virtually every member of the Neptune squad, and his unique insight should be worth a few points on the scoreboard. However, it is hard to oppose Neptune who were again in top form in a superb away win against St Vincent's last Sunday.
Meanwhile, the league champions Tralee, under returned coach Bill McGaley, will host Belfast side Star of the Sea tomorrow. These two teams fought out a fine duel for the league title last season and both are currently badly in need of a good result, having suffered damaging defeats over the past few weeks.
In women's division one, Meteors have a free weekend and there, should be easy wins for Wildcats over Brunell and Naomh Mhuire at home to Tralee. However, a broken finger suffered by Wildcats' centre Jillian Hayes is a cause for concern with an important duel against Mhuire just a fortnight away.
On the international front, the IBA received the welcome news this week that they will play hosts to the European Championship Qualification tournament next May at the National Arena.
Among those attending an Irish squad session on Sunday will be Glasgow born John Teehan of Tralee, who was cleared this week to play for Ireland after an appeal to FIBA.
