Tralee's Imperials ladies shooting for the stars with three National Cup final places at stake in Cork
TRALEE Imperials' impressive debut season in the senior women's National League is set to improve even further this Saturday, with the league table- toppers closing in on a place in a first National Cup final.
With Liam Culloty's charges coming off the back of a seven- game winning streak in the league – a 100 per cent winning run that sees them lead the division – as well as defeating UL (75 to 50) in the cup quarterfinal, the Tralee side will be confident of seeing off the challenge of Longford Falcons in the cup semifinal at the Parochial Hall in Cork on Saturday, with a 2pm start.
Backboned by Sinead Mackessy, Emma Sherwood ( a doubt with a hand injury), Lisa Brennan, Ashley Campbell and Linda Raymond, this allconquering Imperials side is fancied to advance to a first National Cup final, where they could face Kerry rivals, Scruffys St Pauls, who meet Killester in the other semi-final.
Having defeated Meteors 65 to 30 in their latest league match over the weekend, Imperials are in good form but they have to be wary of Longford who are an unknown quantity of sorts, as they do not compete in the league.
It could be a weekend to savour for the progressive Tralee basketball club as its under-18 and under-20 women's teams are also involved in cup semifinals. The under-20s face Brunnell in the Parochial Hall, Cork at 6pm on Saturday, while the under18s meet Maree of Galway on Sunday morning, also in the Parochial Hall, at 10.30am.
Tralee Imperials won last year's under- 20 women's National Cup and this year's side, coached also by Liam Culloty, is made up almost entirely of the under-18 squad.
The club's under- 18s travel to Cork high in confidence following their recent KAB final win, and with players such as Laura Rodgers, Amy Fitzgerald, Deirdre Kearney and Laura Hoffman, they will be a team to look out for.
- Kieran Mccarthy
