The National Basketball Arena will be rocking in Dublin tonight before a complete sell out crowd turning up to see the Women’s and Men’s National Cup Finals.
“The tickets sold out last week and we are looking forward to a great night,” said Basketball Ireland’s Elaine Caffrey. “A Dublin team adds a sense of excitement and the story behind the Dublin Inter team is one that has really caught the imagination.”
Dublin Inter will face UCC Demons as heavy underdogs but that is the position they have overcome time and time again to get this far in the competition. Along the way they have beaten both of last year’s finalists UL and Bord Gais Neptune.
The teams’ founder and coach Toomas Ilves died court side in June of last year and the run to the final has been interwoven as a tribute to what he did in creating the team.
“I think that it is an advantage to us to be underdogs,” said Inter guard Romas Eidukas.
“We really have no pressure and can go out and enjoy, relax and win hopefully. All the pressure will be on Demons.”
“Definitely this game is dedicated to Toomas,” said Eidukas.
“He would have wanted us to be here always and he would have been proud of us for where we are at this moment. We can’t let him down.”
The Women’s Final sees a rematch of last year’s clash between UL and Team Montenotte from Cork. Both games will also be covered live on Setanta Sports.
The Finals run this year without an overall sponsor, following last year’s departure of Nivea but it is expected that a number of potential sponsors will be present tonight and ready to see the electric atmosphere of the occasion at first hand.
