Fresh faces and familiar talent as Éanna prepare for the new Super League season
Éanna set for Super League return
ÉANNA Basketball Club find themselves back in Superleague action this weekend as they take on UCC Demons in the Mardyke this Sunday in Cork.
The team have seen great recruitment over the summer with Morgan Taylor and Nick Hopkins arriving from the United States.
Under the stewardship of Gareth Winders last season, the side overcame adversity throughout the year losing key players such as Sean Jenkins out to long-term injuries.
Jenkins is set to miss a substantial part of this season also but the team have had several months now to adapt and prepare themselves for the upcoming campaign.
Winning the overall title in the 23/24 season, Eanna are looking to get back to that level even though they have been eliminated in the final four of the last two campaigns, losing out to eventual champions Ballincollig in last year’s edition.
Despite having lofty ambitions ahead, they are not looking past this upcoming game though Winders is putting more focus on themselves than the opposition.
“It’s always a tricky one for the first round of games because you don’t know how teams have gelled over the pre- season or what players they have in. you don’t really get to see that until the first round is played.
‘You’re flying in a bit blind as to what your opposition can do.
‘We’ll concentrate on our own strengths and our own game.”
The club also prides itself on internal recruitment and promotion and has a promising record of producing high talent young players. This can be seen with recent academy product Adam Charles being offered a scholarship in Wyoming.
They now will be feeding through more underage players into the superleague set up with four players making the jump.
This recruitment drive from both within and externally ensures that the squad will have a fresh faced look to this upcoming campaign.
“You always want to win, the big thing for the players is to make the playoffs.
‘We want to build on last year’s performance. We won a few years ago, we’re trying to build back up to where we were without losing too much momentum.
‘Certainly aiming to go as far as we can in the playoffs.
‘As the season goes on and the players begin to understand the challenges ahead we will have a strong finish.
‘The unknown is how the younger players will react.”
