Donohoe hopeful Panthers can make another serious push for promotion

KEVIN Donohoe insists Portlaoise Panthers have the potential to make another serious push for promotion to Men’s Super League basketball next season.

The former SETU Carlow player emerged the Laois side’s top scorer on 18 points as they fell one step short of a jump to the top flight following Saturday night’s 81-70 defeat at the hands of Limerick Celtics in the Domino’s Men’s Division One final in the National Basketball Arena.

It was the second time this season that Limerick denied Portlaoise silverware on the national stage having also beaten them in the President’s Cup decider back in January.

Yet Donohoe, himself a very experienced campaigner in the National League, has been hugely encouraged by the progress made by Portlaoise over the past couple of seasons.

“I think it's a big step up from years previous for Portlaoise getting to two finals,” he told the ****Laois Nationalist****.

“I think if you’d offered that to us at start of the year, we probably would have taken your hand off.

“We only lost four games throughout the season, so looking into the future it's a great thing, especially in that there's a great underage coming through in the club and it was great for them be up here watching tonight as well.

“I'm playing in league for 16 or 17 years now and that’s only my third final there tonight. They're rare to come by, and to have two of them in one year is great.

“While losing the two of them is tough, you have to look back at the positives as well and it's definitely positive looking forward, especially into next year.

“I wasn't part of this team last year, but they made a massive jump then, getting into the playoffs for the first time.

“Now this year we’ve gotten into two finals, so it's definitely trending in the right direction and hopefully next season we can take it one step further,” he said.

Donohoe was one of a handful of new additions to Portlaoise last summer, joining the likes of Xabi Arriaga and American, Eric Anderson in transferring to the Laois side, while James Phelan and Gary Morrissey made a return to the club.

After having earned their first taste of Division One playoff action last year when they reached the quarter-finals, losing out by a bucket to Limerick Sport Eagles, Panthers have certainly pushed on with tremendous runs that took them right through to the final day of both the National League and Cup competitions.

Limerick Celtics, however, thwarted them on both counts, the AJ Williams-inspired side beating them by 12 in the President’s National Cup decider, and by 11 in last Saturday night’s Division One final, in which promotion to the Super League ranks was up for grabs.

Portlaoise did go toe-to-toe with the double title-seeking Celtics for three of the four quarters in last weekend’s clash, Donohoe one of four players to finish in double digits for Jack Scully’s side on 18.

James Phelan, Davin McEvoy and Anderson joined him in that bracket, the latter also soaking up a huge 17 rebounds on the night, but even that could not stop Limerick from pulling clear down the stretch for a victory that capped a superb season in which they suffered only one defeat.

“I think tonight we really played as a team which is what we said we wanted to do,” said Donohoe in the wake of Saturday night’s loss.

“It wasn't enough to get us over the line, but we played together as a team and fought all the way to the end which was great to see.”