Only two sides have never been relegated from Ireland’s top flight. On Saturday night, they faced off in the Domino’s Super League yet, as Emmet Ryan writes, the fates of St Vincent’s and Killester look rather different this season.
Considering Ireland’s had a national league for well over 50 years, it’s no small thing that only two sides have never been relegated from its top flight. Yet that’s the status Killester and St Vincent’s hold.
Indeed, only one other side can claim to have even played every season in the national league system. That being UCD Marian. Yet Saturday night in St Vincent’s showed just why one of the two never-relegated teams is staring at making the wrong kind of history this season. It also showed why they might avoid it.
Flirting with disaster
Killester entered this season of the Domino’s Super League having been to the championship game in each of the prior three seasons. They lost on each occasion but their consistency in the post-Covid era has been impressive.
St Vincent’s tell a different story. The three time champions had a 10-12 record last season, making the playoffs for the first time since the league switched to a playoff format. Yet the other seasons post-Covid tell a different story.
In the 2021-22 season they had an abysmal 1-13 record but there was no relegation that season. They managed to avoid the relegation playoff with room to spare the following season before narrow escapes in the subsequent two. Last season was meant to be a correction.
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About that
St Vincent’s entered Saturday night with heavy defeats in both of their opening games and huge concerns around their D. Killester were able to exploit the issues with that in large part throughout the first half. There was simply no cohesion and it was clear that the roster still hadn’t clicked at all.
There were obvious positives. The most notable being Scottie Stone’s scoring. Stone had 39 points, shooting 43/71/92 in a game leading display. He also had 8 rebounds while three other players scored in double digits.
Yet they were outrebound 43-34 and, crucially, gave up 17 offensive rebounds compared to just 7 by Killester. The turnover battle was tight enough (18 for Vincent’s compared to 16 for Killester) but those extra opportunities proved telling as Killester had 63 FGAs to just 59 for the hosts.
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There’s fight in them
Cockroaches, tardigrades, the Pen Place in Dun Laoghaire Shopping Centre, and St Vincent’s in the Domino’s Super League. These are all things expected to survive a global apocalypse. Even this season, which has started 0-3 and the numbers going against them, is a long way from changing that.
The positive for Vincent’s who lost 91-89 as Killester moved to 3-0, was that this was the first game of the campaign where they had the requisite fight to potentially win. If they could stop getting in their own way, they might actually do that.
Down four with 20 seconds on the clock, the maths were against them but not catastrophically. Wasting 18 of those seconds without putting up a shot did. Eventually they got an inbounds call to fall their way but Stone’s baseline jumper just made the final margin closer. To survive, those moments need to be managed better.
As for the visitors
In a shock to nobody that actually watches the Domino’s Super League, Killester look like they’ll be in the playoffs again this season and prove a tough out to anyone once they get there. Josh Wilson managed to deliver in spite of having trouble finding his rhythm. Stefan Desnica is an excellent signing who delivered what was needed on the night.
Killester won ugly but will surely be irritated that they failed to put the game away early. The visitors looked set to kill it off quickly when they built up a 15 point lead in the second quarter. While St Vincent’s fought gamely, there was a loss of focus that will surely irk Mike Olsson. When you’ve got your foot on your opponent’s neck, you look straight down and stomp.
Still a win is a win and winning ugly can build character. They moved to 3-0 in the standings heading into the double-round week. They travel to Tralee (1-2) before hosting Ballincollig (1-2) in a rematch of last season’s decider.
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