This weekend is the final weekend of the regular season in the Women’s SuperLeague. The top six have been decided, but this weekend teams will be playing for place.

First up tonight, DART Killester face ROMA St Vincent’s in a crucial tie at the top of the Northern Conference in the Nivea for Men SuperLeague at 9pm.

NEPTUNE needed to beat the Tigers to keep alive any hope of making the NIVEA for Men SuperLeague quarter-finals in March and they eventually did by the narrowest of margins.

WITH just five weeks to the final shake-up, Limerick Lions will host defending champions UCC Demons in a mouth-watering NIVEA for MEN SuperLeague clash at UL Arena tomorrow night.

Longford PV’s Falcons 76 Team Blarney Park 58

UCC Demons 113 Gleneagle Lakers 120

Neptune 89 Limerick Lions 91 (after overtime)

NEW coach Michael Evans will measure Neptune’s progress when they tip off a big weekend for Cork in tonight’s home game against Limerick Lions.

THE battle for National Cup glory reaches the penultimate stage this weekend when the semi-finals will be decided, with the focus on the National Basketball Arena where the men and women of the SuperLeague will face intriguing ties on Sunday afternoon.

LIMERICK Lions could be playing UCC Demons in a top of the table clash at The Mardyke Arena on Monday afternoon - that’s if they beat Gleneagle Lakers at UL Arena tomorrow night.

NEPTUNE fans are at their wits end at the moment. Out of the cup and after making a dismal start to the NIVEA for Men’s SuperLeague, their team can only go one way.

ABRAKEBABRA TIGERS released their second American during the week, so Joe Quirke will be banking on his Irish players when the club host UCC Demons in the Nivea for Men SuperLeague this weekend.

DEFENDING Cup champions Abrakebabra Tigers will meet reigning SuperLeague champions, UCC Demons in the quarter-final of the Men’s National Cup.

PATRICK POPE, winner of a Nivea for Men SuperLeague medal with UCC Demons last season, appears to have come to the rescue of Merry Monk Ballina, judging by his performance against Shamrock Hoops on Saturday night.

WHEN they met in the very first SuperLeague game of the season, UCC Demons trounced neighbours Neptune by a whopping 48 points.

First up in basketball this weekend is National Cup action when UCC Demons take on local rivals Neptune in a backyard brawl at the Mardyke Arena in Cork on Friday night to determine which team advances through the knockout stages.

TRALEE TIGERS are determined to build on their confidence-boosting victory in Limerick last Monday when they travel to UCD tomorrow in week four of basketball’s NIVEA for Men SuperLeague.

UCC Demons and Neptune clashed recently in the opening game of the NIVEA for MEN SuperLeague and, astonishingly, Neptune, playing at home, went down by a massive 48 points.

LIMERICK Lions hammered out a sensational 94-83 victory over UCC Demons as defending champions Abrakebabra Tigers kept their title hopes intact with a two point victory over Merry Monk Ballina when the SuperLeague Men’s National Cup got underway at the weekend.

LIMERICK Lions are aiming for a hat-trick of away victories tomorrow night as they travel to Cork to play UCC Demons in the first round of the SuperLeague Men’s National Cup.

AFTER last weekend’s drubbing by UCC Demons, Neptune will set about putting the pieces back together this weekend with a new coach and two new American players, although they will not be certain until later today if former Gleneagle Lakers star Dajan Smith will be available for tomorrow night’s Nivea for Men SuperLeague clash with DART Killester.

It is a big weekend for Merry Monk Ballina, who play two home games as week two of the Nivea for Men SuperLeague gets underway.

Brendan Mooney

ON A weekend when three of the four cup semi-finalists tasted defeat a week before Cup final weekend, Limerick Lions got their challenge for the NIVEA SuperLeague play-off spot back on track with a sensational 107-98 home victory over Mardyke UCC Demons.

AFTER the excitement of the senior men’s cup last weekend some clubs will be searching through the debris over the coming days to see if they can salvage anything.

BASKETBALL action in Cork gets off to a flying start in the New Year with two quarter-finals of the National Cup to be decided at Neptune Stadium on January 2, and the Mardyke Arena on Monday, January 3.

MARDYKE UCC Demons recorded a very significant victory over Roma St Vincent’s in the NIVEA for Men SuperLeague at Glasnevin yesterday and learnt almost immediately that they will be at home to UCD when they defend their National Cup title.

Tralee side Abrakebabra Tigers will face Merry Monk Ballina missing several key players in the NIVEA for Men SuperLeague this weekend.

The Southern Conference of the NIVEA for Men SuperLeague hosts an intriguing clash between Limerick Lions and Mardyke UCC Demons in Cork tomorrow night.

SURPRISE away wins for Gleneagle Lakers and Limerick and the expected victory for Abrakebabra Tigers on Saturday night means that there are four teams from Irish Basketball’s Southern Conference through to the quarter finals of the National Cup, leaving the likes of MDS Star and UCD knocking on the back door for their places.

WHEN Mardyke UCC Demons and Neptune battled their way through to the final of the National Cup at the end of last season everyone was regretting the fact that it was not to be played in Cork - for many the spiritual home of basketball.

MARDYKE UCC DEMONS, the defending champions, will meet Neptune, last season’s beaten finalists, in the first round of the National Cup at the Mardyke Arena on the weekend of 20-21 November.

Dart Killester face UCD this Saturday in a weekend of derby basketball action in Dublin which also sees Shamrock Rovers Hoops at home to Roma St Vincent's on Friday night in the Men's SuperLeague.

National Cup Champions Mardyke UCC Demons will take on defending league champions Abrakebara Tigers on Sunday in the game of the weekend in the Men's Basketball SuperLeague.

Tralee Abrakebara Tigers opening the defence of the Superleague title with a home match against Roma St Vincents on Saturday at 8pm.

HORAN’S Health Stores Tigers, Tralee, extended their unbeaten Superleague run to six games with a hard-fought win over Mardyke UCC Demons (74-67) at the Tralee Sports Complex on Saturday night.