Three of us hunched around a small table beneath the UCC Mardyke gym in Cork and there are no giveaways that Claire Rockall and Áine McKenna are history-chasing Glanmire and Ireland international basketballers. Proven winners.

The straight-talking, record-breaking O’Reilly brothers are on the verge of another Cup final win for UCC Blue Demons tonight in the National Basketball Arena. They discuss how little coaching there was back in the day and how there’s plenty of it going on in the Mardyke these nights.

The oldest rivalry in Irish basketball will take to the court at the Neptune Stadium tomorrow when BGFNeptune face fellow Cork rivals C&S UCC Demons.

Team Montenotte produced their best basketball of the season to stun UL Huskies in the Women’s Premier League final at the Neptune Stadium yesterday.

WOMEN'S PREMIER LEAGUE CUP FINAL:

Mark Scannell expressed his surprise last night at his first sacking as a basketball coach after Neptune relieved him of his position as head coach following an inconsistent season in basketball’s Men’s Premier League.

Men’s Division 1 National Cup winners Titans produced the shock of the decade when they defeated Premier outfit Bord Gáis Neptune in the quarter-final of the Champions Trophy.

The Women’s Premier League semi-final clash between Team Montenotte and DCU Mercy on Sunday is sure to capture the imagination of basketball fans in the capital.

Defending Premier Women’s champions UL Huskies will be eager to seal the regular season trophy when they host DCU Mercy at the UL Arena tomorrow.

Anyone who has been to Upper Glanmire or the UL Sports Arena to watch the two most dominant forces in women’s basketball tussle each other won’t have been as wide-eyed as the casual observer, held in thrall by UL Huskies and Glanmire at the National Basketball Arena last night.

WOMEN'S NATIONAL CUP FINAL:

UCC Demons warmed up for Friday’s National Cup final against Dublin Inter with an impressive 80-73 win over UL Eagles in the men’s Premier League.

UL Huskies 80 Killester 59

UCC Demons ended their Belfield hoodoo in style by trouncing UCD Marian 104-64 in the men’s Premier League on Saturday.

UCC Demons player coach Colin O’Reilly and his team will be on full alert to maintain their 100% unbeaten record in the Mens Premier League when they travel to Belfield tomorrow to play UCD Marian.

Defending champions Bord Gáis Neptune will be without key point guard Roy Downey for tomorrow’s Premier National Cup quarter-final against DCU Saints at Neptune Stadium.

Killester will be hoping to keep their unbeaten record intact when they entertain fellow unbeaten Premier League side Bord Gáis Neptune at Clontarf tomorrow.

Bord Gáis Neptune had to come from behind to deny Belfast Star 75-72 in a pulsating Men’s Premier League game yesterday.

As events, and my 12-year-old girl would have it, I’ve just spent back-to-back Saturdays in the Parochial Hall on Cork city’s northside.

UL Eagles may have been shocked by DCU Saints in the Champions Trophy semi-final on Friday night but their ladies team have a chance to exact some revenge as they qualified for Nivea Women’s SuperLeague final against DCU Mercy.

Tonight

You know the line: “We’re just concentrating on our own game...”

UL Huskies have all but locked up the Nivea Women’s SuperLeague title with an assured performance in Waterford that saw them defeat WIT Wildcats 68-61.

UL Huskies 93 Team Montenotte Hotel Cork 78

Everything else tends to suffer by comparison in Cork when SuperLeague pride is at stake between UCC Demons and Neptune.

It won’t compensate for the Cup final defeat, and it wasn’t especially pretty.

He’s still only 36, but basketball’s Women’s Superleague coach of the year James Weldon has already been coaching for half his life. The trick? Continually pushing himself outside his comfort zone in the search for new methods and insights, even if that’s an obscure tournament in eastern Europe. The UL Huskies coach doesn’t do down time.

Friday night lights for basketball’s blue riband finals. Good idea or pandering to TV?

Cup fever grips the basketball fraternity in Ireland this weekend and for those taking part — it’s a rare opportunity to showcase their talents under an intense media glare.

UL Huskies and Team Montenotte Cork will contest the Women’s SuperLeague National Cup final following their impressive wins over WIT Wildcats and DCU Mercy at Neptune Stadium.

There’s just one game in the Nivea For Men’s SuperLeague this weekend as Moycullen welcome Dublin Inter to Galway tomorrow.

The normally unflappable UL Eagles had their wings clipped at the weekend by DCU Saints to hold a place in the top four in the Nivea For Men’s SuperLeague.

Two of the Nivea for Men’s SuperLeague powerhouses will go head to head tomorrow as last season’s league finalists, DCU Saints and UL Eagles, meet at DCU (7pm).

UCC Demons continue to set the pace in the Nivea For Men’s SuperLeague, notching their sixth consecutive win of the season with victory over Killester yesterday.

It was billed as derby weekend and clubs all over Ireland will be standing that little bit taller after some classic grudge matches were settled.

No, she’s not related to him. She might be a Galvin, from Finuge, that plays football for Kerry with an astonishing intensity rampaging between the half-back and half-forward lines, so she can understand why you would assume that connection but, as it happens, they’re don’t really know each other.

UL Eagles completed the double in Women’s SuperLeague when they had a hard-earned win over Team Montenotte in the league decider at the National Basketball Arena last night.

It’s a friendship that will firmly be parked outside the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght tomorrow night.

UL would win by 37 points, a record-winning margin. They held DCU to just 27 points, another cup final record.

UL were crowned women’s cup champions following their comfortable win over DCU Mercy at the National Basketball Arena last night.

Mark Scannell has had some close-ups of UCC Demons during his first term as coach to Bord Gáis Neptune before tonight’s National Cup final against UL Eagles at the National Basketball Arena and he believes Demons are “hot favourites” to win.

THE expected pairing for the Women’s SuperLeague National Cup final came together at the weekend when the raging hot favourites, UL, defeated former champions Montenotte Hotel Cork 71-59, and defending champions DCU Mercy, coasted to a 68-30 win over 11890 Killester in the other semi-final.

CORMAC O’DONOGHUE and James Weldon played basketball together with Gleneagle Lakers in Killarney but will put that friendship aside this evening.