Templeogue 68 UCD Marian 62: Templeogue won the Hula Hoops Pat Duffy Men’s National Cup final in a low-scoring game at the National Basketball Arena on Saturday.

It’s back to Super League action with a bang this weekend after a hectic schedule of Hula Hoops National Cup semi-finals in Cork.

UCC Demons produced a display of champagne basketball to surprise Griffith College Swords Thunder in the Men’s Super League on Saturday night.

A couple in their 80s have spoken of their nightmare after they got caught up in a suspected gas explosion at their home in Cork over the weekend, writes Olivia Kelleher.

A big weekend in the Men’s Super League with crucial games in many venues as leaders UCC Marian clash with Griffith College Swords Thunder.

UCD Marian are the only unbeaten side in the Men’s Super League following their impressive 78-72 away win over champions Templeogue.

Team Ambassador UCC Glanmire will put their Women’s Super League title on the line tomorrow at the new WIT Arena court when they face Killester in the semi-final.

A monument is to be constructed in a north Cork town to honour a Tipperary man who set a world record after being buried alive for 61 days.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained Sir John Lavery, a very promising third on his debut at the Curragh just a week ago, proved the star of yesterday’s Gowran Park action as he romped to an impressive seven lengths win in the one-mile Irish Stallion Farms 2-Y-0 Maiden.

For every ambitious basketball club, the National Cup weekend in January is where it’s at. So when a women’s powerhouse like Glanmire is knocked out of the U18 and U20 competitions in the preliminary rounds, it understandably sets alarm bells ringing around the club.

C&S UCC Demons will be hoping to keep their Premier Men’s League winning sequence intact when they entertain Moycullen at the Mardyke Arena on Sunday.

Swords Thunder coach Dave Baker is adamant his side can bounce back following last weeks 81-80 defeat to leaders Templeogue when they face UCD Marian in a Dublin derby.

Basketball

C&S UCC Demons’ 11-game unbeaten run in the Men’s Premier league will be tested on Sunday when they entertain Belfast Star at the Mardyke Arena.

National Cup Men’s Semi-final

In a week when the plight of the inter-county GAA player has been prominently described as "depressing", any conversation with an Irish Premier League basketball player is worth starting with asking what that experience is like, writes Kieran Shannon.

Basketball: The Mardyke Arena will be packed to capacity when C&S UCC Demons host neighbours BFG Neptune in an intriguing Men’s Premier League derby tonight. 

C&S UCC Demons finished 2014 with another resounding victory in the Premier Men’s league following their 101-81 win over Templeogue at the Mardyke Arena yesterday.

C&S UCC Demons will complete their 2014 campaign when they entertain Templeogue in the Men’s Premier League at the Mardyke Arena on Sunday.

The season’s busiest weekend thus far, with quarter-final second-leg games in both Men’s and Women’s Premier National Cups taking place.

Basketball: C&S UCC Demons continue to set the pace in the Men’s Premier League following a hard earned 88-74 win against Templeogue.

UCD Marian produced a major upset in the Premier Men’s National Cup when defeating Neptune 95-77 in their first leg quarter-final clash at Belfield.

Holders C&S UCC Demons are involved in the game of the weekend in the Mens Premier National Cup when they travel to Dublin tomorrow for a clash against their great rivals Killester.

Basketball: Jermaine Turner rolled back the years for Killester as they defeated BFG Neptune 86-75 in the Men’s Premier League at Neptune Stadium.

I was a late starter.

KILLESTER are hot favourites to defeat UCD Marian in tomorrow’s Men’s SuperLeague decider.

PHILIP ROTHWELL’S The God Of Love jusitifed favouritism with a smooth success in the Tipperary Town Maiden Hurdle at Tipperary last night.

SECRET correspondence between two Limerick children and Santa has been discovered in a chimney — 78 years on and long after they had passed away.

SCHOOLS have not become war zones, a school managers’ conference heard yesterday.

EDUCATION Minister Mary Hanafin last night warned she would introduce regulations, if she had to, to make all schools take their fair share of children with special needs and learning difficulties.

RELIGIOUS-run secondary schools receive up to €100,000 less than those operated by the State, a conference heard yesterday.

MARIAN College earned their first Schools Cup title when winning the Boys U19 B Final at the National Basketball Arena yesterday.

PEOPLE who can afford to pay college fees should be made to do so, according to the head of the country’s Institutes of Technology.

Colm Meaney leaves the Starship Enterprise to join Juliette Lewis and Eddie Izzard in a screen version of the cult Western, Blueberry.