Neptune and Demons get season off to flying start
Neptune travelled to Killarney to play Gleneagle Lakers and came away with a two point victory, 80-82, after a thriller, while Mardyke UCC Demons kept home fans happy with an 83-55 win over a depleted BurgerKing Limerick side.
And Horan’s Healthstores Tigers, the team on everyone’s lips before the season tipped off at all, showed that it is not all just talk with an impressive 10 point victory (88-78) over John Hayes’ Waterford Crystal side.
In the Northern Conference there was a bit for Dart Killester over Tolka Rovers, MDS Star travelled to Dublin and beat Notre Dame and Hibernian UCD Marian had five points to spare over St. Vincent’s who were the last team to win the league when it was decided in a conference format.
There was a full house at the magnificently appointed INEC in Killarney when basketball took over from politics following the conclusion of the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis.
But Neptune spoiled the party for the home fans who could not, however, complain about the entertainment value.
The game opened basket for basket before Neptune edged into a 27-24 lead at the end of the opening quarter and Lakers did well to keep the deficit down to six points at half time after a lengthy scoreless spell.
They stormed back into the game in the second half with Zac Fray and Dajan Smith on fire and they had turned the game round to lead by four points at the end of the third quarter. With five minutes remaining they enjoyed a 10 point lead and looked good.
Neptune, back under the stewardship of Gerry Fitzpatrick this season, pushed forward and two three-pointers by the ever reliable Stephen McCarthy had them back in the game.
And there was drama at the end, too, when Gordon Fitzgerald fouled his former Neptune team-mate, Ger Noonan, with Neptune leading by two points but Noonan, who had already contributed 18 points to the Lakers’ total, failed to make the two free throws and Neptune hung on.
Coach Pat Price was happy with the performance served up by Mardyke UCC Demons at the Mardyke Arena where they ran out comfortable winners with a 83-55 victory over BurgerKing but he admitted that the Limerick side was not the force they were.
“With that line-up I fear they are going to struggle,” he said. “But, from our point of view this was a decent first day draw. We did not play our best basketball but I was very happy with the contribution served up by our Irish players.
Shane Coughlan had 14 points and Brian Clernon had 13 and when that happens it eases the pressure. At the end of the day you are looking to the Irish players to perform as, very often the American players will cancel themselves out and, with that in mind, I have to be very happy with the overall performance of the team.
Mark Michiels (6’7” recruit from Belgium) is new to the line-up and was a little bit nervous so it was just the right type of environment for him to make his debut.
Torrey Butler had 31 points and 14 rebounds so that was a big game for him and I was very excited. He was very workmanlike in his effort. James Clinton (6’9” recruit) struggled a bit with four points and nine rebounds.
Brandon Mason hit a game high of 27 points for Horans Health Stores Tigers as they got off to a winning start with an 88-78 victory over Waterford Crystal but PRO Timmy Sheehan was the first to admit that they were not as impressive as the scoreline would suggest.
“We were ahead at all of the breaks but we did not play all that well,” he said. “It was always between five and 10 points and we just could not break them down.”
University of Limerick underscored their claims to a second successive Women’s Super League title with a 62-49 victory over Bausch & Lomb Wildcats after a storming start to the game that saw them shoot into a 12-0 lead after just three minutes.
A Wildcats’ time-out steadied the ship but UL led 24-13 at the end of the first quarter and 36-28 at half- time.
Wildcats fought back in typical fashion, brought the game back to four points twice and were only five points behind when Jenny Maher and Orla Dempsey were fouled out. Mary Aspell top scored with 20 points for UL while newcomer, Bethany Scott scored 12 points. Nicole Conway top scored for Wildcats with 12 points.
Scruffys St. Paul’s had a six points win over Vienna Woods Glanmire in Killarney which would indicate that the margin between the sides has diminished considerably this season.
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