Van on fire as Demons in derby delight

LAST night’s eagerly awaited derby had all the look of a festive hangover about it as UCC Demons cruised past Bord Gáis Neptune to increase their lead over them to four points in the Southern Conference table.

Even the 18 point victory did not send the home fans at a packed Mardyke Arena into raptures.

In fact, much of the game was played out in cathedral silence after Demons increased their lead to more than 20 points and so ruled out the dramatic finishes that have been part and parcel of these derby games down through the years.

Neptune still had the top scorer in Michael Bonaparte who hit the game high of 29 points. He was just a week at Neptune last time around when they just failed to hold off the storming finish from Demons who won a three-point thriller.

Demons’ coach, Paul Kelleher, and Neptune coach, Pat Price, were both agreed that there were a lot of mistakes by both sides in that game but last night’s clash will have sent them away with even more food for thought.

Coach Kelleher will be happy with the result and the two points he needed to consolidate his play-off position and he will also be happy to see his captain, Shane Coughlan, and his American, Marcus Van, come through safely as neither had played since they were injured during their cup quarter-final loss to UL Eagles.

Van came off a slow start — just one point from the line in the first quarter — to top score with 22 points while another player to show signs of his best was Niall Murphy, just back after a year out with a cruciate ligament injury and he ended up with 11 points.

Neptune edged in front early on through baskets from Michael Bonaparte but they released Ciarán O’Sullivan at the other end where he was given plenty of time on the ball. Himself and Kyle Hosford and the aforementioned O’Sullivan had big three pointers.

Neptune were not playing well yet they got themselves back in contention through Bonaparte who had a total of 12 points from the quarter and there was just five between them, 18-13, going into the second quarter.

Neptune — who started without their captain Michael McGinn and Ian McLaughlin, forged ahead with two baskets each from Phil Taylor, Ger Noonan and Darren Cronin before Gary Walsh landed two big three-pointers and they turned the five point deficit into a six point lead.

Demons knuckled down to business again with Hosford leading the fightback with two important baskets followed by a three-pointer. A three pointer from Niall Murphy and four points from a quiet Marcus Van — two from the free throw line — put them back in front 38-33 at half time.

Another big three-pointer from Phil Taylor at the start of the third quarter left just two between them but that was as close as they would get despite the efforts of Bonaparte.

Ciarán O’Sullivan, a son of former Demons great, Francis O’Sullivan, came back into the game to celebrate his 20th birthday with some big baskets and a big score of 18 points. Another member of the Ballincollig under-age team that made the under-18 and under-20 cup finals was Daniel O’Sullivan and he also stepped up.

Fittingly it was Kyle Hosford, who opened Demons’ account with a three-pointer, who closed the book with two from the free throw line.

Top scorers for UCC Demons: Marcus Van 22 pts; Ciarán O’Sullivan 18 pts; Kyle Hosford 17 pts; Niall Murphy 11 pts.

Top scorers for Bord Gáis Neptune: Michael Bonaparte 29 pts; Phil Taylor 20 pts and Ger Noonan and Gary Walsh 8 pts apiece.