39-point Niall O’Reilly drives Blue Demons into final

Ej Sligo All-Stars dared to dream on Saturday as, in their first year back in the National League, they won their Hula Hoops President’s Cup semi-final against Team Kilkenny 86-63.

Irish U18 international Oisin O’Reilly was the star of the show as Sligo had to dig deep without the services of young talent Cian Lally, Aidan O’Shea and Peter Papik.

An emotional head coach, Shane O’Meara, could not compute the enormity of what they had done.

“We didn’t believe this was possible you know, our first year back in the League,” he admitted afterwards.

The Senior Women’s Cup saw Ulster Rockets and ITC Basketball dish up a nail-biter in a top of the table clash.

Despite contributing 29 points, Jamiyah Bethune finished on the losing side as Ulster Rockets won out 73-64, while Marble City Hawks had 20 points to spare over Oblate Dynamos – both winning sides making history by reaching their first ever Cup final at this level.

The Men’s NICC semi-finals rounded off the weekend, with Blue Demons showing their depth and talent in a dominating display over a six-man Limerick Celtics, running out 92-65 winners. Niall O’Reilly drove the Cork team on with 39 points and despite 31 points from Limerick’s Dillon Burns, the depth of the Demons’ bench proved too much.

UCD Marian righted the wrong of their crash out of the Men’s National Cup the night before when their NICC team pipped Ballincollig in one of the most nerve-wracking finales of the weekend. A superb second half comeback from the Cork team saw just one point between the sides with a minute to go, but the cool, calm head of Mark Ryan for UCD saw them win out in the end.

Elsewhere, Maree overcame St Mary’s Castleisland in the Women’s NICC, with the second game between Muckno Lakers and Limerick Celtics postponed for a later date due to a bereavement.

The Hula Hoops National Cup Basketball finals will take place in the National Arena in Tallaght on January 27-29th with a full schedule to be released shortly.