Neptune complete glorious treble

Neptune completed a glorious weekend cup final treble yesterday when their U20 starlets saw off the challenge of Kubs 85-75 at the National Arena.

The success rounded off a perfect three days for the Cork club which slipped out of the Superleague in 2015 but has put solid building blocks in place now to prepare them for a second coming in the short to medium term. They also defeated Kubs in Friday’s U18 decider with many of the same players involved in the President’s Cup victory on Saturday against EJ Sligo All Stars (97-85).

For Neptune head coach Paul Kelleher it was a weekend to savour for everybody associated with the club.

“I think we were a little tentative in the semi-finals but our total focus was here this weekend and now we must build on it. We had lots of fun. Remember these kids are still young but I think they matured big time this weekend.”

The preparations began in earnest before the Christmas period as the Neptune chief knew this was going to be a true test of his squad.

“We had a week off at Christmas before returning on December 27 and we had 27 players training consistently and that takes a special commitment,” added Kelleher.

The coach wasn’t fretting his four U18 players — Adam Drummond, Liam Chandler, Sean Jenkins and David Murray — would be affected by the weekend’s gruelling schedule.

“All these players are used to playing games like this at international level and if we had lost this game I wouldn’t have been using fatigue as an excuse.”

To win three cup medals in the space of 72 hours is a huge achievement and for MVP Adam Drummond it was a stellar afternoon with 31 points. Drummond said: “It was all about winning and I think we proved today how a good a team we really are and now we must ensure we finish the season in style.

On the eve of the U20 decider, BFG Neptune produced a magnificent second half to defeat Sligo All Stars in the President’s Cup final. The westerners played magnificent basketball in the first-half with American Kaylim Noel leading their charge with a 25 point tally.

However, Neptune got the break when captain Gary Walsh shot a half way line buzzer beater that tied the game at 49 points each.

In the second-half the threat of Noel was nullified as Neptune came storming back and edged into a seven point lead entering the final quarter. Coming down the stretch Neptune produced champagne basketball and with MVP Sean Jenkins finishing with an impressive 32 points they were crowned champions in style.

Kelleher said: “All day we spoke about resilience and the game panned out exactly as I predicted. Sligo are a very good side that play their best basketball early in the game but I have to say that Gary Walsh’s three pointer on the half time buzzer was a huge boost.”

It was also a nostalgic evening for Sean Jenkins who picked up his third MVP in the space of 12 months having won last year’s U18 and 20 awards.

Jenkins a 17 year old student at PBC was naturally elated after the game. “I am delighted as my mam, grandmother and uncles were all here tonight to witness this final. Although I got chosen for MVP we won this final as a team and for our captain Gary Walsh it was a momentous occasion as his loyalty to the club was at last rewarded.”