Neptune’s new wave making a splash

When Neptune dominated Irish basketball in the 80’s and 90’s, players like Tom Wilkinson, Tom O’Sullivan, Jim Nugent, Joe Healy and Brendan O’Flaherty were household names.

The Blackpool side hoovered up national titles at will but, in the cyclical nature of these things, suffered a slump that saw a drought in the last decade as their arch rivals UCC Demons began making their presence felt in the top flight.

How times have changed again, with Demons out of the Cup and struggling while Neptune went 3-3 from the weekend’s National Cup semi finals to ensure a strong club presence on finals weekend in three weeks.

Neptune’s wild weekend began on Friday when the Men’s Division One side qualified for the President’s final following a 92-79 win over Portlarlington side Kestrels. It got better on Saturday morning when they easily accounted for Liffey Celtics in the Men’s U18 semi-final running out winners. The third part of an impressive hat-trick came yesterday with a 73-62 win against Maree in the U20 Men’s championship that sets up the Blackpool club in their attempt to win three major titles at the Cup finals weekend on January 27-29.

Maree, with Eoin Rockall (20pts) prominent, gave Neptune plenty of headaches in a repeat of last year’s U20 semi-final but Neptune had too much depth of talent with Conor O’Sullivan, David Murray, Adam Heaphy and Cian Heaphy all on form.

Neptune will face KUBS in both under age deciders - the Dubliners’ U20’s beating Moycullen 82-67 yesterday with Marcus Black producing the goods in both halves. KUBS led 41-34 at the half but Moycullen threw everything they had at the second-half in style, with Connor Curran driving hard to the net to start closing the gap on the scoreboard, and John Hackett and Joseph Tummon chipped in with 14 and 11 points respectively to ensure a tense final quarter.

“It’s been a good weekend but we’ve won nothing yet,” said Neptune coach Paul Kelleher, drafted in this year to help nurture their young talented players. “We have put a plan in place as this club needs to be back playing in the top level of Irish basketball and so far everything is running smoothly,” he said.

Although Neptune are still in contention to win the Men’s Division One league, taking the big step next season is a little soon according to coach Kelleher. “The reality is our players are very young and still learning but look I am sure the Neptune executive committee will know when the time is right to return,” added Kelleher.

The present Neptune U18 team form the nucleus of all three National Cup final squads with the dangerous tag of ‘Dream Team’ already affixed by some basketball commentators.

“When you have a squad with nine current internationals you are spoiled for choice but the commitment of these lads is incredible and they deserve all the success that comes their way.”

Indeed coach Kelleher had an advantage taking over Neptune as he had coached some of the players at schools level as he rightfully predicts a bright future for many of the young aspiring stars.

“The skill level that some of the players possess is frightening and if they stay committed to the cause I can see Neptune getting back the glory days sooner than later.”

It was Adam Drummond and Cian Heaphy who stole the show for Neptune U18’s as they edged the Cork lads towards a defence of their Cup title with a 97-71 win over Liffey Celtics.

In a game that saw Neptune lead for the four quarters, there were a number of stand out players on both sides including Sean Jenkins, Cian Heaphy Darragh O’Sullivan and Scott Hannigan for the home team, while Renz Valenzuela, Cholo Anonuevo and Finn Hughes were the driving force behind the Kildare side making some vital interceptions and netting some brilliant shots to keep Celtics in it the whole way through. They’ll fact KUBS in the U18 final, the Dubliners edging a thrilling semi on Saturday over Templeogue, 71-61. Donal McKay was the star of the second half for KUBS, netting four three-pointers in a row to stem the tide of the Templeogue comeback and his shooting coupled with a thrilling display from Jordan Fallon is ultimately what helped them over the line.

Neptune will be favourites for the final, but they’ve known plenty of disappointment on and off the court in recent years and shouldn’t get ahead of themselves. Chairman Paul Barrett has put in serious work in order to get them back on an even keel. Stalwarts like Jim O’Donoghue and Billy Kelly are still involved but Barrett’s guidance has been a huge boost to the club. Barrett said: “We have a club to run and it’s certainly not an easy task but we are getting there and we have a great club spirit presently within our ranks.” The Neptune chairman recognises that having three teams competing in National Cup finals will be a financial strain on the club but he is confident they will get through the obstacles.

“Running a club like ours is demanding - coupled with keeping our stadium maintained - but the general consensus now is all our members understand what’s needed to keep us functioning. Basketball in Ireland needs clubs like ourselves and Blue Demons running smoothly and hopefully the local derbies at the top level of basketball in Cork will be back in the coming years.”