Tralee and Neptune book Superleague final spot as UCC Glanmire chase women's treble

Finals set for next weekend in Dublin's National Basketball Arena

Neptune's Nil Sabata, top scored on 21 points in Ballincollig. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Garvey’s Tralee Warriors and C&S Neptune will face off next weekend in the final of basketball's InsureMyVan.ie Super League, in a repeat of January’s National Cup decider.

Tralee travelled to Dublin Sunday and came away with a 75-57 win at North Conference winners DBS Éanna, joining C&S Neptune in the final, after their victory at Tradehouse Central Ballincollig on Saturday (92-75).

John Dowling's Warriors were 28-22 at half-time and went 14 points clear, 49-35, going into the final quarter.

Dowling said: “A huge win for us on the road, a lot of our big players showed up today."

Admitted Éanna head coach Darren McGovern: “Tralee arrived with an attitude we just didn't match. John Dowling coached a terrific game and credit to them."

Ballincollig's nigh-perfect Superleague debut season came to a shuddering halt Saturday night as Cork rivals C&S Neptune inflicted a first home defeat to book a place in the final.

It raises the perennial debate whether the Superleague's leaders should be winners at season's end, but Neptune won't mind that, with player/coach Colin O’Reilly hailing the 92-75 win “a huge achievement”.

He added: “To beat the top seed on the road is a huge achievement for this group. They dominated the first 15 minutes of the game and had a huge 17 point lead, but there was no panic on our end. We had started to see a few things working and knew that if we could get back in contention that we had the experience to close out knockout games on the road. The game swung in the 4th, where we made consecutive threes down the stretch, which gave us the lead and we held our composure to see it out from the free throw line.” 

Nil Sabata was C&S Neptune’s leading scorer on 21, backed up by Miles Washington (14), Ireland international Roy Downey (14) and Richard Gittens (13). Andre Nation was the game’s top scorer, on 26 points, while Tradehouse Central Ballincollig also had notable contributions from Ireland international Adrian O'Sullivan (19) and Milorad Sedlarevic (13).

Tradehouse Central Ballincollig posted a 15-1 regular-season record and head coach Kieran O’Sullivan felt that should be sufficient to be crowned Superleague winners.

“We are here to stay at the top table and will go again next year. The MNCC (Men’s National Competitions Committee) need to review the rules and make the league-best record the winners. Credit to Neptune, they played a fine game and it was going to be tough to beat them three times in a row”, O’Sullivan stated.

Meanwhile, Mark Scannell's UCC Glanmire maintained their push for a women's treble with a 76-66 win over DCU Mercy at the Mardyke Arena on Sunday. They will play Cork rivals Singleton SuperValu Brunell in the final, who edged WIT Waterford Wildcats 78-75.

A strong third quarter from Scannell’s team propelled them to a 10 point lead, 56-46, and that was to be the margin of victory at the end. Tierney Pfirman scored 20 points while Carrie Shephard had 16. Carlow’s Amy Dooley also contributed 13 points.

“Their Americans were fantastic and have been all year. I’m delighted with how my team responded and with Claire (Melia) unwell and not having trained all week, we needed others to step up and they did. Amy Dooley was super as was Tierney (Pfirman) and down the stretch Áine (McKenna) and Carrie (Shephard) showed their class. I want to pay tribute to them all for their dedication and especially to those who don’t always get as many minutes as maybe they should. They work so hard every night and they push us forward."

Brunell overcame WIT Waterford Wildcats 78-75 in another closely fought game at Parochial Hall, having led 43-36 at the half. Said Tim O’Halloran, the Brunell coach: "A great way to cap off a good year, but still one more game left."

Shannon Ryan top-scored on 27, while Katie Walsh had 15 and Kwanza Murray 14. 

Meanwhile, EJ Sligo All-Stars will be playing in the Super League next season, securing promotion after defeating after defeating IT Carlow 94-68 in their InsureMyVan.ie Division 1 semi-final. Promotion is offered to each club who reaches the Division 1 playoff final.