Topsy turvy Neptune have fans pulling their hair out, Belfast bounce back, Brunell stake their claim
DRIVE: Demon's Da'Kaquan Davis goes to the board in Sunday's Superleague clash with Pyrobel Killester at the Parochial Hall.
Any hopes that last week’s National Cup win was the real start of a new season for Neptune were put to bed with a comprehensive home loss at the hands of Templeogue. Max Cooper and Shon Briggs are gone, Colin O’Reilly is gone, and Jonathan Lawton was playing his last game on Saturday after asking out. Neptune has so much talent at their disposal, but they look like they are playing with the weight of the world on their shoulders at times and they are hemorrhaging points on the defensive end. Templeogue scored 101, their first time over the century mark and they didn’t even play incredibly well in the first half. Neptune currently allow 91 points a game, the second worst mark in the league ahead of just bottom dwellers St Vincents.
It’s hard to understand how the team is constructed, their American imports don’t complement their Irish core, instead there’s lots of players operating in the same space offensively and a lack of rim protection defensively. It’s a measure of how much talent they have that they can win silverware, but Neptune fans must be pulling their hair out at how this season has progressed so far. They have a new signing in waiting but unless he’s dramatically different than his highlights suggest, he’s another piece that will want to operate in similar spaces to Neptune’s established stars.
This was a big test after the Cup loss last week and Star remain undefeated in the league after passing the test with flying colours. Tamyrik Fields was incredible last week, and this week’s encore saw him score 37 including shooting an incredible 17/25 from two. Having a player score 37 with no threes and just one free throw is incredible. The scoreline flatters Star slightly as free throws down the stretch made the score look bigger, but at the same time that makes the win even more impressive. Maree led with just 2.40 to go and for Star to close a tight game out so effectively is very promising. Belfast is going to be a tough place to go and win and Star looks almost certain to have home court advantage in the playoffs. For Maree, it was a tough loss as we saw the debut of Ty Gadsden who had 19 points. Not having played together showed for Maree as they turned the ball over 15 times, that and their defensive rebounding are two areas that Charlies Crowley will certainly be hoping for improvements on.
Demons league struggles continued with a flat performance in Gurranabraher, as they were completely outclassed by a Killester team missing Paul Dick. It got so bad that with more than eight minutes left in the game, the home staff were already clearing away the sponsor boards to get ready to leave the gym as quickly as possible. With Seventh Woods still missing Demons had Da’Kquan Davis again, but he had his poorest game so far for Demons as he struggled offensively with just one field goal and eight points. Davis struggles coupled with DeAndre Johnson’s foul troubles and offensive woes (3 points) meant that Demons were disjointed for a lot of the game and never really made Killester too uncomfortable. Demons sat in a zone for much of the game and Killester moved the ball with ease and if they had hit some more of their open shots this game would have been over much earlier.
Demons have a huge Cork derby to try and get them firing again but based on the current standings Demons are alone at the bottom of the Southern Conference and need wins badly to not only get into the playoff race but to avoid an unimaginable relegation battle.
Nikola Roso showed who was the man early in the game as he had 14 early points to establish Ballincollig’s dominance. Eanna though aren’t an easy match up and their ability to spread Ballincollig and to drive and kick did cause issues throughout. Despite their talent, Eanna just don’t feel like they have the right balance and too much responsibility falls on young James Gormley’s shoulders. Mark Reynolds covered a lot of issues in the past and with him retired Eanna just aren’t as solid. It also doesn’t help that Matt McClain is more of a 3/4 rather than a 4/5 which is more what they need. For Ballincollig it’s still hard to know exactly what they have but it’s clear that Andre Nation is back, and he will bring a galvanising energy and leadership. He took control of the game when it mattered most on Saturday and the Village will need him to do so in big games if they are to add more silverware.
Moycullen are still fighting for their Super League lives as they pulled off an impressive away win against St Vincents. I have never been a huge Grant Olssen fan and yet he continues to deliver for Moycullen and I’m coming around to the idea that he really is as good as Moycullen people think. On Saturday Olssen had a 40-point masterclass as he scored almost half of his team’s points in a crucial road win. Moycullen likely need to get ahead of KCYMS to survive, with the Kerry side already benefitting from a Demons walkover earlier in the year. If the Galway side had a proper second American, they might not even be in this battle but as they are currently set up, they continue to battle for their lives. The loss has a big impact on St Vincent’s too, who needed that win to get back on par with Ulster.
With the return of two Americans, one thing we’ve seen a huge amount of is chopping and changing. It’s actually easier to list out the teams who haven’t made any changes this year and it’s just Eanna, Ulster, Star and Moycullen who have the same team that they had for the whole season, and even Star only landed on their current team on the eve of the season after changing Americans. The constant changes and revolving door have made the season more disjointed and with four teams in each Conference making the playoffs there isn’t a real sense of urgency or desperation in the league yet. I think more changes are going to be needed to get back to the league we want and removing the Conferences is likely the first important step.
The women’s Super league is suffering from a major separation between the top and bottom teams. Over the weekend the closest margin of victory was Fr Matthew’s beating Ulster by 15. Having teams lose by 53 and 42 just highlights how wide the gap is between the top and bottom. Unfortunately, in a league that is decided by an outright winner, we will have lots of games after Christmas that the top teams won’t be challenged.
On the schedule this was a game circled as a big test for Brunell, but it came at the right time for the Cork side as they dominated 99-73. Wildcats have struggled over the last two weeks as we’ve seen the real value that Sarah Hickey brings to the team. After a head injury Sarah was limited to just three minutes last weekend and only 18 minutes this weekend. When Hickey plays well, Wildcats are top class but she was clearly limited and Brunell took full advantage. A win over a resurgent Fr Mathews next weekend would see Brunell top of the league at Christmas and full value for it.
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