Kieran Shannon: History and logic mean basketball finals should be played in Cork

Not only will the men’s Cup final be an all-Cork affair but so will the women’s decider after a thrilling semi-finals weekend on Leeside.

DUE SOUTH? Energywise Ireland Neptune’s Cian Heaphy celebrates a basket against archrivals Demons in a sold-out Neptune Stadium on Friday night. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Mon, 08 Jan, 2024 - 17:10

Kieran Shannon

Kieran Shannon is an award-winning sportswriter renowned for big interviews, insightful columns and an unrelenting focus on high‑performance sport.

In the dark winter of 2009-2010 when Basketball Ireland had its state funding and national teams pulled, one inspired decision provided some warmth and light for the sport that still glows to this day.

The National Cup semi-finals that season had been down to be played in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, just as they had been every year since the Dublin venue had opened in 1993. The last of those semi-finals, a double bill featuring between Killester v Neptune, and UCC Demons v Tralee, had been played in front of a crowd of less than 300, half the gym emptying after a pulsating DCU Mercy-Glanmire women’s semi-final, yet no one thought that the 2010 semi-finals would or should be played anywhere else.