Kieran Shannon: Cork's proud Basketball duo too good to go down?

One team will make the drop. And at this juncture you’d have to suspect it’s whoever loses this Saturday when the two tribes again go to war (Neptune Stadium, 4pm).

Sat, 27 Dec, 2025 - 06:00

Kieran Shannon

We’ve never had this before.

In the long proud history of either club or the national league they have for decades adorned and often dominated, there’s never been a situation where the pair of them have been propping up the Superleague table this far into a season.

It’s common for Demons-Neptune derbies to be played around this time of year. A Cup semi-final; the whole reason all of Irish basketball gravitates to Cork for the National Cup semi-final weekend is because its two most storied clubs were pitted together at the competition’s penultimate stage 16 years ago and a then-besieged Basketball Ireland decided Dublin was no place to stage such a clash on the silver anniversary of Terry Strickland’s immortal steal; such was the success of honouring tradition they duly created a new one.

They’ve met in tournament finals – 40 years ago this week they faced off in a packed Parochial Hall in the final of the Cork 800 tournament. Top-of-the-table clashes.

But never a de facto relegation dogfight.

Halfway through this season’s Superleague though, both teams have a dismal 2-9 record, two games behind Limerick Celtics, Killorglin and Sligo All-Stars, all on 4-7.

One team will make the drop. And at this juncture you’d have to suspect it’s whoever loses this Saturday when the two tribes again go to war (Neptune Stadium, 4pm).

No-one even a month ago could have envisaged Demons here. They are the reigning Superleague champions. The previous season they won the Cup. The nucleus of those teams is still intact. Former or current Irish internationals like Kyle Hosford and Dave Lehane.

James and Scott Hannigan. Their favourite adopted Spanish son, Tala Fam Thiam after a year playing abroad, is back, and playing better than ever, averaging 14.8 points and 8.5 rebounds a game.

But they no longer have Elijah Tillman, the human wrecking ball in the centre.

Two years ago Demons were also in a relegation battle until coach Daniel O’Mahony took the gamble of signing Tillman. He didn’t look like a player to the uninitiated. Certainly not an athlete. He was a throwback.

He instantly propelled Demons to the Cup and then a spot in the playoffs. Last season he returned to lead them to both finals, with them going to win the latter of them, the league.

This is not the era of Jasper or Strickland though. To get a second season with a player of Tillman’s calibre is a rarity. To get a third just doesn’t happen. He now plays in the southern hemisphere and as a consequence of failing to find an adequate replacement, Demons have descended south as well.

They’ve tried to replace him, mind. They’re onto their third American pairing now for the season and up to a few minutes to go in last Saturday’s game against St Vincent’s Dublin, their latest bout of recruitment appeared to be working.

Jordan Washington notched 31 points, while Tamyrik Fields, a bold signing given he had played for Neptune last season, was on 24 points as they were up six points with three minutes to go, on the verge of winning their second consecutive game.

But then Fields flared up and was ejected. They were duly outscored 14-4 over the remainder of the game. Demons have appealed his suspension and are hopeful he will play in Saturday’s derby but as of now it’s uncertain if he will.

Fields’ former team though are in even worse shape. Demons at least have been competitive in virtually every game this season; only twice have they been beaten by more than 11 points and never by more than 20. Neptune three times have been routed by 27 points or more, the latest just last week when UCD Marian pummelled them 100-68, erasing all the momentum and confidence that had come from Neptune’s unlikely 25-point win over Garvey’s Tralee Warriors the previous week.

Like their old rivals, Neptune have tried every move to correct their course. They’re now onto their third coach, Ciarán Kiveney, in eight months, and another American tandem. But the jury is still out if either is up to the mark and enough to compensate for the club having its weakest core of Irish players in the national league era.

It’s wrong to say Neptune too big to go down. The club was also relegated back in 2019, though at least then they had the promise of an exciting young crop of players to re-emerge with.

History also tells us it’d be incorrect to assume Demons are too good to go down. The Hannigans and Dave Lehane have fathers who played for the North Mon team that won the 1993 Superleague – and were relegated from it the following season.

If both teams thought it was bad enough not being part of next weekend’s Cup semi-finals in the Stadium, then this is worse. Bigger.

They’ll pack the place again.