Neptune mourn loss of club stalwart Niall O'Riordan

Niall O'Riordan, who was a vital part of the success of Neptune Basketball Club in the 80s and onward, has sadly passed away.

Neptune Basketball Club is mourning the passing yesterday Wednesday of one of its and Irish basketball’s most influential ever administrators, Niall O’Riordan.

O’Riordan, along with his great friend, apprentice and business partner Liam McGinn, transformed the Cork club upon becoming its chairperson in 1979. Marrying their business acumen with their warm inter-personal skills, they created the environment for the club to become the most dominant of the 1980s, a period which would see them win a remarkable five national leagues and the first four U19 National Cups, but most tellingly, build the Neptune Stadium which opened on New Year’s Day, 1985.

O’Riordan, along with his clubmen McGinn and Michael Finn, was a personal guarantor so the project – the first-ever purpose-built basketball arena in the country – could successfully be completed during a time Cork was in the midst of a recession. At the time the Stadium was one of the finest sports facilities in the entire country, allowing the sport and its fledging National Cup to be televised live, which helped hugely popularise the league and sport.

Married to Rita for 64 years, O’Riordan is survived by three daughters and eight grand-children. His removal will be held in Mayfield funeral home tomorrow Friday 5-6pm, with his funeral then taking place on Saturday in St Joseph’s Church, Mayfield at 10am. A minute’s silence will be observed in his honour at Neptune’s Superleague game against Star of the Sea later that evening at 6.30pm in the house that he helped build – the Neptune Stadium.