Coughlan C & S Neptune 79 Griffith College Templeogue 95 

A poor second-half performance cost a disappointing Coughlan C & S Neptune defeat in the Men’s Super League at the Neptune Stadium on Saturday.

Make no mistake Neptune now look clearly out of the running for championship honours and when they reflect on the season they will surely cite inconsistency as the main reason for a disappointing campaign.

The Blackpool side went into the game without Cian Heaphy but player-coach Lehmon Colbert decided to give Adam Heaphy a place in the starting five. The home side looked lively in the opening exchanges and following a Gary Walsh three-pointer in the fifth minute they raced into a 13-5 lead.

Neptune more or less dominated this quarter and a late Ger Noonan spin to the hoop ensured they led 23-19 heading into the second quarter.

The tempo dropped on the restart as Templeogue slowly began taking control but the biggest problem Neptune had in this game was the poor contributions from their Irish players.

Once again Roy Downey (six points) and Kyle Hosford (eight) had a bad night at the office on the scoring front. When you are playing 30-plus minutes you should be consistently on double figures.

Jason Killeen exposed poor Neptune's defending and it was no surprise the Dublin outfit went in at the break commanding a 47-42 lead.

Overall the referees had no bearing on the outcome of this game but some of the decisions given against Neptune were ridiculous, to say the least.

Although the scoring averages increased Neptune didn't have a coherent game-plan as most of their baskets came from individual plays. Yet they were still very much in the game entering the last quarter, trailing 71-65.

Noonan showed his experience with two baskets on the restart and with Scott Hannigan adding another, it was tied with eight minutes remaining.

That’s as good as it got for Neptune as they were basically blown out coming down the stretch with Lorcan Murphy, despite being in foul trouble, punishing them at will.

In truth, a 16-point defeat was a little bit harsh on Neptune but the reality is clear to see they are still off the pace of the leading sides in this country.

This was the third time Templeogue have defeated them this season (once in the cup) and they are by no means a top-class outfit.

Scorers for Coughlan C & S Neptune: N Sabata 19, L Colbert 13, P Hoffman 11.

Griffith College Templeogue: J Killeen 22, P Summers 15, L Murphy 15.

TEMPLEOGUE: L Murphy, D Townes, P Summers, J Killeen, N Randolph, S James, E Murphy, M Harper, X Arriaga, O Kerlin, P Burke, K Arcilla, V Tokishin.

NEPTUNE: L Colbert, K Hosford, E Lenihan, G Walsh P Hoffman, J Hannigan, S Hannigan, J Collins, S Duggan, N Sabita Vila.

Referees: M McGettrick (Dublin), J Dooley (Portlaoise), M Thornhill (Cork).