Cork basketball season in review: Cup joy but huge room to improve across the board

The Cork interest at the national basketball level concluded with defeats for both UCC Demons and Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell that brought the curtain down on the 2023/2024 season.

For UCC Demons their Super League semi-final play-off defeat was disappointing at Killester as they had high hopes they could complete the elusive double.

When coach Danny O’Mahony looks back on the campaign he will be relatively happy, particularly with the National Cup triumph back in January.

The cup campaign was an impressive one as they saw off Maree, Belfast Star and Neptune before defeating fellow Cork side Irish Guide Dogs Ballincollig @ MTU in the final.

Although the American personnel had to be changed a few times the signing made by coach O’Mahony in December when recruiting Elijah Tillman was crucial in their cup success and their late showing in the Super League.

Overall Demons will have a summer to reflect and it will be interesting to see if captain Kyle Hosford and Carleton Cuff hang up their boots.

On the plus side they have Daryl Cuff ready to take the big step to the Super League and if they can keep the same group of players there is no reason why they cannot be challenging for honours again next season.

It was a different story down in Blackpool where Neptune completely flopped for the second consecutive season.

Last season coach Colin O’Reilly stepped down only to return and he brought in a decent professional trio in Chrishon Briggs, Jonathon Lawton and Max Cooper.

Irish player Jordan Blount is also on the professional books and throw in Spanish ace Nil Sabata one would suggest you have the nucleus of a good squad.

NEVER GELLED

For some strange reason this team never gelled and with O’Reilly departing his American trio of Briggs, Lawton and Copper followed as something was amiss in the camp. The Blackpool side reappointed Paul Kelleher and his American signings Derek Murphy, Gary Gardner and Che Bob were possibly the worst professionals ever to don the club jersey. 

When you make the investment Neptune made over a two year period you expect results and this is a club with some serious decisions to make over the summer.

On a final note, I would like to thank chairman Tom O’Sullivan and his committee for the respect shown to me and our Echo photography team when attending the Neptune stadium.

Irish Guide Dogs Ballincollig @ MTU had a reasonable season reaching the National Cup final and coming second in the Southern Conference before eventually getting eliminated at home by Killester in the Super League quarter-final.

The biggest problem for Ballincollig was the inconsistency of their post-player Nikola Rosa but overall they have a squad capable of competing with the best again next season.

BLOW

In the Women’s Super League, the big talking point was the injury to Brunell’s star Irish Senior International Edel Thornton who is recuperating after her operation to repair the ACL injury picked up in January.

Ironically Thornton had just helped her team win the Paudie O’Connor National Cup for the first time in their 40-year history.

Tears of joy at the National Basketball Arena as they dedicated their win to founding member Andrew Drumm who sadly passed away last year.

The absence of Thornton saw her team collapse in the closing games of the season as the dream double sadly diminished.

The Address UCC Glanmire had a disappointing season by their standard as they failed to battle for honours on all fronts.

Coach Mark Scannell openly admitted that getting quality Americans on their present budget was proving difficult but they did improve after the Christmas break when they brought in the professional pairing Chea Whitsitt and Yasriyyah Wazweerud.

Winning seven games on the belt saw them snatch fifth place but they were defeated by Brunell in the Champions Trophy semi-final.

There is little doubt Glanmire need a batch of Irish players to strengthen their squad and it will be interesting to see how they plan for life without captain Aine McKenna who is rumoured to be retiring.

Catalyst Fr Mathew’s under coach Pat Price did relatively well but inconsistency ravaged their league campaign. The Model Farm Road outfit are another club that are struggling to attract Irish players and with the Dwyer sisters Grainne and Niamh coming to end of their illustrious careers replacing them will not be an easy task.

Finally many thanks to clubs, coaches and players for their cooperation throughout the season and hope you all enjoy the summer break.