Neptune lose to Sligo in strange and dramatic circumstances and play-off spot now in doubt
Conor O'Sullivan, Energywise Neptune, takes on Jevonnie Scott and Tom Child, Sligo All Stars. Picture: Jim Coughlan.
Another home defeat for Energywise Ireland Neptune in the Men’s Super League on Wednesday night, this time going down to Sligo All Stars side in a game that went right to the wire.
In a dramatic finish, Neptune trailed by the minimum with coach Pat Price immediately calling a time-out to set a play with 5.8 seconds remaining. Amazingly, coach Price appeared to step back in the time-out and it looked as if he allowed his captain Roy Downey go through the play in search of the winning basket.
The result was a disaster, as when the ball was kicked to the top of the key, it looked like they were hoping to get a screen for a shot, but sadly the ball was fumbled... Sligo won the game, a game Neptune needed to win to remain in the play-off hunt.
The westerners got off to a good start when Rob Montgomery made a lay-up after just eight seconds that was followed up by a Tom Childs three.
After a couple of poor possessions Neptune responded and four unanswered points from Tamyrik Fields got the home side up and running.
The general play in the opening six minutes was scrappy from both sides with Sligo All Stars leading 11-9.
It didn’t get better in the closing minutes of this period with the visitors four points to the good 21-17 entering the second quarter.
Childs began when stepping outside the arc but Darragh O’Sullivan nailed a similar shot on Neptune’s next possession.
The introduction of Roy Downey worked the oracle as he drained two monstrous three-pointers with the sides level in the 14th minute 27-27.
The remainder of this period consisted of poor shooting and passing options as the small attendance at the Blackpool venue were not getting excited in what they were witnessing.
A late Nil Sabata basket was good enough to see Neptune go in at the break commanding a 43-42 interval lead.
The Sligo Irish International John Carroll was having a nightmare in the shooting department but his basket outside the arc midway through the quarter tied the game at 51 points each.
Cian Heaphy gave the home side a six-point lead when in the space of a minute he nailed a three and then went coast-to-coast with Sligo calling time out to steady the ship.
The visitors battled battled back and a late Brown jumper helped reduce the deficit to three points entering the fourth and final quarter.
The visitors came out battling and consecutive slammers from Brown and a basket from Childs and suddenly they had a five-point lead 70-65 with Neptune calling a time-out.
Credit to Neptune they battled back and the game still hung in the balance entering the final seconds.
We then witnessed the last play that didn’t go to plan but the visitors deserve credit in the manner they fought to the wire.
C Hunter 19, C O’Sullivan 14, C Heaphy 11, R Downey 9, N Sabata 9, T Fields 8.
J Brown 19, R Montgomery 18, T Child 18, J Scott 17.
D O’Sullivan, C Leahy, R Downey, C O’Sullivan, T Fields, D Aluko, A Heaphy, D O’Rourke, N Sabata, C Heaphy, J Sola, C Hunter.
D O’Meara, J Brown, J Scott, M Chambers, C Geelon, S Snee, J Carroll, A Lockhart, T Paul Child, O O’Reilly, H Gent, R Montgomery.
Jamie Dooley (Portlaoise), Leanne Aherne (Limerick), Peter James Coughlan (Cork).
App?
