Cork Basketball: UCC Demons epic battle with Killester was a game for the ages but player welfare a concern

A day to cherish for UCC Demons players and fans as they got the better of championship rivals Killester 112-96 in a classic top-of-the-table clash at the Mardyke Arena on Sunday.

Covering many games over the years, I have witnessed some great tussles and it was right up as one of the best as it had everything to give fans value for their admission fee.

Credit to Demons they had played in Sligo 21 hours before this clash and came away with an overtime win over the local All Stars 98-91. In this column I have previously brought player welfare as a top priority, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

This season UCC Demons have had six double headers and five of them have been back-to-back.

On Saturday after a 600km round trip to Sligo they arrived back in Cork on Sunday morning at 3am and 13 hours later were expected to play the most important Super League game of the season.

Credit to the Sunday’s Well outfit they produced a season-best as both teams shot the ball exceptionally well, but it was the atmosphere that made it a special day at the Dyke.

Demons now look in pole position to take the number one slot with Killester, who beat them in the National Cup final, likely to stay at two and runner-up in the regular season.

Amazingly at the start of the season, the majority of clubs voted for play-offs to determine the winner of the Super League. It must be tough for UCC Demons that they could end up winning the regular season and losing the Super League title.

Surely a team that have lost 11 games in a regular season doesn’t deserve to be in play-offs to decide the title but that’s how the vote went with the competing clubs.

Remember Ballincollig topped the table a few years ago, losing only two games, and were worthy champions but again the format at the time was play-offs and they ended up getting eliminated by Neptune.

The other two Cork sides Energywise Ireland Neptune and Irish Guide Dogs Ballincollig had a mixed weekend with contrasting results.

Neptune will be happy in the fact they saw off Tralee Warriors on Friday and on Saturday travelled to play a St Vincent’s side who had only one American. These two wins should see them take the seventh or eighth berth in the league standings.

There is little doubt their fans will be hoping for a quarter-final against UCC Demons at the Mardyke Arena that would give them a chance to get one over on their auld enemy.

Ballincollig had a very disappointing weekend losing to UCD Marian on Friday before a trip over the county bounds on Sunday saw them lose to a Tralee Warriors side 82-69 who were missing American Brandon Mahan.

DISMANTLED

Losing 36-35 at the break Ballincollig looked to be in a good position but were dismantled in the third quarter when all they could muster up was nine points with Warriors checking in with 22.

Granted Ballincollig were missing their influential point guard Adrian O’Sullivan, injured against Marian, but surely American Quashawn Lane should have done better than the six paltry points he contributed in 23 minutes of action.

On top of this, they only made seven of the 24 three-point shots attempted but not for first time this season Ballincollig’s Irish players had a poor day at the office as they only contributed 25 points.