Blue Demons Basketball Club celebrate their 60th anniversary with gala dinner at the end of the month

Blue Demons Basketball Club commenced operations on the 8th February,1966.

The club will be holding their Diamond Jubilee Celebration Dinner at the Clayton Hotel Silver Springs on Saturday, February 28th. 

Looking back over the history and the archives relating to the club it is a story full of happy memories and incidents that are embedded in the minds of many members both past and present.

The season of 1966/67 saw an U18 minor team, which had played under the banner of DePaul before progressing to the senior ranks to the name Blue Demons.

This team went on to win the Cork Senior Championship in their first season, 1966/67 in the senior ranks.

In the 67/68 campaign, it brought a degree of success capturing the Lota Tournament and the Munster Club Blitz, but just one tournament success the following season with the Arbutus Cup in Killarney.

Into the seventies and the Demons faithful couldn’t envisage what would transpire during that decade.

Locally, in the Cork Senior League they captured that pennant on eight occasions from the ten that were on offer.

In the Cork Senior Championship, a coveted prize, this adorned their trophy cabinet in 72/73/75, again in 78, and in the season of 79/80, giving them five league and championship doubles.

Competing at leading tournaments wetted the appetite for both the players and the club executive so much and under the stewardship of Dan Byrne organised their own international club tournament named The Major Extra Size sponsored by PJ Carroll’s.

Demons had teams competing from England, Scotland, Norway, Holland, Iceland, Belgium, and Ireland a truly international gathering in the “The Hall”.

That first tournament in 1973 saw Boroughmuir defeat the host club Demons in the final.

The former late Taoiseach Jack Lynch our Taoiseach presented the trophies and in 1974 the President of Ireland Mr. Erskine Childers graced the club with his presence at the final.

Following these tournaments Basketball Ireland organised a senior club National League commencing in the season 1973/74.

Changes on the coaching and playing front played a major part in Blue Demons winning the first National League title in 1974, followed by the Top Four competition in 78/79.

A major change in Irish basketball saw the introduction of American players on to the Irish basketball courts with recruiting the first professionals David Beckhom and Wayne Williams from Pittsburgh.

The Eighties started well for Demons winning the National League and Top Four competition but with the introduction of American players finance was required to fund the transition.

Demons took the bold step in securing Britvic Ireland as sponsors for their national league team.

Team Britvic went to play at Crystal Palace London in the World Club Championship in December 1981 and the following season the club management took a bold step and recruited Roger Dutremble an American who coached in the top league in Belgium but sadly it didn’t work out.

Peter Coughlan returned as coach and Bob Stephens came back into the squad and the charismatic Tony Hafley ‘Sweet T’ was a welcome addition.

This team was to achieve immortality so to speak, by being the only Irish team to win the British and Irish Federation Cup.

in 1983/84 there were further changes with a new coach in Seanie Murphy and the introduction of Jasper McElroy from Chicago and Steve Isaacs from Anchorage, Alaska.

The recruitment proved positive and the coaching and application by the players brought results winning the National League and reaching the final of the National Cup.

More changes ensued with Barry Deasy taking over the coaching role and Dale Roberts replacing Steve Isaacs on the roster and Jasper McElroy returning.

It was an eventful season which Demons personnel will long remember, for the controversial ending of the Cup final, through table officials and game commissioner failing to enter a correct score during game.

The team won the Top Four Championship later in the year small consolation for the debacle at the National Cup final.

In 1985/86 saw changes again on the coaching front with Andrew Houlihan assuming the coaching role ably assisted by Dommy Mullins. Mike Kennedy replaced an injured Derek Bolton during the early part of the season, and along with McElroy made up the American duo.

The highlight of the season was the victory they achieved when winning the National Cup, this was the team’s third successive final. 19 In the following campaign they were further changes with American coach Curtis Wooden elevated to the hot seat.

York Gross and Steve Nesmith were the Americans and the name was under the Dawn Milk banner.

The team took on a tour of America in the early part of the season and ended up runners-up in the National League but got some consolation winning the Neptune international Tournament.

Jasper McElroy returned to the team for the 1987/88 season he was joined by Anthony Jenkins as part of the American duo on the team. The team had a reasonable season and finished on a high winning the Top Four trophy.

John Cooney took the team coaching role for the 1988/89 season but with Basketball Ireland limiting each team to one American Jasper was an automatic for that spot.

They led the league from the off, and the club won their fourth National league trophy, after losing another National Cup final.

The following season proved to be a downer with the team failing to fire and it would be the final season for the legendary McElroy.

In the 91/92 campaign Timmy McCarthy take over the coaching role and they won the Roy Curtis Tournament with Anthony Jenkins returning as eh American player.

Tim McCarthy continued as coach and this was to be the last team to represent Blue Demons at National League for a number of years. as it became unsustainable.

During the nineties the juvenile and underage section of Blue Demons were being coached and nurtured by Sean Murphy, Peter Coughlan, and Joe O’Connell developing future senior national league players. The senior club team were competing in Cork at the highest level, the club won their first National Junior Cup 1997 with coach Tim McCarthy and assistant Peter Coughlan.

Demons returned to compete at National level in 1998 under the Esat Telecom banner and supported financially by the club’s annual golf classic organised by old stalwarts and ex national league players Aidan Horgan, Dan Byrne, Sean O’Sullivan, and Peter Coughlan.

The club recruited Pat Price as coach, Demons returned with a statement, as they just failed to capture another National Cup, going under to Notre Dame by one point in the final 62-61.

Coming into a new season 1999/2000 and eventually a new millennium Brian Burke took over the coaching duties and Brian Clernon joined the Irish contingent.

In 2001/2001 the coaching duties was under Dommy Mullins but they were still off the pace and the club management signed Pat Price as their new coach.

In 2002/03 Blue Demons agreed a partnership with UCC for both their Super League and Minor teams playing and training in the new state of the art facility at the Mardyke Arena.

Pat Price was retained as coach and joined by Americans James Singleton, Bill Romano and Cory McGee helped turn Demons fortunes around.

Niall O’Reilly joined the club as they brought the National Cup, back to the club after 17 years and they managed to retain it the following season.

Expectations were high for the following season and in 2004/2005 they went on to defeat Tralee at the Mardyke Arena to win the Super League title, a trophy that eluded them since 1989.

The following season the team won another National Cup the third in four years.

In the 2006/07 season it was trophyless as Pat Price stepped away from his coaching duties after seven years in this position but in 2007 the Junior Men’s National Cup returned to the Demons trophy cabinet. For season 2008/09 American Doug Leichner was recruited as coach, this proved to be an excellent appointment.

The season would prove to be very successful with the club winning its first league and cup double.

Coach Leichner returned to coach college basketball in the U.S. the following season to be replaced by another American coach Luke DeLasio as the team reached the National Cup final before losing out to Killester.

The club appointed Paul Kelleher in 2010/11 as Super League coach and the following season the team had a reasonable league record but went to the final of the National Cup only to lose to UL Limerick.

The Champion’s Trophy was introduced by Basketball Ireland and Demons became the inaugural winners in 2013.

The club executive made a bold move for 2013/14 season by appointing Colin O’Reilly to the position of player/coach.

The decision proved justified, the team winning seven trophies from a total of nine on offer between National Cup, League, and Champions Trophy over his tenure.

Of the three seasons, 2014/15 season proved to be the standout one, not alone in the history of the Blue Demons club, but that of Basketball Ireland as the first team to go undefeated in all of their 24 games winning National Cup, Super League, and Champions Trophy.

The club reached significant milestone in February 2016 celebrating its Golden Jubilee, 50 years as a senior club, and it was great to witness the large attendance at the Jubilee Dinner.

The forerunner to Blue Demons, the underage club DePaul Boy’s Club commenced in 1959. Rev. Fr. Charles Sinnott a Dubliner of St. Vincent’s Sundays Well had the foresight and commitment to encourage the youth in the vicinity of St. Vincent’s to develop not alone in a sporting way but in a business sense through committee involvement, which the Blue Demons Club would benefit from later, in their endeavour to become a major force in club basketball nationally.

The 2016/17 season proved to be challenging for coach Tim O’Halloran who took up duty as Colin O’Reilly had taken up a coaching role with a team in the British Basketball League (BBL).

Seasons 2017/18/19 saw Colin O’Reilly assume the coaching role once again, the team continued to struggle, and it was decided that the team was not up the standard to compete at Super League level.

The club entered a team in the National league division one during season 2021/22 which they won under coach Danny O’Mahony, and they won another National Junior Cup under coach Shane McCarthy. They were successful at that division and gained promotion to the Super League for 2022/23 season.

The season 2023/24 saw the coaching staff recruit two excellent players a point guard Seventh Woods and Elijah Tillman as a post player. They brought excitement back to the Mardyke Arena and in the process went on to capture another National Cup.

Patrick Robinson replaced Seventh Woods the following season with Tillman returning and the very able Toby Christiansen from Denmark adding experience to a very young team the team reached the finals of the Super League and National cup that ultimately saw them crowned League champions Reflecting back on the role of honour for National Senior Men’s competition the success rate has been very gratifying for Blue Demons players, supporters, sponsors, club members and officers.

The flagship team have won 9 Super League’s, 8 National Cups, 4 Top Four titles, 4 Champions Trophies, a total of 25 National Titles.

On the international front they were successful in the Roy Curtis International in 1992 and Marian International twice in 1981 and 1982 and also have the honour of winning the British and Irish Basketball Federation Cup in 1983 the only Irish club to achieve this success The Blue Demons Club have brought an amount of honour to Cork Basketball and hopefully in the year of the club’s Diamond Jubilee celebration we will reflect on those who made this happen.

The club especially have to remember the original founder members Noel McCarthy, Teddy O’Leary, John Coughlan and Peter Coughlan that have passed since the Golden Jubilee Dinner held in 2016, along with American investor and mentor Bill Plunkett.