Neptune’s demons come back to haunt them | Kevin Galvin

Neptune 72

UCC Demons 74

     One of the great rivalries of Cork sport was reignited as Neptune played host to UCC Demons on Friday the 12th October. It was a matter of revenge for the home side after their heavy defeat to Demons in last year’s National Cup semi-final. Both sides had contrasting starts to the season, Neptune were looking to get their first win of the campaign while Demons were carrying a 100% record into the encounter.

     The game got underway, and immediately it was the home side that grabbed the early advantage. Michael McGinn hit the first two points of the match, and Ian McLoughlin added another two before Demons got their first point, thanks to a Niall O’Reilly free throw. Darren Townes hit a free throw and then slammed down the first dunk of the game to the applause of the home support to leave Neptune 8-1 to the good after four minutes. Demons just couldn’t get their offence going, and were really struggling to break down a stellar Neptune defence. McLoughlin then scored the first 3 of the game for the home side as things went from bad to worse for UCC.

     Demons head coach Paul Kelleher called a time-out just after 5 minutes and the visitors began to rally somewhat. American Delwan Graham hit a lay-up and added another two before fellow countryman Carlton Cuff cut the difference further. McGinn was back in the scoring for Neptune aided by Mateusz Rudak and at the end of the first the score stood 15-12 to the home side.

     Graham started the scoring in the second and was beginning to hit top form. Up front he was the central focus of all good things for Demons, while his spectacular rejection of a McLoughlin lay-up had both sets of supporters off their feet. Demons were battling, and got themselves level about five minutes in through some fine guard play by Graham. Things got pretty heated just before the half, when Neptune captain Ger Noonan and Graham came together after a rough foul, by which stage the home team had rallied to re-open a six point lead at the end of the half.

     Neptune hit the ground running after the half-time break, courtesy of a few free throws and good work from Townes and Rudak. Delwan Graham was continuing to have a storming game by winning free-throws and sinking lay-ups, while Cuff was playing a consummate supporting role. Ger Quinlan added three for the home side to keep things close, and on the third buzzer the score stood 55-51 to Demons.

     The visiting team added to their lead at the start of the final quarter, Cuff drained a three from deep and added a couple more twos to stretch their lead to nine points. Then Neptune hit four points from a professional foul (two free-throws and a two from the restart) and the momentum changed. Ian McLoughlin hit two lay-ups and a three, while Walsh hit his second from outside the D to cut UCC’s seven point lead in a matter of minutes. Graham was still going, and Shane Duggan hit two lay-ups for the Demons, while on the other side Townes hit eight points in the last quarter.

     With 30 seconds to go the scores were level and Neptune had possession. They killed time perfectly but Townes couldn’t hit the lay, and UCC broke. Captain Shane Coughlan passed to Graham who set up Niall O’Reilly to hit the two-pointer with three seconds on the clock. Neptune coach Mark Scanell called a time-out, and from the restart it was captain Coughlan who nicked the ball from McLoughlin and ran down court celebrating as the final buzzer sounded; Victory to Demons 74-72 as Kelleher’s men stretch their winning streak to three.