Omens good for Demons ahead of Cup rematch | Kevin Galvin

UCC Demons 68Neptune 66In the dress-rehearsal for the much anticipated National Cup semi-final, an age-old rivalry was resumed between the UCC Demons and Neptune at a packed out Mardyke Arena. Having had a blistering start to the season, the Demons found themselves only four points ahead of their third-placed local rivals, and three behind league-leaders UL Eagles. It mightn’t have been a cup semi, but there was a lot at stake!The Demons were missing key players in the shape of Shane Duggan, Ciaran O’Sullivan and Niall Murphy. Before the game Demons head coach Paul Kelleher stressed the importance of eradicating past mistakes in order to achieve the win they so desperately needed; yet in the end, it was Neptune’s early mistakes that ultimately cost them the game.Darren Townes wriggled from a position under the bucket to swivel and lay the first two points of the game for Neptune. It was the away side playing with more intensity in the opening minutes, and they led by four halfway into the first quarter following two missed free-throws by American Carlton Cuff, while his fellow countrymen Townes was impressing for Neptune, with a huge rejection early in the game, and a silky dunk not long after.Still though, the Demons aren’t the top side in the city for no reason, and when O’Reilly drained a three from the corner the scores were level. Neither side were impressing from the charity line, with Neptune’s Paul Walsh missing both tries following a foul from Demons’ captain Shane Coughlan. Daniel O’Sullivan had no trouble with his aim though, draining a three from deep before Neptune captain Ger Noonan missed both his tries from the line, as the quarter finished 20-16 in favour of the home side.As the second started Kenton Walker began to get himself into the game, scoring an athletic lay from the wrong side of the rim to cap off six points in two minutes. The Demons were most certainly the team in control, and led by ten points as Neptune called a timeout, unable to drain a single basket. The Demons were double-teaming everything on the perimeter, choking the Northsiders’ offence. Coughlan was leading from the front; he went coast-to-coast, finishing with a lay and drawing a foul which he converted, extending the home side’s advantage to fifteen points. O’Reilly then finished a breakaway from yet another Neptune missed shot to leave the scores 41-24 in favour of the home side at half-time.Coughlan picked up where he left off in the first half, smoking a long range three under considerable pressure, and increasing the gap to twenty points. Neptune were guilty of committing some inexcusable errors, throwing the ball away and losing important possession, but so were the Demons, giving up easy points in the paint as both sides began to look nervous. That said, the away side began to improve in the third, and had the lead cut to fourteen by the end of the quarter.The fourth started at a hectic pace, with coast-to-coast action and both sides putting points on the board. A Townes lay-up cut the lead to ten, as Demons missed another chance and things heated up on and off the court. A Michael McGinn three-pointer left the gap at seven with eight minutes to play. Demons couldn’t buy a bucket as the away side narrowed the lead to five.Walker was Demons’ saviour in the fourth, picking up a number of lays as well as playing very well off the glass in attack. The mistakes were creeping into the Demons game though, Coughlan has the ball stolen off him by McGinn and returned for a two-pointer, while O’Reilly had his pocket picked by Noonan which led to Townes cutting the lead two just two points. Coughlan made up for his mistake though by a beautiful fade away two and foul which he duly converted to knock the wind out of Neptune’s sails.With just over a minute to go, Neptune’s Noonan drew the foul, but away fans agonised as the ball rolled out of the rim; he duly converted the two free-throws though to leave the deficit, once at twenty, down to just one. With the shot clock gone, the deficit was still the same with Neptune in possession. Failing with their shot, both sets of players frantically tried to get their hands on the ball, and eventually the scrum saw the referees call a foul in favour of the home side, and lying on the ground triumphantly with the ball in his hand was Kenton Walker. Walker then stepped up and drained the first free throw, and McGinn couldn’t convert the buzzer beater for the away side to leave the Demons with a 2-0 record over their local rivals heading into the upcoming cup semi-final weekend.So the Demons eventually got the win, but they did it the hard way! After the game coach Kelleher said that his side’s win was thanks to their experience coming down the stretch, particularly considering their absentees. He was also quick to point out that their focus was firmly on next week’s game against UCD Marian.As for Neptune, despite the loss they will take an awful lot of confidence heading into their next matchup against their local rivals. Darren Townes was really showing some form heading into an important patch for the club, while tight defence really choked the Demons for the third quarter.The scene is now set perfectly for January 11th at Neptune Stadium. Two points separated these sides in their last two meetings, and though Demons will be strengthened with the return of Duggan and company, the cup always brings surprise results. That makes up the first of the double header, and with the second featuring the two other college sides, UL Eagles and UCD Marian, it will be one of the biggest Cork sporting events in 2013!