Neptune bid to end 19-year title wait

Neptune’s Nils Sabata prepares to take a free shot during the win over Trade House Ballincollig at Neptune Stadium. This weekend Neptune are chasing their first Superleague crown since 2003. Picture: Howard Crowdy (sourced from irishexaminer.com)

Only thing is, the last of those was won way back in 2003. They’ve gone almost as long without a league as it took them to amount their first 11 titles (banner number one was raised to the rafters in 1983).

Just like Kieran Kingston’s men though, Colin O’Reilly’s squad are one game away from ending and fixing all that should they win their league final tomorrow (Saturday) evening; at the same time the Cork hurlers will be tussling with Waterford in Thurles, Neptune, now sponsored by C&S Construction, will be scrapping it out against Garvey’s Tralee Warriors in Tallaght.

Ger Noonan knows all about the historical weight of playing for Neptune — and relieving it. Back in 2013, during the same week he and his club marked the 10th anniversary of the tragic passing of his great friend and teammate Emmet Neville, Noonan captained the club to its first National Cup triumph in 21 years and first bit of senior national silverware in a decade. Now almost another decade has transpired without the club landing either a Superleague or Cup.

“There’s a craving there, definitely,” he says. “The first question everyone was asking after the semi-final win over Ballincollig last Saturday was when was it exactly we had last won a league. And of course the answer is 2003, the year Emmett died and it spurred them on to win it out. That’s too long for a club like Neptune.

“That said, there have been some great teams we’ve come across since then. You’ve had Demons, that Killester team that just about beat us in the league final in 2011, Tralee…”

Just the mention of some of those names causes him to smile as much as wince. Colin O’Reilly and his brother Niall were key players on a lot of those Demons teams that tormented him, even though back in 2001 they all played on the same Superleague team for Neptune. Their departure, along with Neville’s death, can’t be underestimated in explaining how Neptune still haven’t secured title number 12.

Tralee then had — have — Kieran Donaghy. The same season Neptune last won a Superleague was Donaghy’s first playing in it. Noonan only retired for good last year, meaning his career effectively spanned two full decades, yet somehow both O’Reilly and Donaghy have outlasted him. Even for all their sabbaticals in and out of the league or even sport, their longevity, resilience and sheer basketball smarts astound Noonan.

“I have nothing but respect for Colin, especially for coming back to Neptune. It would have been a hard thing for someone else to do, given all the time he’s spent with Demons, but when the opportunity arose to come back he didn’t shy away from it. It’s no secret we were struggling the last couple of years but he’s brought a professionalism and an organisation to it we wouldn’t have had before. The lads now would do a gym session before they go onto the floor for practice. In 20 years of playing Superleague in Neptune I never saw that.

“Plus he’s a winner. And he’s respected. That’s half the battle when it comes to coaching. He’s done it all as a player and as a player-coach in this league.

“Donaghy then is Donaghy. I remember playing against Kieran before he was ever a Kerry footballer and all the madness that surrounded him. Nothing about him has changed. He’ll still go through you for a shortcut. But that’s why I always loved playing against him: we’d puck the head off one another and then laugh about it after.

“He’s still the one spurring on Tralee, marking the opposing American, doing all the donkey work. Every role player in basketball — every player in basketball — should watch a Donaghy. At this stage in his career he’s no longer the most athletic but he still can dictate a game by just his effort and being so smart.”

So tomorrow the two old mad dogs go nose to nose with one another once more, just like they did in the Cup final back in January. Tralee are going for their own slice of history: for all the leagues (four to date) and Cups (three) that the Tigers and Warriors between them have brought back to the town, never have they managed to claim both trophies in the one season. O’Reilly alone with Demons has managed to do the double three times (2009, 2015 and 2016), as have Neptune (1985, 1988, 1990). Killester have done it twice (2001 and 2010). Mark Keenan pulled it off as a player with St Vincent’s in 1994 and as a coach with Limerick in 2012. Tralee can become the first non-city team to join such rare company.

Noonan thinks Neptune are the better and wiser for that Cup final. “They realised too late into that match that if they’d put it up to Tralee earlier it would have been a lot closer. You have to remember how young some of that team is. For all the U18 and U20 Cups the likes of Cian Heaphy had played in and won, it was another level going up against grown men like a Donaghy who sees it as his job to intimidate you. It was only when Roy Downey ran into Donaghy and there was that bit of argy-bargy early in the third quarter that Neptune got their juices flowing.

“They’ve taken that toughness into the rest of the season yet remaining comfortably calm and doing everything Colin wants them to do. They run the sets Colin wants them to run to hit the three or else go into Nil Sabata with the pick and roll. Also since the cup final Colin has put a lot more trust into the Hannigan twins while Cian Heaphy has to be the most exciting player in the league.

“I think Neptune are going to be a totally different team to what they were in the Cup final. It should be a great game.”

History will tell — and be made.