Basketball:With the announcement mid-week that the National Champions Trophy semi-finals are heading to the Mardyke Arena in Cork, excitement is steadily building for a final Leeside derby of the season between Bord Gáis Neptune and UCC Demons.
Still a week away, both sides will be keen to use this final weekend of the Nivea For Men’s SuperLeague to prepare themselves for what promises to be an epic match-up between two of the oldest rivals in Irish basketball.
For Neptune this final weekend of the regular season sends them to Galway where they face a Moycullen side buoyant off the back of an excellent post-Christmas run of form that has seen the Tribesmen earn their best ever record in the top flight of Irish basketball.
The same journey cost UCC Demons their title aspirations in February, when they lost to an inspired Moycullen performance. Demons have suffered further since, losing to DCU Saints last weekend, a team they face again this Saturday in Dublin.
Neptune and Demons will meet in the semi-final stage of the Champions Trophy courtesy of being the two and three seeds respectively. The one seed is reserved for high-flying UL Eagles, who took much of the drama out of this weekend by sealing the SuperLeague title a weekend ago.
They take to their home court in Limerick for the last time this season on Saturday night in what is bound to be an emotional tie for the champions, with a red-hot UCD Marian looking to spoil the celebration.
In the Nivea Women’s SuperLeague, the play-offs get underway this weekend. In Dublin, the all capital clash between DCU Mercy and Meteors looks set to be a tight affair with Mercy the probably favourites judging on recent encounters.
