Basketball/ Weekend round-up: It's a little early to predict how this year's Superleague will pan out - let's wait until Tralee get going next week; but the UCC Demons got the ideal start to the campaign in contrast to last season's leading northern conference contenders, St Vincent's and Killester.
First to Cork, where last Friday the Demons exposed the multitude of problems facing a Neptune side coming off a disruptive pre-season.
On Saturday, the UCD Marian foreign influence proved too much for St Vincent's. The north Dublin club were swept aside at the campus sports complex as Damion Morbley, Nate Lufkins and Irish international Lorcan Precious combined for 68 points in a 104-86 victory.
Killester learned an early lesson about the perils of trying to get a result in Mayo as Ballina produced a similarly comprehensive margin of victory. Liam McHale and Deora Marsh may be of an incongruous age in sporting terms, but they still made fine contributions.
Significantly though, Ronan McGarrity finished with 28 points to prove how clinical he can be when his full attention is on the one sport. McGarrity spent last season juggling Gaelic football and basketball.
This sort of performance will be required throughout the season, especially considering the Westerners fell away so badly after similarly bright beginnings in 2004.
Limerick are next up for the Ballina home-court experience, but at least they arrive tails up after an opening weekend victory over the Killarney Lakers.
The other northern conference meeting may have been between last season's two bottom sides, but it produced the game of the weekend as Shamrock Rovers Hoops edged out Star of the Sea in overtime at the national arena.
Robert McMillan had a chance to win the match for the Ulster club but his shot slid out of the rim on the buzzer, allowing a late burst from Ian Cathcart to decide the contest. Dave Langrell fouling out may also have sealed Stars' fate as he had racked up 19 points in regular time.
MEN'S SUPERLEAGUE: Neptune 66, UCC Demons 114; Shamrock Rovers Hoops 71, Star of the Sea 67; UCD 104, St Vincent's 86; Ballina 103, Killester 86; Killarney Lakers 94, Limerick Lions 105.
