Basketball’s bloody-minded monument

Necessity rarely means stuff actually gets done in this country. If it did we wouldn’t have half the delays across too many under supported public services to count never mind the infrastructure challenges across the island. To get something done, you’ve got to be stubborn, determined, and willing to engage in acts of blind stupidity at great potential cost to yourself.

That was the challenge when Neptune Stadium was developed over 30 years. It was the dawn of Irish basketball’s golden age, with some extraordinary talent hitting the hardwood, and some pretty awful barns to house them. A community came together with a whole lot of graft, and no shortage of personal risk for the initial guarantors, to build a purpose built home for the sport in Cork.

While the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght has been the sport’s HQ since the mid 1990s and UCC’s Mardyke across town is more modern, Neptune Stadium is the place most associated with the raw grit required to get something done in Irish basketball. A venue that could be proudly looked at as something the people built because they needed it.

In a year where there is so much promise for the sport, it’s only right that right to get to finals weekend is decided over the next two days in a house to so much history. Kieran Shannon’s excellent book, Hanging from the Rafters, tells the story best as the house this Cork community built became home to some great stars and fine triumphs.

Tonight it’s a city derby, between three-in-a-row winners Glanmire and Brunell, for a place in the women’s final. Then Saturday sees their opponents decided as reigning league champions DCU Mercy take on Liffey Celtics.

There’s no home presence in the men’s Superleague semi-finals, Demons fell at the first hurdle while Neptune are rebuilding through their youth ranks before returning to the top flight. That rebuild is going extraordinarily well, with the two top underage cups won by the club last season. While they wait, they’ll watch Swords Thunder tackle Moycullen before a Dublin derby between Killester and UCD Marian.

All of these games will feature players who last summer finally got the chance to wear the green jersey after so long outside of international competition. The men are coming along nicely, with two brilliant talents of the current generation plying their trade in the college ranks Stateside. Cork native Jordan Blount is playing in the sport’s top flight with UIC Flames in Chicago while Sean Flood, a cup winner with Templeogue, is playing junior college level with real hopes of a move to the top tier once that stint is over.

For all the positive signs in the men’s game, the prospects at women’s level are on another level entirely. The performance of Ireland’s female underage teams the past two years have set record after record and this summer they get their best chance yet. Claire Melia, a full Irish international already, will lead the U18 women on their home courts in the European B championships. The arena in Dublin and a new facility at the national sports campus in Dublin will host those games next August where Ireland goes with big time ambitions.

A top three finish, wholly plausible with home advantage, would promote that group to the top flight for the first time ever. That is, it would be the first time ever that any Irish team of either gender has qualified for the top division’s final tournament in any European youth competition. That’s the kind of potential ahead this summer.

Yet here, tonight in Cork, thoughts will be a touch more local. The cup is the competition the Irish public has been able to relate to most over the years. Between the TV coverage and it’s knockout format’s similarity to the GAA championship, the speed and natural glamour of the sport translates easily.

The home before the home, Parochial Hall, will play its part in the weekend, hosting second and third tier semi finals along with youth cup games. For the home fans however, they won’t need to travel far to see the future. The Neptune U20s, defending the title they won a year ago, will host Liffey Celtics in the semi final at 10am on Saturday. It’s an early start for a jam packed day but this barn’s seen the people that built it do crazier things than miss their lie-in.

The Irish Superleague men’s and women’s Cup semi-finals will be streamed viaBasketballIreland.ie andBallinEurope.com on Friday and Saturday.