Neptune have paid a £600 late registration fee to the IBA to secure the services of the 1996 player of the year, Ricardo Leonard, for tonight's quarter-final of the top eight national championship against Star of the Sea at the Maysfield Centre in Belfast. Leonard has been inactive at national level since scoring 29 points last December for Tralee in a narrow 80-72 cup quarter-final defeat against the eventual winners, Notre Dame.
The well-travelled American's powerful inside game was the most influential aspect in the Kerry club's remarkable 1996 league success. If he combines well with Neptune's other American, Shawn Wilson, Star will need to be at their best to progress to the semi-finals.
Neptune's desire to do well in the championship stems in part from the knowledge that the semi-finals and final of the tournament will be held on their home court in Cork tomorrow and Sunday. Neptune also know they have the ability to defeat Star if they get it right on the night, as they did in December in Cork, where they inflicted one of only two preChristmas defeats on the Belfast club.
The return fixture in January was a lot closer than the 10-point margin of Star's victory might suggest, and there was a minor fracas after the game which only served to add tension to the keen rivalry that already exists between them. Although geographically separated by around 250 miles, the jousts between Star and Neptune have in recent years been feature events of various campaigns, as the Belfast club's rise in the 1990s has coincided with a slow decline in the fortunes of the once all-conquering Cork side. The one recent exception for Neptune was the 1996-1997 season when, under Tom Wilkinson, they won all but one of their 18 league matches. Still, they were chased all the way across the finishing line by a Star side which was in the process of acquiring the experience which would take them to league successes in the following two campaigns. Star have not been beaten at the Maysfield Centre over those last two years and have expressed real intent on winning the championship trophy for the fourth year in a row, as they view it as consolation for their narrow cup semi-final defeat by Blue Demons last January.
By all accounts, that cup loss really hurt in Belfast, but Demons were also to be denied by the narrowest margin in the final against Notre Dame, which has only served to heighten the Corkmen's desire to do well this weekend.
Demons, however, ahead of their quarter-final at home to St Vincent's tonight, have serious player availability problems with five Irish men, Shane McCarthy, Noel Browne, Kieran O'Leary, John O'Riordan and Stephen Hannigan either doubtful or on the non-starters list.
St Vincent's also have doubtful starters in Karl Donnelly and John Clancy, who are injured. But their American, Chris Doyal, is back after recovering from an ankle sprain. Waterford will be expected to win their quarter-final at home to Limerick tonight. The match is a repeat of the duel between the same teams last weekend in the league which Waterford won convincingly. The women's league champions, Wildcats, are without coach Craig Madzinski, who has returned to America to take up a full-time coaching job in Chicago. Killester scored four seconds from the end to book their place in the semi-finals after a 71-69 victory over Notre Dame in Clontarf last night. Notre Dame, who went on court with only one American player due to an eye injury to Calvin Morris, played strong defence in the first half to lead 33-26 at the break.
Killester came back to level early in the second half and as the match progressed basket for basket in the final quarter Damon Schoultz got the decisive score.
