Wayward shooting costs Neptune the points

Basketball: After being on the losing side of an epic National Cup final, Neptune understandably failed to get back on track this weekend. They were beaten by the Superleague's form team, the Tralee Tigers, 91-84, on Saturday night.

However, coach Gerry Fitzpatrick refused to use the agonising loss to the UCC Demons as an excuse. Instead he pointed to absence of Dave Langrell, who is suffering from a sprained ankle. It is hoped he will resume training on Wednesday, in advance of Friday's renewal of hostilities with the Demons.

"We lost to Tralee by seven points without Dave Langrell. Who knows, with him we might have pipped them, but it wasn't a bad performance," said Fitzpatrick. "We're not a young team anymore. We have plenty of experience and the guys were able to put last week to one side. We're in decent shape but it was our shooting that let us down."

Charron Watson and Kenny Gamble both misfired on the night, finishing with a mere 19 points apiece.

The home players picked up the slack, with Shane McCarthy and Michael McGinn making crucial baskets to keep Neptune in contact, 43-40, at half-time.

With two minutes left, McCarthy and Marcus Wally cut the game to three points, 84-87, but in the dying seconds Travaris Bennett produced his only points of the game from the free-throw line to secure a Tralee victory.

With the cup campaign dominated by the two Cork sides and Tralee's peerless performances in the league, one might think an eventual champion is destined to come from the Southern Conference but Fitzpatrick isn't so sure: "I wouldn't write off Killester. They have a good depth of Irish players, which becomes very important in the play-offs when the American players start to cancel each other out. Star, Tralee and the Demons will all have a good shake of it as well."

Elsewhere, Shamrock Rovers defeated St Vincent's 109-99 with their new signing from Ballina, Wayne Houston, shooting 28-points and adding an inside presence that Rovers have lacked all season. In other results, UCD Marian beat Killester 85-69 and Limerick beat Waterford 87-81.

In the Women's Superleague, the Waterford Wildcats beat Killester 69-60, with Lisa Palmer and Gráinne Dwyer continuing their rich vein of form. There were further victories for University of Limerick, Glanmire and St Paul's.