C&S Neptune inflicted a first home defeat of the season on Tradehouse Central Ballincollig to reach the InsureMyVan.ie Super League final, something which C&S Neptune player/coach Colin O'Reilly hailed as "a huge achievement".
Tradehouse Central Ballincollig got off to a great start and led 25-13 at the end of the opening quarter, but C&S Neptune got themselves back into contention and trailed by six by half-time, 39-33.
Tradehouse Central Ballincollig's lead was whittled down to a single point, 58-57, by the end of the third, before a strong fourth quarter saw C&S Neptune pull clear to win 92-75 and reach their second final of the season, having made the InsureMyHouse.ie Pat Duffy National Cup final in January.
O’Reilly was elated afterwards: "To beat the top seed on the road is a huge achievement for this group. They dominated the first 15 minutes of the game and had a huge 17-point lead, but there was no panic on our end.
"We had started to see a few things working and knew that if we could get back in contention that we had the experience to close out knockout games on the road.
"The game swung in the fourth, where we made consecutive 3s down the stretch, which gave us the lead and we held our composure to see it out from the free throw line."
Nil Sabata was C&S Neptune’s leading scorer on 21, backed up by Miles Washington (14), Ireland international Roy Downey (14) and Richard Gittens (13).
Andre Nation was the game’s top scorer, on 26 points, while Tradehouse Central Ballincollig also had notable contributions from Ireland international Adrian O'Sullivan (19) and Milorad Sedlarevic (13).
Although naturally disappointed, Tradehouse Central Ballincollig head coach Kieran O’Sullivan praised the efforts of his players, after topping the South Conference, with a 15-1 regular season record in their debut Super League season.
"We have had a tremendous season and faulted at the last hurdle. Coming up from the first division going 15-1 shows the calibre of team we have. We are here to stay at the top table and will go again next year.
"The MNCC [Men’s National Competitions Committee] need to review the rules and make the league best record the winners. Credit to Neptune today, they played a fine game and it was going to be tough to beat them three times in a row", O’Sullivan stated.
The second semi-final sees North Conference winners DBS Éanna at home against InsureMyHouse.ie Pat Duffy National Cup champions Garvey’s Tralee Warriors on Sunday.
Meanwhile, EJ Sligo All-Stars will be playing in the Super League next season, securing promotion after defeating after defeating IT Carlow 94-68 in their InsureMyVan.ie Division 1 semi-final.
Head coach Shane O’Meara said: "I'm over the moon for the players, they've invested so much time and energy into our league campaign. They've grown as a team and as individuals and they're showing all our academy players what it means to be part of a team, part of a club.
"Our club executive and volunteer groups are second to none in ensuring that all the needs of our team are met and that the game is promoted in the right way.
"We knew Carlow were going to play a fast paced intense game and despite a rocky start, once we took the lead you could see our body language was that of a team that was hungry to win. Our effort on defence and our selfless execution on offense was hard to live with. Tonight was the perfect storm for us and Glen (Monaghan) and I couldn't be more proud of the lads."
The second semi-final sees UCC Demons host Grand Hotel Malahide on Sunday.
