2014–15 Irish Premier League season

The 2014–15 Irish Premier League season was the 42nd running of Basketball Ireland's premier men's basketball competition. The season featured 10 teams from across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with the regular season beginning on 4 October 2014 and ending on 15 March 2015. In 2014–15, UCC Demons created history in Irish basketball by becoming the first side ever to remain undefeated for an entire season. They claimed the end-of-season Champions Trophy on 29 March 2015 to add to their League and Cup titles in a campaign that saw them win 24 games in a row. In a thrilling Champions Trophy final in Galway, Demons saw off Templeogue 85–73 behind the play of player-coach Colin O'Reilly.[1]

2014–15 Irish Premier League season
LeaguePremier League
SportBasketball
Duration4 October 2014 – 15 March 2015 (Regular season)
21 March 2015 – 29 March 2015 (Champions Trophy)
Number of games18
Number of teams10
Regular season
League championsUCC Demons
Season MVPColin O'Reilly (UCC Demons)
Top scorerRicky Taylor (Belfast Star)
(26.2 ppg)
Tournaments
Champions Trophy championsUCC Demons
  Champions Trophy runners-upTempleogue
National Cup championsUCC Demons
  National Cup runners-upUCD Marian
Premier League seasons

Teams

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Team Stadium City/Area Last season
Belfast Star Methodist College Belfast 6th
DCU Saints DCU Sports Complex Glasnevin, Dublin 4th
Dublin Inter Mountview Y&C Club Clonsilla, Dublin 8th
Killester IWA Sports Hall Clontarf, Dublin 1st
Neptune Neptune Stadium Cork 3rd
Swords Thunder ALSAA Sports Complex Dublin Airport, Dublin New
Templeogue Oblate Hall Inchicore, Dublin 10th
UCC Demons Mardyke Arena, UCC Cork 2nd
UCD Marian UCD Sports Centre Belfield, Dublin 7th
UL Eagles UL Arena Limerick 5th

Regular season

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Standings

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# Irish Premier League Regular Season Standings
Team W L PCT BP PTS
1 UCC Demons 18 0 100 0 54
2 Swords Thunder 13 5 72 0 39
3 Templeogue 11 7 61 1 34
4 Killester 11 7 61 1 34
5 UCD Marian 9 9 50 4 31
6 Belfast Star 7 11 39 6 27
7 Neptune 7 11 39 1 22
8 DCU Saints 6 12 33 2 20
9 UL Eagles 5 13 28 4 19
10 Dublin Inter 3 15 17 3 12

Source: Comortais

Champions Trophy

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Bracket

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Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
1 UCC Demons 73
4 Killester 75 4 Killester 71
Moycullen* 72   UCC Demons 85
Templeogue 73
2 Swords Thunder 73
3 Templeogue 84 3 Templeogue 81
Maree** 61

*National League Division 1 champions.[2][3]

**National League Division 1 runners-up.

Quarter-finals

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21 March 2015
19:45 GMT
Maree 61–84 Templeogue
Pts: Padraig Burke (17) Pts: Conor Grace (20)
Calasanctius College, Oranmore
21 March 2015
Moycullen 72–75 Killester
Pts: Kyle Cunningham (14) Pts: John Behan (16)

Semi-finals

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28 March 2015
14:00 GMT
UCC Demons 73–71 Killester
Scoring by quarter: 20–11, 14–27, 22–15, 17–18
Pts: Lehmon Colbert (21)
Rebs: Lehmon Colbert (11)
Asts: Kyle Hosford (5)
Pts: Ciaran Roe (17)
Rebs: Jermaine Turner (16)
Asts: Ciaran Roe (7)
NUIG Kingfisher, Galway
28 March 2015
16:00 GMT
Swords Thunder 73–81 Templeogue
Scoring by quarter: 16–21, 26–21, 13–18, 18–21
Pts: Tied (20)
Rebs: Juan Torres (14)
Asts: Isaac Westbrooks (5)
Pts: Jason Killeen (29)
Rebs: Jason Killeen (16)
Asts: Isaac Gordon (6)
NUIG Kingfisher, Galway

Final

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29 March 2015
16:00 GMT
UCC Demons 85–73 Templeogue
Scoring by quarter: 22–23, 20–15, 20–15, 23–20
Pts: Colin O'Reilly (25)
Rebs: Lehmon Colbert (10)
Asts: Colin O'Reilly (3)
Pts: Lorcan Murphy (19)
Rebs: Jason Killeen (8)
Asts: Conor Grace (3)
NUIG Kingfisher, Galway
MVP: Colin O'Reilly

National Cup

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Round 1 (2 legs)

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15 November 2014 (Series 1)
UCD Marian 95–77 Neptune
UCD Sports Centre, Dublin
15 November 2014 (Series 2)
UL Eagles 75–70 Dublin Inter
PESS Building, Limerick
15 November 2014 (Series 3)
Killester 63–88 UCC Demons
IWA-Clontarf, Dublin
15 November 2014 (Series 4)
DCU Saints 66–73 Templeogue
DCU Sports Complex, Dublin
16 November 2014 (Series 5)
Belfast Star 83–73 Swords Thunder
Methodist College, Belfast
6 December 2014 (Series 1)
Neptune 88–91 UCD Marian
UCD Marian win Series 1 on aggregate (186–165).
Neptune Stadium, Cork
6 December 2014 (Series 2)
Dublin Inter 73–71 UL Eagles
UL Eagles win Series 2 on aggregate (146–143).
Mountview Y&C Club, Dublin
6 December 2014 (Series 3)
UCC Demons 74–64 Killester
UCC Demons win Series 3 on aggregate (162–127).
Mardyke Arena, Cork
6 December 2014 (Series 4)
Templeogue 85–76 DCU Saints
Templeogue win Series 4 on aggregate (158–142).
Oblate Hall, Dublin
6 December 2014 (Series 5)
Swords Thunder 74–62 Belfast Star
Swords Thunder win Series 5 on aggregate (147–145).
ALSAA, Dublin

Round 2 (1 leg)

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Winner of Series 4 vs Winner of Series 5

17 December 2014
Swords Thunder 82–59 Templeogue
ALSAA, Dublin

Semi-finals

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Winner of Series 1 vs Winner of Series 2

9 January 2015
UCD Marian 81–70 UL Eagles
Mardyke Arena, Cork

Winner of Series 3 vs Winner of Round 2

9 January 2015
UCC Demons 95–70 Swords Thunder
Mardyke Arena, Cork

Final

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24 January 2015
20:00 GMT
UCD Marian 65–91 UCC Demons
Pts: Neil Baynes (20) Pts: Lehmon Colbert (25)

Source: Comortais

Awards

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Player of the Month

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Month Player Team Ref
October Colin O'Reilly UCC Demons [4][5]
November Ricky Taylor Belfast Star
December Michael Goj Swords Thunder [6]
January Lehmon Colbert UCC Demons [7]
February Conor Meany UCD Marian
March Jason Killeen Templeogue [8]

Coach of the Month

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Month Player Team Ref
October Colin O'Reilly UCC Demons [4]
November Dave Baker Swords Thunder [9]
December Ioannis Liapakis UCD Marian [6]
January Colin O'Reilly UCC Demons [7]
February Colin O'Reilly UCC Demons [10]
March Mark Keenan Templeogue [8]

Statistics leaders

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Stats as of the end of the regular season[11]

Category Player Team Stat
Points per game Ricky Taylor Belfast Star 26.2
Rebounds per game Mārtiņš Provizors DCU Saints 16.8
Assists per game Isaac Westbrooks Swords Thunder 9.6
Steals per game Isaac Westbrooks Swords Thunder 3.2
Blocks per game Jason Killeen Templeogue 2.4

Regular season

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  • Player of the Year: Colin O'Reilly (UCC Demons)[12]
  • Young Player of the Year: Ciaran Roe (Killester)
  • Coach of the Year: Colin O'Reilly (UCC Demons)
  • All-Star First Picks:
  • All-Star Second Picks:
    • G: Isaac Westbrooks (Swords Thunder)
    • G: Roy Downey (Neptune)
    • F: Michael Goj (Swords Thunder)
    • F: Juan Torres (Swords Thunder)
    • C: Jason Killeen (Templeogue)
  • All-Star Third Picks:
    • G: Isaac Gordon (Templeogue)
    • G: Kevin Lacey (Swords Thunder)
    • F: Ciaran O'Sullivan (UCC Demons)
    • F: Michael Bonaparte (Neptune)
    • C: Jermaine Turner (Killester)

References

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  1. ^ "C&S UCC Demons end season unbeaten". RTE.ie. 29 March 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Men's Champions Trophy 2014-15". bi.comortais.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Men's Division One 2014-15". bi.comortais.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  4. ^ a b "COLIN O'REILLY IS BI COACH AND PLAYER OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER 2014". BlueDemonsBC.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  5. ^ Coughlan, John (18 November 2014). "O'REILLY IS THRILLED WITH AWAY-LEG WIN". EveningEcho.ie. Archived from the original on 2016-02-08. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  6. ^ a b "Congrats to our very own Mike Goj for being selected as the Premier..." Facebook.com. 7 January 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  7. ^ a b "C&S UCC DEMONS GET BI AWARDS FOR JANUARY". BlueDemonsBC.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  8. ^ a b "Congratulations to TBC's Mark Keenan and Jason Killeen, Basketball..." Facebook.com. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  9. ^ O'Sullivan, Donn (12 December 2014). "Basketball Ireland: Weekend Preview". LimerickPost.ie. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  10. ^ "C&S UCC DEMONS GET BI AWARDS FOR FEBRUARY". BlueDemonsBC.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Men's Premier League 2014-15". bi.comortais.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  12. ^ "Basketball Ireland awards for Colin O'Reilly and Niamh Dwyer". RTE.ie. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  13. ^ "Inaugural All-Stars Revealed". BasketballIreland.ie. 26 March 2015. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015.