Results

Date (W/E)	Home Team		Away Team
	Preliminary Round 1
25.10.1998	Clare Jets	81	Longnecks Ballina	76
	Preliminary Round 2
25.10.1998	Cobras	46	Tralee Tigers	113
25.10.1998	Clare Jets	81	Queen’s Graduates	76
	First Round
01.11.1998	Denny Notre Dame	84	UCD Marian	76
01.11.1998	Tralee Tigers	85	Clare Jets	74
01.11.1998	Neptune	66	Blue Demons	81
01.11.1998	Dungannon	74	Waterford Crystal	80
01.11.1998	Dublin Bay Vikings	60	Burger King Limerick	99
01.11.1998	Marlborough Saints	94	Team Sligo Dairies	82
01.11.1998	Star of the Sea	95	Killester	81
01.11.1998	Tolka Rovers	85	Kerry Spring Water Killarney	79
	Quarter-Finals
13.12.1998	Waterford Crystal	67	Star of the Sea	68
13.12.1998	Tralee Tigers	72	Denny Notre Dame	80
13.12.1998	Blue Demons	84	Tolka Rovers	77
13.12.1998	Burger King Limerick	62	Marathon Sports St. Vincent’s	80
	Semi-Finals
31.01.1999	Esat Telecom Blue Demons	73	Star of the Sea	72
31.01.1999	Denny Notre Dame	73	Marathon Sports St. Vincent’s	72
	Final
31.01.1999	Denny Notre Dame	62	Esat Telecom Blue Demons	61

Final

At National Basketball Arena, Tallaght 31 March 1999	HT	FT	Top Scorers
Denny Notre Dame	(34)	62	Anthony Jenkins 19, Calvin Morris 14, Lennie McMillan 13
Esat Blue Demons	(40)	61	Dion Wingfield 34, Duvall Simmonds 12, Paco de Benito 8

Report

Denny Notre Dame wrote themselves into the Irish Basketball Association history books by becoming the first team to ever win the Men’s National (Sprite) Cup three times in a row. The local favourites defeated Esat Telecom Blue Demons 62-61 in the Final at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, South Dublin with 19 points from Americans Anthony Jenkins, 14 from Calvin Morris and 13 from Lennie McMillan. Despite a huge 34 point haul from game MVP American Dion Wingfield and big three-pointers from Duvall Simmonds and Spanish Bosman-ruling player Paco de Benito, the Blue Demons, who had led 40-34 at the half were unable to resist the Notre Dame challenge after their other American Simmonds went on four fouls after seven minutes of the restart and spent six minutes on the bench allowing the Tallaght side to go six points clear. With Simmonds back in with seven minutes remaining and the help of three free throws from de Benito the Corkmen managed to pull the score back to two points, but a crucial three-pointer from Jenkins and four missed free throws from Blue Demons sealed the three-in-a-row for Denny Notre Dame.

About Basketball Ireland / Irish Basketball Association Cups

The Irish Basketball Association ran the National Cup for the Top Two Divisions as well as any regional teams that wished to enter in both Men’s and Women’s as well as Junior (Under 19) Cup for both Men and Women as well as a Junior B (U19) Regional Cup for both Men and Women. The Cups were Knockout (single elimination) from the First Round. They were replaced by Super League and Division 1 Cups when the Association rebranded as Basketball Ireland in 2003. The Junior (U19) Cups were replaced by Under 20 and Under 18 Cups. Other Cups included the Irish Wheelchair Basketball Cup and introduced in the late 2010s the National Intermediate Cup Competition (Tier 3).

References

Newspapers

[1] Anon. (1999) “A-Z of Weekend Sport: Basketball” Irish Independent. Monday, October 26, 1998. Pg. 32.

[1] Anon. (1999) “A-Z of Weekend Sport: Basketball” Irish Independent. Monday, November 2, 1998. Pg. 44

[1] Anon. (1999) “A-Z of Weekend Sport: Basketball” Irish Independent. Monday, November 2, 1998. Pg. 44

[2] Anon. (1999) “A-Z of Weekend Sport: Basketball” Irish Independent. Monday, December 14, 1998. Pg. 32.

[3] Anon. (1999) “A-Z of Weekend Sport: Basketball” Irish Independent. Monday, February 1, 1999, Pg. 30

[3] Cliona Foley. (1999) “Notre Dame and Tolka Cup Joy” Irish Independent. Monday, February 1, 1999, Pg. 30

Acknowledgements

Thanks to John Folan.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 26 April 2021

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2021

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.