IBBA National Basketball League 1979-80

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*St. Vincent’s Killarney	18	16	2			32
*Blue Demons	18	14	4			28
*Marian	18	13	5			26
*Killester	18	11	7			22
Tralee Celtics	18	10	8			20
St. Vincent’s Glasnevin	18	9	9			18
Sligo All-Stars	18	8	10			16
St. Gall’s	18	7	11			14
O’Connell’s	18	2	16			4
Iona Cork	18	0	18			0

[1]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
1980	St. Vincent’s Killarney	84	Killester	71
1980	Blue Demons	103	Marian	89
	Final
1980	St. Vincent’s Killarney	104	Blue Demons	73

IBBA National Basketball League 1980-81

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*Blue Demons	18	17	1			34
*Killester	18	13	5			26
*Marian	18	12	6			24
St. Gall’s	18	12	6			24
*St. Vincent’s Killarney	18	12	6			24
St. Vincent’s Glasnevin	18	11	7			22
Corinthians	18	5	13			10
Celtic	18	3	15			6
Sligo All Stars	18	3	15			6
St. Colm’s	18	2	16			4

[18]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
1981	Blue Demons	95	Marian	61
1981	St. Vincent’s Killarney	73	Killester	62
	Final
1981	Blue Demons	77	St. Vincent’s Killarney	74

IBBA National Basketball League 1981-82

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
Gleneagle Killarney	18	16	2			32
Team Britvic Blue Demons	18	14	4			28
St. Vincent’s Glasnevin	18	13	5			26
Killester	18	10	8			20
Burgerland Neptune	18	10	8			20
Team Shandy St. Gall’s	18	8	10			16
Marian	18	7	11			14
Tralee Celtics	18	7	11			14
Corinthians	18	6	12			12
Ballina Braves	18	0	18			0

[1]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
1982
1982
	Final
1982	Gleneagle Killarney	100	Team Britvic Blue Demons	97 ot

IBBA National Basketball League 1982-83

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
Burgerland Neptune	16	13	3			26
Sporting Belfast	16	11	5			22
Gleneagle Killarney	16	10	6			20
St. Vincent’s	16	10	6			20
Team Britvic Blue Demons	16	9	7			18
Team Corona St. Gall’s	16	7	9			14
Sligo All-Stars	16	5	11			10
Killester	16	4	12			8
Yoplait Marian	16	3	13			6

[1][9]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
1983	Burgerland	67	St. Vincent’s	74
1983	Sporting Belfast	W	Gleneagle	L
	Final
1983	St. Vincent’s	83	Sporting Belfast	78

[14]

National Basketball Leagues 1983-84

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*Team Britvic Blue Demons	18	14	4			28
*Team Harp Lager North Monastery	18	13	5			26
*St. Vincent’s	18	12	4			24
*Gleneagle Killarney	18	11	7			22
Team Smithwick’s Sporting	18	10	8			20
Burgerland Neptune	18	9	9			18
Killester	18	9	9			18
Team GWI Sligo	18	7	11			14
Team Corona St. Gall’s	18	4	14			8
Club Orange Annadale	18	1	17			2

[1][2]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
1984	St. Vincent’s	71	Harp Lager	68
1984	Gleneagle	89	Team Britvic	85
	Final
1984	St. Vincent’s	104	Gleneagle	76

[15]

IBBA National Basketball Leagues 1984-85

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*Burgerland Neptune	18	15	3			30
*Team Britvic Blue Demons	18	13	5			26
*Jameson St. Vincent’s	18	13	5			26
*Team Harp Lager North Monastery	18	11	7			22
Team Smithwick’s Sporting	18	10	8			20
Yoplait Marian	18	9	9			18
Killester	18	7	11			14
Team West Ballina	18	5	13			10
Gleneagle Killarney	18	4	14			8
Team GWI Sligo	18	3	15			6

[1][3]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
1985	Burgerland Neptune	W	Harp Lager North Mon	L
1985	Team Britvic Blue Demons	W	Jameson St. Vincent’s	L
	Final
1985	Team Britvic Blue Demons	77	Burgerland Neptune	74

[16]

National Basketball Leagues 1985-86

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*Burgerland International Neptune	18	16	2			32
*Team Harp Lager North Monastery	18	14	4			28
*Premier Milk Toppers Killester	18	12	6			24
*Jameson International St. Vincent’s	18	10	8			20
Team Roadspeed Corinthians	18	9	9			18
Dawn Milk Blue Demons	18	8	10			16
Team Tudor St. Gall’s	18	6	12			12
Team West Ballina	18	5	13			10
Team Smithwicks Sporting Belfast	18	5	13			10
Yoplait Marian	18	5	13			10

[1][4]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
1986	Jameson	102	Burgerland	94
1986	Premier Milk	100	Harp Lager	91
	Final
1986	Jameson	89	Premier Milk	81

[17]

IBBA National Leagues 1986-87

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*Burgerland Neptune	18	13	5			26
*Dawn Milk Blue Demons	18	13	5			26
*Premier Milk Toppers Killester	18	12	6			24
*Jameson St. Vincent’s	18	12	6			24
Budweiser	18	11	7			22
Roadspeed Corinthians	18	9	9			18
Team West Ballina	18	8	10			16
St. Declan’s	18	5	13			10
St. Gall’s	18	5	13			10
Portarlington Hawks ##	18	2	16			2

[1][5]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
1987	Burgerland Neptune	87	Jameson St. Vincent’s	78
1987
	Final
1987	Burgerland Neptune	95	Premier Milk Toppers	84

IBBA National League 1987-88

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*Burgerland Neptune	18	14	4			28
*Premier Milk Killester	18	13	5			26
*Dawn Milk Blue Demons	18	13	5			26
*Budweiser North Monastery	18	12	6			24
Roadspeed Corinthians	18	9	9			18
Harp Ballina	18	9	9			18
Jameson St. Vincent’s	18	8	10			16
St. Declan’s Cabra	18	6	12			12
Sligo All-Stars	18	5	13			10
Galway Democrats	18	1	17			2

[1]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Final
1988	Burgerland Neptune	65	Budweiser North Monastery	62
1988	Dawn Milk Blue Demons	95	Premier Milk Killester	88
	Final
1988	Dawn Milk Blue Demons	89	Burgerland Neptune	88

[10]

IBBA National League 1988-89

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*Dawn Milk Cork Blue Demons	18	14	4			28
*Burgerland Neptune	18	13	5			26
*Jameson Glasnevin St. Vincent’s	18	13	5			26
*Harp Ballina	18	11	7			22
St. Declan’s	18	10	8			20
Roadspeed Dublin Corinthians	18	10	8			20
Premier Milk Killester	18	8	10			16
Budweiser Cork	18	6	12			12
Cookstown Glenavon	18	2	16			4
St. Gall’s	18	2	16			4

[1][6]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
1989
1989
	Final
1989	Burgerland Neptune	95	Harp Ballina	82

[11]

IBBA National League 1989-90

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*Burgerland Neptune	18	18	0			36
*Jameson St. Vincent’s	18	13	5			26
*Roadspeed Corinthians	18	13	5			26
*Harp Ballina	18	9	9			18
Dawn Milk Blue Demons	18	8	10			16
Premier Dairies Killester	18	6	12			12
Radio South North Monastery	18	6	12			12
St. Declan’s Perri	18	6	12			12
Garvey’s Tralee	18	6	12			12
Tennents Sligo	18	5	13			10

[1][7]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Final
1990	Jameson St. Vincent’s	81	Harp Ballina	81

[12]

Note: Title Awarded to Jameson St. Vincent’s. Harp Ballina refused to play overtime due to a controversial refereeing decision.

IBBA National League 1990-91

	P	W	L	PF	PA	Pts
*Burgerland Neptune	16	13	3			26
*Connacht Gold Ballina	16	11	5			22
*Jameson St. Vincent’s	16	10	6			20
*North Monastery 96’ers	16	10	6			20
Lucozade Sport Killester	16	9	7			18
Dawn Milk Blue Demons	16	7	9			14
St. Declan’s	16	6	10			12
Marathon Limerick George	16	5	11			10
Cookstown Glenavon	16	1	15			2

[1][8]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Final
1991	Neptune	92	North Monastery	91 ot

[13]

Report

The Amateur Basketball Association of Ireland relented on its no paid professionals rule after St. Vincent’s of Killarney brought in two professionals from the United States in 1979. Seeing how many fans it was bringing in the Association legalised the import of paid players from USA, and changed its name to the Irish Basketball Association to reflect this change in 1980.

St. Vincent’s Killarney would run away with the League and Top Four Championships that year, and the following year the other clubs followed suit by bringing in players from the United States.

Blue Demons of Cork would win the League in 1980-81, as Munster Clubs dominated the League over the next decade. Gleneagle Killarney would win the League the following year and from 1982 to 1991 the great Neptune team of the era would win seven out of nine league titles – only Blue Demons interrupting this streak in 1983-84 and 1988-89.

St. Vincent’s of Glasnevin in Dublin were the only team to break this Cork and Kerry stranglehold by winning the Top four Championship in 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86 and 1989-90, but the League would belong to Cork and Kerry.

In 1991 the League made the decision to cut the number of imports a team was allowed to bring in from two to one and merged the two Divisions into one Super League. It was thought Irish players were able to make the step up to Pro but the fans lost interest with only one American and the Golden Era was over.

References

Bibliography

[1] Shannon, Kieran (2009) “Hanging from the Rafters: The story of Neptune and the Golden Age of Irish Basketball” Appendix Section 1: The Irish Men’s Game: The Complete Records: National League Tables and Top Four semi-finals and Finals. Pp. 516-527.

Magazine Articles

[2] (1984) “National League 1983-84”. IBA Official Basketball Magazine. October 1984.

[3] (1985) “Final Standings”. IBA Official Basketball Magazine. Autumn 1985.

[4] (1986) “National League Standings 1985-86”. IBA Official Basketball Magazine. 1985-86 Season.

[5] (1987) “National League 1986-87”. IBA Official Basketball Magazine. 1986-87 Season.

[6] (1989) “National League 1988-89 Final Standings”. IBA Official Basketball Magazine. Number 12. 1988-89 Season. pg. 28

[7] (1990) “National League 1989-90 Final Standings”. IBA Official Basketball Magazine. Number 15. March 1990 pp. 18

[8] (1991) “National League Tables 1990/91”. IBA Official Basketball Magazine. Number 18. May 1991 pp. 14

Sources

[9] (1983) “Scene is set for top-four showdown”. Irish Press. Monday, March 16, 1983.

[10] (1988) “Dawn Milk leave it to last seconds”. Irish Press. Monday, March 21, 1988. pp. 12-13.

[11] (1989) “Neptune find right formula”. Irish Independent. Monday, March 20, 1989. pp. 14-15.

[12] (1990) “Ballina overtime ban hands it to Vincents”. Irish Independent. Monday, March 19, 1990. pp. 12-13.

[13] (1991) “Last gasp Neptune!”. Irish Independent. Monday, March 25, 1991. pp. 22-23.

[14] (1983) “Vincent’s, North Mon on top”. Irish Examiner. Monday, March 21, 1983. pp. 14-15.

[15] (1984) “Top two titles stay in Dublin”. Irish Examiner. Monday, March 19, 1984. pp. 16-17.

[16] (1985) “Formula finally right”. Irish Examiner. Monday, March 18, 1985. pp. 16-17.

[17] (1986) “Dubliners basket top four honours”. Irish Examiner. Monday, March 17, 1986. pp. 12-13.

[18] Anon. (1981) “Pride for the Blues | Div. One (Men)”. Irish Independent. Wednesday, March 25, 1981. pg. 13.

Note: Copies of The Irish Independent, Irish Press & Irish Examiner are available to view online at the Irish Newspaper Archive: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ which is a subscription service.

Images

[19] Donovan, Timothy | Irish Basketball Memories of the 80s And 90s Facebook Group (2020)Post to Page 25 March 2020.”Good memories” [Internet] Available from: https://scontent-dub4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/90766714_10207259047192409_7927466479644049408_o.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_sid=ca434c&_nc_ohc=6ZDx93hGAxMAX8QVV6Z&_nc_ht=scontent-dub4-1.xx&oh=33d102ac17c015ed360316ff2c4225fa&oe=5EA09967 [Accessed 25 March 2020]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to John Folan & Timothy Donovan

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 25 March 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

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