By David Kelly, Belfast Telegraph

Belfast Star coach Darren O'Neill believes his side are two quality players away from taking the scalp of the top four teams the All Ireland Premier League.

Star fought hard but just couldn't find the shooting quality needed to overcome Tralee Warriors on Saturday night at MCB, going down 70-64.

The scoring was led by American Dillon Stith and Keelan Cairns, who claimed 31 and 16 points respectively, while Tralee's Trae Pemberton hit a game-high 32 and crucially delivered baskets down the stretch to seal victory.

Knife-edge
Down by eight at the break, Star trailed 52-46 going into the final quarter and with two minutes remaining the game was on a knife-edge. Despite some tough defence from the Belfast men, American Pemberton came up with two three-pointers and two further baskets which Star couldn't match.

"To hold Tralee to 70 points was great because their average is 79-80 points a game but you can't beat teams of their quality with 64," said O'Neill.
 
Positive thinking
"We had Dillon and Keelan in double figures but didn't have the third and fourth scorer to back them up and that's where we are. After the game I only spoke positively to the boys because they played very well and fought, to the end. The mentality is right defensively but we need to improve the offence.

"Credit to Pemberton, he came up with four really tough baskets when under pressure and that won them the game. We couldn't match those baskets."

For O'Neill, the match emphasised what he needs to do in the close season if Star are to challenge for silverware once again.

He added: "We are moving in the right direction but it's clear that the number one priority come April is to get a point guard and also a Bosman player who can give us points, a third scorer at least."

From Tony McGee, Irish News:
It was a real Christmas cracker at Methodist College as Belfast Star ripped UCC Demons apart in the men’s Super League.

The Belfast men recorded a 95-84 victory, their first success over the mighty Leesiders in recent years.

Star’s Fearghal Toner, a doctor by profession, rifled in nine three-pointers and added four free-throws, while Keelan Cairns opened up in the second half with three ‘threes’ for 17 points, as well as taking a string of defensive rebounds.

Dillon Stith was also at his brilliant best despite the close attentions of UCC, scoring a game-high 35 points and also driving through for a few remarkable lay ups, including a number of dunks. Indeed, everyone on court for Star played their part.

Demons shaded the first half of the game, with Toner’s six three-pointers keeping Star very much in the match. The Cork men led 28-25 at the first break and 51-47 at half-time.

On the restart, the home team scored 17 points without reply with the Demons held scoreless for over five minutes.

It was a blitz that blew the visitors out of the game.
 
 
From David Kelly, Belfast Telegraph:
It may not have been a Christmas miracle but it felt that way to Belfast Star coach Darren O’Neill as his men defeated top Cork side Demons 95-84 in the All Ireland Premier League.

American Dillon Stith top scored with 36 points but the undoubted performance of the night at MCB came from Fergal Toner who hit a Premier League career high of 31 points. Toner was on fire from the opening buzzer and banked nine three-pointers.
 
Having had more lows than highs this season, this result was just what Star needed going into the second half of the campaign.

"Christmas certainly came early for me. The team and everyone associated with the club needed this win," said O'Neill.

"But it wasn't just the victory, it was the manner of the way we did it. I would say it was easily the best performance by a Star side at home in at least three years. I told the lads I wanted to see them express themselves and they did that. Now we can all enjoy Christmas and hopefully build on this."
 
 
From the Irish Examiner:
The biggest shock of the weekend was Belfast Star’s win over UCC Demons. This was Demons’ fourth loss of the campaign and the prospects of winning their third title in a row now look remote.

The Cork side led 51-47 at the break but amazingly only amassed 10 points in the third quarter and were demolished coming down the stretch.

For Star coach Darren O’Neill this was an evening to savour. “I cannot remember the last time I coached a team to win against Demons but having said that my team were outstanding from start to finish.

“Having lost a number of players to scholarships over the years it has weakened us a little but I could not be prouder of the squad.
 

By David Kelly, Belfast Telegraph

​Coach Darren O’Neill has hailed the influence of American Dillon Stith after Belfast Star pulled off an upset 82-78 victory away to DCU Saints in the All Ireland Premier League.
 
Travelling south with only eight players due to an injury crisis, Star came up with only their second win of the season and Stith was to the fore with a 28-point game-high return, while Keelan Cairns impressed as well with 25.
 
But Stith’s arrival has clearly had an impact on the players as the American has brought class and an intensity to the side which is rubbing off on those around him.

“There’s no doubt that Dillon given us more quality. I do think that had he been in from the start of the season we would have won more games at this stage,” said O’Neill.

 “Not only is a fine basketball player but he’s a great guy, he gets on fantastically well with the other players and he has brought an enthusiasm that the other guys have responded to.

“He has been getting the scores that we need but he’s learning as well, and he will learn to be an even better professional.”

O’Neill is now hoping this first win for a couple of months will Star gain some momentum as they approach the midway point of the campaign.

He added: “After going out of the cup last weekend we were very disappointed. We had been in a winning position and then only scored one basket from 15 attempts.

“We talked about that and the guys responded. We were leading 31-26 after the first quarter and led at the break and then 68-58 going into the final quarter. Although we lost that last quarter we got the win and that gives everyone confidence.
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“If there’s one thing this side doesn’t lack it’s character and they showed that on Saturday night.”

By David Kelly, Belfast Telegraph

Belfast Star coach Darren O'Neill couldn't hide his bitter disappointment as his side allowed a golden chance to make the semi-finals of the National Cup slip away.

Only trailing Moycullen by a point after the first leg, Star placed themselves in a great position going into the final quarter, leading 70-61, but then the baskets dried up and they went down 84-80 at Methody.

O'Neill had called for his team to finally rack up a score that could realistically give them a chance of victory and that objective looked in sight as fine performances from American Dillion Stith and Keelan Cairns who scored 33 and 14 points respectively gave them confidence, but a lack of depth in quality is their Achilles heel.

Star must now return to the All Ireland Premier League and seek to revive their fortunes over the coming months.

O'Neill said: "To turn into the last quarter with a 70-61 lead it's very, very frustrating to lose from that position. This was a great chance for us to make the semi-finals because we were not facing one of the elite teams in the league.

"After the first leg we were feeling quite good because we were only trailing by a point and we started well in a game that was much more open than I expected. It was do or die and the game reflected that.
 
"We probably paid the price for some players having to play too many minutes and going forward we need to have more players stepping up and getting more minutes. Keelan getting into foul trouble hurt us as well because I had to take him out in the third quarter and for the start of the fourth.

"We had plenty of chances to win the game but the bottom line is that we weren't good enough - and that goes for the team right through to the coaching staff.
​
"But the improvement we need is not going to happen overnight. We have a lot to work on and we won't stop until we get that improvement."

from David Kelly, Belfast Telegraph

Belfast Star fell to an agonising 82-79 defeat away to Moycullen on Saturday night in the All Ireland Premier League but seem to have unearthed a real gem in their American Dillon Stith.

Star were on their way to defeat with 10 seconds remaining of normal time when Fergal Toner drained a three-pointer to send the game into overtime at 74-all.

​The momentum seemed to be with Star as they edged ahead but got into foul trouble and four free-throws handed victory to the home side.

But the outstanding player on the court was Stith who only arrived in Belfast in the early hours of Friday morning, having flown in from the States. Allied to his 36-point contribution was the fine performance of captain Keelan Cairns who had 26 points and 11 rebounds.

Father and son Danny and Adrian Fulton were in charge of Star as head coach Darren O'Neill was out of the country as was Paddy McGaharan on a basketball trip with their school.

Veteran coach Danny, who led Star to All Ireland glory in the 1990s, believes Stith will be a major asset to the Belfast side as they seek to climb up the table.

"You could see right away that Dillon is a quality player. He's very smart and he can play in y position. I think he's going to make huge difference," said Fulton. "Before the match, though, I had told the lads that Dillon could play like Michael Jordan and it still wouldn't be enough if the rest of them didn't back him up and to some degree that's what happened.

"The lads put in a good performance but we needed more points from some of the other guys but credit to Moycullen they had some good individual performances - young James Loughnane was excellent."
​
On the back of two consecutive defeats to Moycullen, Star will face them again in the second round of the Cup in two weeks time

Our past came back to haunt us against UCD Marian on Saturday night as old boy Dustan Moreira scored 14 first quarter points to effectively put the game beyond Star who never really got out of the blocks in the opening 10 minutes.

With UCD enjoying an easily earned first quarter lead of 25-12, it looked very ominous for the home team. However, Star sprung into belated action in the second with Eric Benedick leading the charge and helping Star edge the quarter and thus reduce the deficit somewhat at the half - 40-29 to the visitors.

Moreira sat out large parts of the third as Marian continued to coast. Everything changed in the fourth however as notably Keelan Cairns, Paddy McGaharan and Greg Womack brought it back to a four-point game with less than 2 minutes on the clock. The crowd, suitably urged on by MC Brian McCreanor, felt that a most unlikely comeback might somehow be on the cards. Yet it wasn't to be as Marian closed out the game at 74-67.

Leading scorers for Star were Keelan Cairns on 19, Paddy McGaharan 16, and Greg Womack 14.

​Next 'home' game is actually away in the National Stadium on Saturday when we take on Killester. See you in Dublin!

Letterkenny brought 3 teams to St Malachy's on Sunday for the first junior league games of the season. Happily, Star won all 3.

Up first were the under 16’s who won easily on a score of 77-17. Top scorers were Conor Cooke 13, Conn Doherty 12, and Cormac O’Rourke 10.

The under 18’s then won 72-34 despite having a number of players injured. Top Scorers in this one were Niall Mc Ginnity 15, and John Smye 19.
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Finally the under 14’s won 42-31. Top scorers here were Niall Quinn 7, Iandle Alvarado 7, Darragh Ferguson 6, Niall Morgan 6. Well done to all players and coaches involved.