Saturday's clash of Neptune and Killester was rightly billed as one of the early indicators of how the ESB League might be decided. A strengthened and rejuvenated Killester had genuine hopes of stealing the title from Neptune, but after suffering a 101-88 defeat, the honour already seems to be heading back in the direction of Cork.

The season may be just a fortnight old, but it was another convincing display from Neptune. Their lead at half-time was a tenuous five points, but they took complete control after that, with the new American Charron Watson notching up 44 points.

Star of the Sea, champions from two years back, recovered from their shaky opening weekend to hand the Demons a similar defeat of 101-83 yesterday. The Belfast side always had their heads in front, and victory was never in doubt.

There were, however, some points for the Demons when they won Saturday's battle with Dungannon 86-68.

In the women's league, defending champions Tolka Rovers opened their season yesterday with a comfortable 6853 win over the University of Limerick. The first two quarters remained evenly matched until Rachel Kelly began to up the scoring for the Dublin team.