Vikings senior men put in an excellent performance in what was a very good game in Tramore last night to reach the final of the men's cup. Though Vikings started well Tramore had the best of the opening quarter the highlight of which was a three pointer by Jack Murphy from well within his own half on the buzzer, this put Tramore 24 points to 20 in front.

The big issue for Vikings was their defence, their emphases and concentration had to be total if they were going to have any chance of making it through. A big improvement on both ends of the floor saw Vikings pull back the lead and take control of the game, Pepper and Herbert started to find their range from three point range with Sheehan, O'Rourke and Robinson scoring from close in. Vikings were ahead by the half and extended the lead to as many as 18 before Tramore started to hit back pulling the lead back to 13 but another big three from Herbert saw off the revival allowing the visitors an easier then expected win in the end 78 to 62. Having given up 24 points in the first quarter Vikings built the win on solid team defence giving up just 38 points in the next three quarters.

Vikings players and scorers: Sealy 4, Pepper 18, Lanigan, Murphy, O'Rourke 8, Herbert 25, Robinson 9, Sheehan 8, McGuire 4 and Kujundzic 2.

Tramore, O'Neill 10, Stone 2, McGuill 2, Nyhan, Tobin, McSherry 14, White, Szulc 16, Farrell 7, Murphy 11.

Tramore played Club Amber in Tramore and it was the home team that jumped out to a fast start with some tough defense leading to scores for Craig O'Neill and Jack Murphy. Tramore were 12 points to the good at the end of the 1st quarter.

The large deficit seemed to spark Amber to life in the 2nd quarter and they quickly reduced the deficit to 2 points with some fine scores from Aoghan Courtney and Brian Hogan. Tramore used a time-out and increased the defensive intensity and pushed the lead back to 10 by half-time with Eoin Farrell and Jack Murphy to the fore.

The 2nd half started with both teams matching each other score for score but Amber tired in the 4th quarter and the lead jumped out to 20 thanks to fine scores from Chris McGill and Jamie Osborne. Amber finished with the last 2 scores to leave the final score 51-35

It was a cold Friday night in thurles but tramore started out this game with some great defense leading to some easy scores for Craig O'Neill and Lukasz szulc. Tramore dominated the 1st qtr to lead 19-4. The 2nd qtr was closer with talons driving hard into the tramore quay and finishing with some lovely scores. They narrowed the gap slowly until half way through the third qtr they got back to just 6 down.

Tramore weren't panicking and settled again with some great defensive steals from Chris McGill leading to tramore picking up multiple baskets leading to a slightly flattering 22 point win.

Well done to all for playing in the cold