Demons claim Men's title

Demons started the game brightly and raced into an 8-2 lead after two and a half minutes inspired by impressive scores from Damion Matacz.

However Luke O'Hea soon answered hitting two big three pointers back to back to steal a slight lead 13-12.

Demons then took a change of pace hitting eight points in a one minute spell to put them back in the lead 18-15 with 4.40 remaining on the clock.

Demons were very effective defensively as they switched between zone and man several times throughout the quarter.

Damian Matacz was playing very well for the Cork side, getting some remarkable rebounds both offensively and defensively.

A three pointer from Tralee's O'Hea followed shortly by a lay-up from Worley and Demons finished the quarter in the lead 25-22.

Glen Worley opened the quarter with a two and Clernon soon followed with a three pointer to stretch the lead further.

Three points from Smallwood, two from Craig and yet another three from O'Hea kept it tight and the game was all-square for the first time 30-30 with three minutes gone in the quarter.

Demons struggled offensively this quarter and scored just six points in six minutes despite getting many scoring opportunities, as baskets did not seem to be dropping for them.

In the meantime, Smallwood and O'Hea were scoring from all over the court for Tralee, but it was an Al Paso combination of Smallwood and Craig that put the Kerry side in the lead for the first time, 34-33.

Glen Worley for Demons stepped up to the play and scored 6 points in a row and a three from Niall O'Reilly on the buzzer put the score at 45-51 at half time in favour of the Tigers.

Demons came back fighting in the third and scored four three pointers thanks to Coughlan, O'Reilly and Pope.

They had a huge quarter defensively despite getting into foul trouble as Worley picked up his fourth.

Tralee only scored 10 points but is was Demons rebounding that kept them in touch and in the remaining two minutes took back the lead 63-62 thanks to O'Reilly and the quarter ended 65-62.

Shane Coughlan opened the final quarter with a three pointer to set Demons on their way as they raced into a 70-62 lead early in the fourth.

Demons maintained their tough defence despite Glen Worley being on the bench for the first half of the quarter and the Tigers failed to score for the first three minutes.

Coughlan hit another three to put the score at 73-67 meanwhile Tralee had only scored four points from play.

Chris Craig was struggling in this quarter after a fall in the third where he seemed to have picked up an injury.

With 3.55 on the clock the score was 77-67 and Coughlan was fouled out which left O'Hea on the line shooting two, he scored one.

With 2.20 on the clock Quirke missed a crucial lay-up, and two from the line followed by two missed free throws from O'Hea that may have been the turning point for them.

In the remaining minute Tralee, in an effort to stop the clock, continued to foul Demons and Pope was on the line four times shooting two which he scored an incredible 8 from 8.

Despite a three from Craig and another from O'Hea Tralee could not catch the winning Demons and the game eventually finished on a scoreline of 91-81 and Demons were crowned deserving winners for the first time since 1989.