Vincent's result set to be appealed

Castleisland are set to appeal the result of their Sprite Cup tie defeat by St Vincent's on Saturday after an extraordinary climax to a game which the Dublin side won 91-90. St Vincent's were a point down with ten seconds to go when coach Joey Boylan set up a play which was executed brilliantly by Karl Donnelly with three seconds left on the clock.

Castleisland swiftly inbounded the ball to get a shot away and when it also hit the target, the gymnasium erupted only for referee Tony Colgan to rule that the attempt had not been made before the final buzzer.

The Kerry club disputed the decision and are likely to appeal against it this week on the basis of video evidence which they claim proves the shot was released before the clock ran out.

It was the second time in twelve months that the two sides had met at this stage of the cup and at the same venue as well. Remarkably, St Vincent's also only won by a point a year ago.

There was also a close call for Ballina who won in Waterford by 90-88 after trailing by four points with 40 seconds remaining. On two occasions in that tense closing sequence Waterford lost possession and Chris Doyal for Ballina availed of the two turnovers to hit six quick points with a three pointer followed by a three point play.

For the second week in a row Doyal exceeded the 40 point mark with a 41 point tally.

Joint Superleague leaders Star of the Sea were also fortunate to survive the first round of the competition as they only made sure of an 88-83 victory over Marian when Adrian Fulton hit two free throws with four seconds remaining. John Leahy (23 pts) and Chuck Guitar (22 pts) were the top scorers for the Belfast side.

There was another close allsuperleague tie in Clontarf where Killester worked their way back from 14 points behind at half time (29-43) to close to within three points of Tralee entering the final minute. From there on though, the Kerrymen played disciplined basketball, using their narrow lead to force Killester to chase the game and that yielded free throws which Tralee converted to win safely in the end, 90-82.

The one minor surprise result of the weekend was the home victory for Division one side Tolka Rovers over Superleague third placers Dungannon. The Dublin club played strong defence on Dungannon's Alcinder Boller restricting him to just eight points in the game and that proved crucial in a convincing 84-70 victory. In the only other men's ties over the weekend, non-League Blue Demons, coached by Timmy McCarthy, pulled off a minor upset when they easily defeated winless Division One team St Galls 86-64 and there was a comfortable passage for Superleague co-leaders Notre Dame who beat St Paul's Killarney 97-73.

There were no surprises in the women's cup as Wildcats, Naomh Mhuire and Tolka Rovers all won with extreme ease while Tralee booked their date with 1996 winners Meteors after a 57-46 win over non-league Sligo.