The Northern Ireland Senior Men's team defeated Ireland 3-0 in the European Championships today. After losing their previous three matches agasint Scotland, Luxembourg and Faroe Islands, Northern Ireland went into the match needing a win to salvage something from the tournament in Luxembourg.

NI went 7-0 up in the first set but Ireland were able to claw their way back to 20-20. NI were able to close out the set 26-24. 

In the second set the teams traded points until 11-11 when the NI offence clicked into gear and started to overpower the Ireland blockers. NI were able to win the set comfortably 25-17.

In the third set NI again started the better of the two teams and jumped out to a 5-0 lead. NI never relinquished their advantage and were able to clear their bench and finished the set 25-19 and the match 3-0.

Northern Ireland players featured heavily in the best player statistics. The Best Player of the match was Jeff Scott with 15 points, Best Spiker was Nick Wright with 12 kills, Best Server was Mark Hazley with 3 aces, Best Receiver was Mark Hazley with 41% perfect reception.

Full results of the match are available at: http://www.cev.lu/Competition-Area/MatchPage.aspx?mID=24126&ID=559&CID=5121&PID=1150&type=LegList

Full match stats are available at: http://www.cev.lu/Competition-Area/MatchStatistics.aspx?ID=24126