Ireland captain Mark Rohan was bitterly disappointed at his side’s failure to reach the final of the European Basketball Championships after defeat on Wednesday night.
Ireland are left fighting for fifth place in the Championships after a 45-62 defeat to Greece in their final group game at the National Basketball Arena.
‘It’s hugely disappointing to be out of the running for a final place,’ said the Athlone native. ‘We were desperate to be involved in the final with the tournament being held in Dublin but luck just wasn’t on our side.
‘We are also hoping to earn promotion to European Division B but unfortunately it just wasn’t to be. It’s important we forget about this defeat and concentrate on claiming overall fifth in the tournament.’
Alain Tremblay’s charges started off their campaign with a win against Latvia but defeats to Lithuania and Greece have ruled out any hopes of making the semi-final stages of the competition.
It was Greece who started the brighter and held a three-point advantage at the end of the first quarter largely due to the shooting of Vaios Gioras. (15-18)
Ireland’s Mark Barry kept Ireland within touching distance of the Greeks with an expertly taken score after some good work from John Fulham.
Barry was once again at the fore in the opening seconds of the second quarter to cut the margin to one point but the visitor’s soon grabbed control of the contest.
Gioras and Georgios Echlert continued to cause Ireland problems with their play contributing to a seven-point lead at the interval. (32-25)
The gap was stretched to nine points after the third quarter with Gioras, Echlert and MK Stergiopoulas continuing to impress for the visitor’s.
Paul Gallagher, Ireland’s leading scorer in the championships, impressed for Ireland with Fulham and Barry Cooke also standing out for the ‘boys in green’.
Baskets from Gallagher and Barry threatened to mount a comeback for Ireland in the final quarter but Greece refused to panic and were to run out comfortable winners by 62-45.
The defeat leaves Ireland playing for fifth position with their likely opponents to be Ukraine in the opening game on Thursday (tip:off 13:15)
Ireland 45-62 Greece
