The Ireland senior men’s team this evening lost out at the death to Norway tonight in a thrilling semi-final showdown at the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries in San Marino.
Pete Strickland’s charges were almost on target to cause a major upset against the tournament favourites, but superb defense by the Norwegians in the dying 40 seconds kept the boys in green from some vital scores, and they held on to stretch out the lead from the free throw line to win out 83-73 in the end.
Stand out performances from Templeogue’s Lorcan Murphy and Belfast Star’s Keelan Cairns were just some of the highlights in a game that had everything, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t to be for the boys in green and they now go on to a bronze medal play-off tomorrow against the losers of the other semi-final (Malta or Gibraltar).
A disappointed Coach Strickland said: "We really lost the game in that four or five minute stretch at the end of the first half. We got anxious defensively and made some unwise foul decisions, but I’m so proud of how my guys came back and fought, and we will go hard for the bronze medal tomorrow."
Ireland senior women’s team, meanwhile, were comprehensive winners over Moldova at the Mardyke Arena UCC in Cork this afternoon, securing an emphatic 102-28 point win.
Leading the scoring was Sarah Woods who top scored with 20 points, followed closely by an 18-point display for Casey Grace, and there were superb performances across the court from the team.
Today’s win now sees them through to a 5th/6th place battle tomorrow afternoon where they will come face-to-face with Cyprus once more – a team they met, and overcame, in the final group game on Thursday evening.
"I think our team has developed nicely over the tournament and we played some really nice basketball today too," said head coach Mark Scannell afterwards. "We got a great spread of scoring today and there’s a great atmosphere now going into our last game tomorrow.
"Cyprus gave us a tough game the other night, and they missed a good few shots they probably would have normally made, so we won’t be taking them for granted at all," he continued. "It’s going to be a hard game tomorrow and we just have to make sure that we’re tuned in and if we do that we’ll be okay."
