Flood leads Ireland to win Number Three

By Stephen Leonard

TEMPLEOGUE’S Sean Flood led the charge for the Ireland team in their latest win at the FIBA Under 20 European Basketball Championships.

The side notched up their third win in five group matches when they beat Kosovo 67-52 yesterday (Wednesday) in Chalkida in Greece, with Flood emerging top scorer on 21 points.

Trailing by three points at the end of the first quarter, Darren O’Neill’s team battled back to lead by eight heading into the final period.

They remained out in front, thanks in no small measure to a huge three-pointer by Flood in the closing five minutes.
Former Templeogue player Eóghain Kiernan hit four points in this match while IT Tallaght man Graham Brannelly chipped in with three.

It has been a tremendous fightback by the Irish who had suffered defeats at the hands of Greece and Great Britain early on.

They got off the mark with an overtime victory against Netherlands before following that up with a 67-47 triumph over Albania, Flood and Kiernan combining for 26 in that match in which Jordan Blount top-scored on 18.

With three wins in Group C, Ireland will head for the classification stages on Friday with a rest day today (Thursday).

Speaking after the game, Assistant coach Pete Madsen said: “It was tough game against a very physical Kosovo side that we knew going into the game were very, very dangerous.

“Some of our guys looked a little bit tired I thought following the training camp, but we’ve played five amazing games and with every single game, we are getting better.

“Our expectations are growing now and the group is really coming together and we just have to drive on from here again,” he stressed.