Ireland Under 18s shine in Arena
THE National Basketball Arena provided the backdrop to one of the greatest feats in the sport in this country last week as the Ireland Under 18 Women’s team reached the Division B Final at the FIBA European Champ-ionships Division B.
While they did eventually lose 67-43 to Germany in the decider, Tommy O’Mahony’s side earned a rapturous reception at the final buzzer, having broken new ground for Irish international basketball.
The first Irish basketball team to ever reach a European final, they have secured promotion to Division A.
“It’s incredible. Night after night we rolled from one game to the other. We didn’t get a chance to figure out what we’d just done,” said O’Mahony after the final.
“Tonight wasn’t our night, but the girls have to realise what they’ve done and how big it is in the whole scheme of things. It’s hard to believe. We won’t comprehend it for a few weeks I’d say, but it’s been great.”
Having topped Group D unbeaten after five games, Ireland beat Israel by 15 points in the last eight before seeing off Poland 68-57 in the semi-finals.
Yet against a German side that had an average winning margin of 37 points in the tournament, Ireland found themselves 41-26 down at the halftime break.
And, while continuing to fight, they were unable to prevent their opponents enlarging the gap.
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