Keenan’s Ireland side show great composure and battling qualities

IRELAND showed their composure and battling qualities to secure a dramatic come-from-behind 79-76 win over Luxembourg in front of a sold-out National Basketball Arena, to secure second spot in Group G of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers.

Head coach Mark Keenan, who is also the head coach at Templeogue BC said: “We had our moments in the game, but credit to the guys – lots of teams would have folded with five minutes to go.

“We just hung in the game and switched to zone defence, it gave us a good few stops and then just converting at the end.

“Our defensive rebounding when we needed it, the zone they definitely couldn’t handle.

“I am delighted for the guys, it could easily have gone the other way, but we hung right in to the end.”

Keenan added: “Guys stepped up when we needed it, Jordan (Blount) kept us in the game for a good bit and then obviously with him going out Sam (Alajiki) stepped up, CJ (Fulton) stepped up, big (Neal) Quinn stepped up, Taiwo (Badmus) too, they all stepped up.”

There were several big performances from the squad, notably from Jordan Blount who finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.

CJ Fulton also caught the eye, picking up 16 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Ireland certainly didn’t have it their own way, they lost the influential Blount for the closing stages and trailed by a point with a minute to go, but still emerged victorious.

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