It’s a big day for Irish basketball on the European stage today, as three of the senior squads are in action.
First up, the senior men’s team will hope that they can reach the podium in San Marino when they face off against Gibraltar at 1.30pm in the bronze medal play-off at the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries.
The boys in green lost out in agonising fashion to Norway in yesterday’s semi-final, but Assistant Coach Ioannis Liapakis said they’re ready for today’s clash: “I feel that whichever team wants it more, will win - there’s a lot of heart involved.
“From a tactical standpoint, I feel we are very strong in the last 10-15 minutes and that is where we can definitely cement our place as winners of the game."
In Cork meanwhile, the Ireland senior women's team will be hoping to make it three wins in-a-row this afternoon as they prepare for a 5/6th place classification game with Cyprus. The two sides went head-to-head on Thursday evening in the final group game of Group B and it was Ireland who came away with the spoils - and their first win of the tournament - as they kept their cool down the stretch in the face of staunch Cypriot pressure to hold on and win.
Looking ahead to this afternoon's clash though, head coach Mark Scannell knows that Cyprus cannot be underestimated: “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. It’s going to be a hard game and we just have to make sure that we’re tuned in and if we do that, we’ll be okay.”
In Romania meanwhile, the Ireland senior men’s 3x3 team have officially qualified for the quarter-final of the FIBA 3X3 Europe Cup qualifiers, but face an extremely tough task as they have been drawn against an experienced Spain for the decider.
The boys in green started off their FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup qualifying campaign on Saturday morning, losing out to Croatia in the opening game before a huge team display and some big shooting from Stephen James in the second game saw them run out 18-14 point winners over Germany.
They had to wait until this morning though to see if they had done enough to reach a quarter-final, with the Croatia v Germany game still to be played. Croatia ran out winners which ensured Ireland went through in second place in the group.
“Anything is possible,” said coach, Matt Hall. “It was a great performance by the lads yesterday to beat Germany and then go on to qualify for the knock out stages today. Spain are going to be a tough test for us, but if we can make shots and play as well as yesterday - anything is possible."
Tip off time is approx 5.20pm this evening.
IRELAND MEN – FIBA European Championship for Small Countries
Bronze medal play-off
Ireland v Gibraltar, San Marino, 1.30pm
WATCH IT:
IRELAND WOMEN – FIBA Women’s European Championship for Small Countries
5/6th place classification
Cyprus v Ireland, Mardyke Arena UCC, 3.15pm
WATCH IT:
IRELAND MEN 3X3 – FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup qualifiers
Quarter-final
Spain v Ireland, Romania, 5.20pm
WATCH IT:
