International

Aug 12 2022

Ireland to take lessons from German defeat as Slovakia loom on the horizon

Ireland’s U16 men will look to regroup tomorrow against Slovakia after a steep learning curve during their 116-57 defeat to Germany in the FIBA European Championship this afternoon.

A second poor shooting performance in the opening quarter in as many days proved to be an early dagger to any chance Ireland had of an upset in the heat in Bulgaria. To their credit, Ireland won the jump ball through Fortune Igbokwe and following a neat exchange, Igbokwe hit a nice jumper to give Ireland an early lead. A second Igbokwe layup off a Jakub Malecki assist drew the teams’ level for a second time two minutes in. That would be the final time Ireland achieved parity. A ruthlessly efficient shooting performance from the Germans saw them open up a 20-point advantage as the sides headed to the benches for the first time, 32-12.

Ireland’s coaching staff and players will have to take the positives from the remainder of the game against a team who look to be among the favourites for the ‘B’ Division after two rounds of group games. Germany have put up over 200-points in the first eight quarters of play and in the form they were in today, any side would have struggled to live with them. They shot 63% from the field including an incredible 52% from outside the arc. Ireland were exposed in the paint by Romania yesterday and that continued to be an issue defensively today as they conceded 62-points in that zone, but they again held their who for large spells on the boards, something that often eludes Irish teams at this grade.

The standout all-round performance in an Irish shirt today came from Declan Gbinigie, who battled hard to finish up with 5-points, 6-assists, 3-rebounds and a steal in 24 minutes of action. Ireland’s top scorers were Luke Seltzer and Joshua Osayanrhion, who both bagged 12-points in very different manners. Pharrell Osagie with 6-rebounds and Darragh Horkan (3-rebounds) also proved effective on the boards and showed glimpses that a win or two is there for Ireland in this tournament if they can tighten up defensively.

Next up is a matchup with Slovakia tomorrow for Pat Price’s team. This looks like a good opportunity to get off the mark in Group D as they are also without a win in their first two games, losing by a similar margin to Germany yesterday before a 22-point defeat to Ukraine today. The other result today in Ireland’s group saw Finland maintain their 100% record with a 84-68 win against Romania.