Kildare's Claire Melia hits nine as Ireland lose EuroBasket qualifier to Luxembourg

Ireland lost 69-53 to Luxembourg on Wednesday in their opening Group A game of the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2027 Qualifiers at the National Basketball Arena.

Ireland rallied in the fourth quarter outscoring their opponents 27-17, with debutants Bronagh Power-Cassidy and Lorraine Scanlon among those impress from the bench, but ultimately Ireland had too much ground to make in the final quarter to turn the game around.

Kildare's Claire Melia, making her first Ireland appearance since her silver medal in the FIBA EuroCup Women, got Ireland off the mark with a three-point jump shot to make it 3-3 each. Luxembourg raced to a 21-9 lead, before a pair of Bridget Herlihy free throws reduced the deficit to 21-11 at the end of the first quarter.

A corner three from Hazel Finn three and a half minutes into the second quarter saw Ireland trail 25-16 and got the crowd going. Finn was Ireland’s most potent threat in the quarter, she landed another from the three point line to reduce the deficit to 28-19 with 4’25” to go.

Luxembourg responded almost immediately, when quick passing fashioned space for Sofie Olsen’s three from the top of the arc, prompting an Ireland timeout. But a pair of layups from Dione Madjo and Magaly Meynadier stretched Luxembourg’s lead still further, 35-19. Their run was finally snapped by a Finn layup under the basket – bringing her tally to eight. Luxembourg would have the final say in the quarter, thanks to another Meynadier layup, to lead 37-21 at half-time.

Ireland needed a quick start to the third, Sarah Hickey’s layup two minutes into the quarter saw them 40-23 behind. However Luxembourg continued to build a score through layups from Anne Simon and Meynadier, along with four free-throws, which had them 48-23 up with less than three minutes to go in the quarter. In the final minute Scanlon slotted a free throw and followed it up with a layup, but again Luxembourg had the final points of the quarter, through a pair of Madjo free throws, to put them 52-26 ahead.

Ireland started the fourth quarter strongly, Michelle Clarke’s three was followed up by layups from Melia and Finn, to make it 56-33 a little over two minutes in, resulting in a timeout call by Luxembourg head coach Patrick Unger.

A pair of Herlihy free throws and two corner three’s from Power-Cassidy saw Ireland trail 66-44 with a little under two and a half minutes to go. Layup’s from Bridget Herlihy and Scanlon continued their positive momentum, along with a third from the three point line by Power-Cassidy following a set play, which helped Ireland to close the gap, but it wasn’t to be their night.

Speaking after the game Ireland head coach, James Weldon, said: “It was a very disappointing shooting night, we missed seven or eight open layups. We shot the ball really well in practice the last couple of days, it was frustrating. A strong fourth quarter gives us something to take into Saturday (against Bosnia and Herzegovina), we’ll have to analyse and look."

“I thought defensively we weren’t too bad we had a good game defensively at this level, not as good as their defence too I suppose, but we had some open looks, but we couldn’t execute. It is a disappointing, frustrating night for sure, but we have to bounce back on Saturday, it’s another home game and another opportunity, against Bosnia.”

Asked about positives from the the fourth quarter, Weldon added: “I thought Lorraine Scanlon made a huge impact when she came in, she brought in a lot of energy and picked up a lot of offensive rebounds and putbacks and played very, very physically defensively. This game will have got us up to the pace physically and I would expect a much better start and a better performance from us on Saturday.”

Ireland face Bosnia and Herzegovina in their next Group A game on Saturday at 1925 at the National Basketball Arena, a game which is live on TG4. Tickets for the game can be purchased here.

Quarter Scores:

Q1: 11-21, Q2: 10-16, Q3: 5-15, Q4: 27-17

Game Scores:

Q1: 11-21, Q2: 21-37, Q3: 26-52, Q4: 53-69

Ireland:

Michelle Clarke (4), Kate Hickey (DNP), Sarah Hickey (6), Hazel Finn (10), Enya Maguire (2), Edel Thornton (0), Abigail Rafferty (1), Claire Melia (9), Bridget Herlihy (7), Sorcha Tiernan (0), Lorraine Scanlon (5), Bronagh Power-Cassidy (9)

Luxembourg:

Anne Simon (14), Svenia Nurenberg (5), Magaly Meynadier (13), Kyra Coulon (1), Catherine Mreches (6), Liz Irthum (0), Laetitia Schumacher (0), Dionne Madjo (13), Sofie Olsen (6), Joyce Isi Etute (6), Alana Krings (0), Julie Mangen (5)

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