Irish basketball is on the way up.
And the class of 1999 is taking them there.
Two years ago, the under-18 girls brought Irish basketball to previously uncharted highs. A silver medal in their palms after the under-18 championships in Dublin, they had gotten the taste for it. It only made them hungry for more.
Two years on and it’s clear that these women, that these competitors have driven it on. Kosovo and the European championships of 2019 have been in their sights for a long time. They weren’t going to let this opportunity pass them by.
D-day was August 2019. And they hit the ground running in the group stages. Ukraine and Great Britain were wiped out in their opening games which qualified the Irish women for a quarter final against Croatia, a highly rated team and one of the favourites to win this tournament outright.
The Irish were undeterred.
Dayna Finn and captain Claire Melia led by example. Young Enya Maguire pulled off one of the most instinctive, genius pieces of skill seen on the courts this tournament. The clip had gone viral by the next morning.
Ireland's under-20 basketball team beat Croatia last night to make the Euro semi-final and @enya_89 pulled off one of the cheekiest tricks of the year 👏🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/Tpwectj0UN
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 9, 2019
Croatia were dumped out and so they were through to the semi-finals.
Bulgaria got one over on them at the last four stage, but the Irish girls still had another chance to gain promotion to Division A for this age group for 2020, for only the second time in this nation’s history.
Standing in their way was the arch-nemesis Great Britain. Beat them once, okay. Beat them twice, that’s some going.
Huge congratulations to the Irish under-20 women's basketball team who have beaten Great Britain to win the Bronze medal at the Euro championships.
They are now promoted to the 'A' Grade for only the second time in Irish history 🇮🇪 👏 https://t.co/8KodQCZ1u3
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 11, 2019
That’s exactly what Ireland did.
With captain Melia inspired again and with Finn, Maguire and a host of others chipping in, Martin Conroy’s girls led from pillar to post to and closed with a 60-57 win.
The score of the game came in Q3 when six passes had the Great Britain team in knots before Melia finished it off.
Patience paying off in absolute style 🔥🇮🇪
6.34 to play Q3 at #FIBAU20Europe it’s Ireland U20 women 46-31 Great Britain 🏀#COYGIG #GreenShoots 🇮🇪
📺 WATCH IT: https://t.co/5xTq8c2ufW
📍LIVE STATS: https://t.co/bUmoIsqWrF pic.twitter.com/EV9RSK7lAp
— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) August 11, 2019
Pure class.
