Ireland’s Sarah Hickey. Photo: Sportsfile
Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for the Women’s EuroBasket were dealt another blow with this 85-53 defeat to Latvia in Riga.
The chances of making next year’s competition by sealing top spot in their group or finishing as one of the best second-placed teams always seemed a big ask.
But this defeat will not help any such ambition with games against Olympic runners-up France and a return leg against Latvia to come in February.
Next up for James Weldon’s side is the ‘home clash’ against Israel on Sunday, which will take place in Riga following last February’s controversial clash with the Middle Eastern country.
A number of players chose to boycott that game over their concerns about Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, and Weldon was without some of his charges for this international window once again.
This campaign though was about progress given the standard of opposition in their group, and an understrength side showed some of that in Riga.
They remained competitive in the first quarter and trailed the hosts by just five points by the end of it (23-18).
Debutante Hazel Finn, daughter of Mayo footballer John Finn, made a solid contribution with 13 points, with Sarah Hickey adding the same score.
But Latvia would begin to pull away to lead by 51-31 at half-time, with Kitija Laksa leading their scorers with 25 points.
The gap would grow to 72-45 before they entered the final quarter, but Ireland could not narrow the margin any further. They will hope for better against Israel.
Meanwhile, Maree will not compete in the Men’s National Cup following their appeal with the National Appeals Committee.
The team were kicked out of the competition last month after an attempt to register players using falsified documents.
That sanction was upheld following an appeals hearing, but a 24-point league penalty that was also issued to the club over the affair was instead reduced to 18 points.
They were originally drawn to play Tralee Warriors in the cup first round, which had been provisionally re-fixed for this Saturday. This will now be played as a Super League fixture.
Maree still have the option to appeal this decision to the Sports Disputes Solution Ireland (SDSI) for arbitration. Maree have five days to notify the SDSI should they intend to appeal.