Ireland 71 Germany 80BASKETBALL: A clearly superior German team last night defeated the Irish senior men's team at the ESB Arena in Tallaght, a result which all but kills any chance of Ireland qualifying for next year's European finals in Sweden.
With just four games remaining in their semi-final round, Ireland will now need to go undefeated for the remainder of their campaign, though last night's result won't have given coach Gerry Fitzpatrick much confidence.
While the Germans are ranked third in the world, the Irish had held genuine ambitions of pulling off the victory.
It was a game, however, where the home side were always second best and were not helped by a nervous start and some sloppy free-throwing throughout the game.
There were some exciting moments when Ireland pulled it back to a four-point game going into the final five minutes, but the Germans simply pressed a little harder and were deserving of their nine-point win. Two of their players, Ademola Okulaja and Stephen Arigbabu, were in a class of their own.
Best of the Irish was Cal Bowdler, who ended the game with the highest scoring contribution of all on 26 points. Glenn Sekunda did well to get 15 points, considering he sat out most of the third quarter with foul trouble, though Dan Callahan will be disappointed with his 11-point game, and even more so Jay Larranaga, who could only manage eight.
The Germans quickly established a notable lead during the opening minutes, with Ireland visibly rattled by nerves.
The first quarter ended 23-13 in favour of the Germans, though there was a spirited fight-back in the next quarter when Sekunda scored five points in a minute to help close the gap to four points.
Shortly afterwards the Germans were back in control and ended the half 40-30 in front. At that point Larranaga had missed a series of free throws, and clearly his confidence was struggling.
The third quarter also ended with Germany cruising on a 58-49 score line, and despite one last comeback by the home side the German defensive players stood firm.
The Irish now hit the road for away games against Croatia next Saturday and Macedonia next Wednesday knowing that the dream of reaching the European finals is fading fast.
