A massive, massive result for Irish basketball but it took their England counterparts a while to realise it.
Ireland’s under-16 girls advanced to the European Championship quarter-finals after a monumental effort saw them over the line in their crunch last group game.
A 52-46 win over the English earned Maeve Coleman’s outfit a place in the last eight and meant that the opposition went home but not everyone was aware of that situation.
It turns out that both teams were initially expecting a three-way tie for second place in Group B.
If Ireland beat England, then they’d be joined with Bosnia and it would come down to points difference to see who’d emerge – or so they thought. That would’ve meant that the Irish needed an eight-point win in their final match to come out on top.
That was before Bulgaria went and upset the Bosnians and made all the mathematics irrelevant. Bosnia were now out and all that was left was for Ireland to beat England. And they did.
That message wasn’t communicated everywhere though.
It turns out that the English girls were under the illusion that a seven-point loss would still see them through, obviously unaware of the Bosnia result.
So, with just two minutes remaining, Ireland were six points to the good and a bizarre set of events unfolded. There was no press from England, they weren’t desperately trying to get the ball back like they should’ve been and they weren’t trying to get into the lead. Like they should’ve been.
Ireland, likewise, were just as happy to run down the clock.
England thought they only had to lose by 7. Didn't know #BUL win meant winner went to 1/4s. Celebration at buzzer, awkward🙈 #FIBAU16Europe
— Niall McDermott (@NiallMcD) August 10, 2016
So, when the buzzer went and six points still separated them, both sides thought they had done enough to reach the quarter-final stage. England had lost by less than eight points and their players took off for the bench in celebration. But Ireland had won and, as it turned out, that was all that mattered. So each camp were loving it.
For a moment.
Of course, it was only a good result for one team.
Amazing result! Ireland u16s progress to quarter finals of European Championships with 52-46 win over England! https://t.co/QQ3UZHLgeT
— Courtside Collective (@courtsideco) August 10, 2016
“Clearly I’m ecstatic with our win. Bulgaria, in the previous game, did us a huge favour by beating Bosnia, which knocked them out of the equation,” Irish coach Maeve Coleman said afterwards.
“We only had to win the game.
“England, I feel sorry for them, they thought they were still going to get through unless we beat them by eight or more. We won by six so they were jumping around thinking they had won until the FIBA commissioner told them that they actually hadn’t gone through, that we had.
“It’s upsetting to see their girls crying.”
It’s been a great year for Irish basketball whose under-18s also beat England a few weeks ago and now the under-16s have followed suit in Oradea, Romania.
Led there by Enya Maguire – who boasts the best assists record in the competition – and by Bronagh Power Cassidy who’s scoring for fun along with the dominant Dayna Finn, Ireland face-off with tournament favourites Poland in the quarter-finals now.
The knockout game takes place at 1.45pm on Friday with plans for the game to be live-streamed on Facebook here.
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