Herlihy stars as young Ireland stun Estonians
A CLINICAL young Ireland team featuring six new players showed experience beyond their years, as they dispatched a higher ranked Estonia team 70-56 in the first of the two-game ‘Gotham Drywall Series’ at the National Basketball Arena last night.
Head coach James Weldon was delighted with the poise and tenacity shown by his team in front of a lively crowd in Tallaght and confidence will be high ahead of this evening’s second game, which takes place at Oblate Hall in Inchicore at 4pm.
Estonia’s extra experience showed in the opening exchanges as they amassed a 13-8 advantage midway through the first period through some exceptional transition play and misplaced Irish shooting from range. Ireland’s newbies grew into the game though. The imposing figure of Bridget Herlihy showed exactly why Weldon identified her as a key performer in this window.
The Malmo player proved the hot hand for Ireland as they clawed their way back and crashed the boards superbly, leading Ireland on a 12-point run to end the period 20-13.
Introduced from the bench, another new cap to catch the eye was Enya Maguire. Deputising for captain Edel Thornton at point-guard, Maguire showed no signs of nerves as she pulled the strings. Recent Ireland U20 star Ella O’Donnell saw her first senior action midway through the quarter, with Weldon using an increasing lead to take a look at some new combinations. Another of those, Bronagh Power-Cassidy left an impression on the second period, notching six-points including a buzzer beater to leave the score 40-21 at the break.
Ireland kept the pressure on when play resumed. Dayna Finn continued to show her experience in key moments, taking pressure shots and drawing fouls late in the shot clock when it appeared she was running out of options.
The Address UCC Glanmire’s Mia Furlong became the sixth new cap to hit the floor, wasting no time in adding her name to a growing list of Irish scorers. Estonia came into the game ranked six places ahead of Ireland in 60th place in the FIBA World Rankings and they weren’t going to throw in the towel but Ireland displayed excellent situational knowledge throughout the final quarter to secure the win.
‘We talked beforehand about playing without fear and they all certainly stepped up to the mark tonight.
‘I’m delighted with the performance and the win,’ said head coach James Weldon.
The star of the game from an Irish perspective was undoubtedly Herlihy, who posted a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds, but there were also standout performances from Maguire, Finn and Edel Thornton, who had four steals on the evening.