It wasn’t Ireland’s day in their qualifier against Latvia in EuroBasket Women. A game fight from the hosts wasn’t enough to take the W. Still, the pieces are coming together and it points to a positive future for the women’s national basketball side.
The hope never left the arena. Ireland however exited still seeking a first win in EuroBasket Women qualifying since the senior teams returned to international play. Still, the future looks legitimately bright. Real goals and real progress are getting closer.
The reality of context
This game did not happen in isolation. For Ireland, it was about getting a win. For Latvia, it was about winning by as much as possible. The visitors needed many miracles elsewhere. Still, they knew their route to EuroBasket Women required them to score and score a lot.
A points chase is a strange situation in sport when viewing or analysing. I’ve once commentated on a football match that was basically a 90 minute goal chase. It was extremely weird.
Basketball and the EuroBasket Women qualifiers, especially the final day, can carry similar strange vibes. Whatever Latvia did was heavily dependent on results elsewhere in groups they weren’t even playing in.
Ireland, by contrast, just wanted to win a basketball game. Latvia’s coaching staff will have naturally told their players to take the same mindset. Still, the human subconscious is a strange beast. Somewhere in their minds, calculations were being made that they didn’t even know were happening.
The reality of standing
Guts and guile are vital in basketball. So too are inches. The famous Al Pacino speech from Any Given Sunday is easy to draw on when examining this realm of international basketball. Latvia fielded an almost fully full-time pro roster. Ireland could call on three such players for this game.
That’s still a step up from the past. More is required. This is not to diminish the efforts of those who are part-time. The reality is that if one player has a day job in addition to basketball and a second is solely focused on basketball, that second player has more time in a given week or day to get better at basketball.
This goes from conditioning, to shooting, to positioning, to everything. The difference might only be an inch but it’s there.
That forces Ireland to fight from underneath. Now, being an underdog is often an aid psychologically. Still, swagger has its charms too. Ireland have adapted to this level by leaning into where they can control the game. That involves some games being treated differently to others.
The France game was always going to be a heavy defeat. Ireland chose to focus the week’s prep on this. That made for a heavier defeat in Chalon-sur-Saône than otherwise but ensured better conditioning for this outing.
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The reality of hope
Edel Thornton’s three to close the first quarter spurred something in the arena. Ireland went on a roll, taking the lead a few times in the second quarter. James Weldon’s side looked more comfortable straight up going at Latvia.
With 4 minutes left in the first half, and the Irish only trailing by a point, the reality for Latvia was becoming obvious. They might well win this game, even comfortably, but they wouldn’t be playing in EuroBasket Women 2025.
That changed the dynamic. This was now just a straight up fight. Two sides fighting to win a basketball game. The visitors had a strong enough support in the arena, fuelled in part by Ireland’s strong Latvian community. That meant there weren’t going to ease off. Still, Ireland knew they had forced the side with dreams of the finals to now fight them as equals.
If American football is violent chess, then basketball is really aerobic chess. Stop, go, stop, go again. Move and counter move ahoy. Ireland got what they needed from the first half. They had made this a battle of equals. The Dennis Schroeder view of basketball. There is me, there is you, there is a ball; let’s see who is better.
James Weldon has guided the Ireland side from the FIBA Small Countries to being a side that merits self-belief in EuroBasket Women
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The reality of Claire Melia
Claire Melia being good at basketball isn’t exactly a newsflash. She has been objectively Ireland’s best player for several years now. Domestically, she has won every major trophy multiple times. Melia had a brief stint playing college basketball and, despite exceptional stats, opted to come home.
This however is her first season playing professionally. She’s part of a Baxi Ferrol side that has reached the quarter finals of Eurocup Women. The step up in her game was visible here. Melia had 20 in the first half in an unphased manner. This is just what she does now.
Her development, while excellent for her as a player, is also a beacon to the next generation of Irish players. She is showing the ceiling is far higher than they might think. Ireland can develop ball-out cold-blooded multi-faceted players because she is one. Here, in EuroBasket Women qualifiers, she was giving a demonstration on what the future should be.
This Latvia basketball superfan was at both the men’s FIBA World Cup in Manila in 2023 and the EuroBasket Women qualifier against Ireland in Dublin.
The reality of the future
This was not Ireland’s day. That happens. The classic qualification format is changing and that means changes for Ireland. The new format for EuroBasket Women will involve a pre-qualifying format, a modified and easier to understand version of the men’s. The good news is more winnable games. The bad is that more is needed to earn those big days against the likes of France in Dublin.
And, yes, anyone in Irish basketball should want those days. The result in Chalon was really ugly. You don’t learn a lot from pastings but you learn one thing, the level you need to reach. This generation coupled with the youth talent coming up has real promise.
Ireland may have to go through extra tiers but reaching the finals of EuroBasket Women is a realistic target. That includes players of this current generation. Saying that when Ireland has yet to win a qualifier at this level since reinstating the national sides might sound wild.
Yet the gap is narrowing. The talent is coming up. Ireland returned to this format in the qualifiers for the 2023 competition. There is a path there to realistically believe they can make the finals by 2033. Foolish hope? No. The reality is, our women’s programme is getting better.
PS: Sorry for the site and YouTube basically being silent for two months or so. Been a mad run in life. All grand, just a lot of plates spinning. Normal service is resuming.
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