Ireland women’s head coach James Weldon is eager to see his side take all of the positive momentum from a first top-tier road win for five years into Tuesday’s huge clash with Israel.
Ireland overhauled a 10-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to pick up their first away win in FIBA Women’s EuroBasket since returning to Europe’s top tier in 2021, defeating Group A top seeds Bosnia and Herzegovina 81-78 in Zenica on Saturday.
Ireland, ranked 83rd in the FIBA World Rankings, certainly weren’t overawed by their task against the 29th-ranked Bosnia and Herzegovina, who they’d beaten in Dublin in November. Weldon was understandably elated afterwards.
“I am just so happy for the group. It has been a tough week of travel and everything and they all remained so positive, the staff and the players have been incredible the last few days. [Bosnia] were at home, they were going to be fighting hard for the win, they haven’t won in a while and they came very, very close. I just thought so many different people stepping up and coming up with big plays, absolutely delighted.
“It is a big step forward for the programme, a first home win and now a first away win and we have a real chance on Tuesday to finish as one of the best-placed third-placed teams. Looking at the other groups today, results went our way, so a win on Tuesday would take us into the second round. I think on the back of that performance these players deserve that, hopefully we can pull out another performance out of the bag on Tuesday.”
Sorcha Tiernan made a telling impact off the bench with seven points in the final quarter, while Hazel Finn led the offensive charge on 21 points, to help the team to victory. The win means that if Ireland secure victory over Israel on Tuesday they will reach the second round of FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2027 Qualifiers, as one of three best ranked third-placed teams from seven groups.
“I suppose looking at the spread of scoring in the game Hazel (Finn) probably carried a bit more today, we had four players in double figures the last day in the Luxembourg game. We just really, really well to get the ball to the right people at the right time and thankfully they nailed the shots, pressure shots too,” added Weldon, whose side face Israel in their final Group A game in a behind closed doors fixture on Tuesday in Riga, Latvia.
“Sorcha (Tiernan) was exceptional too, came up with massive plays and probably didn’t come in until the fourth quarter, but kept her head and did an excellent job. It’s a huge positive step for us and we’ll take great confidence into Tuesday now.”