AN IRISH–POLISH family day was the friendly prelude to a hard-fought clash between the two nation’s basketball teams at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght last weekend.
The Poles won the court battle by 84 points to 81, claiming silver in the Emerald Hoops competition, in what was an exciting encounter that demanded overtime. Marcin Stefanski made the crucial steal under his basket after Colin O’Reilly had attempted to drop in a shot from the outside with two seconds to go in a gripping finale.
And Stefanski, having been impeded, then went up court to land one of two frees to put Ireland out of shooting range. Poland, who had a very vocal support behind them, had looked to be running away with the game in the early stages but a fight-back from the Irish ensured that the encounter went down to the wire. In other action, US college team Notre Dame completed their 13-day tour of Ireland with a comprehensive 90–65 win over Iceland to secure the gold medal in the Emerald Hoops tournament.
