James Weldon and Edel Thornton confident Ireland are ready for France in Euro qualifiers

THE Irish Women’s basketball team will welcome France to the National Arena this Sunday in the first game of their European campaign.

This will be a very difficult game, however, their captain Edel Thornton and coach James Weldon are confident of putting on a good display of basketball in front of the home fans.

"We trained in a five-week block across July and August and then we played Holy Cross, an NCAA Division 1 College," Thornton, who is out due to an injury sustained on Super League duty, said.  "We put in a relatively good performance with it being our third weekend back together and with a lot of new faces in the mix. 

"Following on from this game we then played Austria in a two-game series in August. Our first game saw us pack the arena and secure an exciting win in a thrilling game. 

We dug very deep as a unit to come from behind and get the win in the closing minutes. We saw Austria the next morning in a closed scrimmage, where we won by a convincing margin. 

"This allowed us to welcome a lot of the newer players into the team with good game time and put a focus on implementing new defensive principles and offensive sets.

"Heading into this France game there’s a lot of excitement around the basketball community and within the team. We have a really exciting opportunity to play against one of the top teams in the world in front of the home fans in Dublin on Sunday. 

"I am hopeful the arena will be full of young girls who will soon be filling our shoes and welcoming teams of this calibre to the arena on an ongoing basis.

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"France have been at the top of European rankings and on this stage consistently for a long time. 

"As a team, we are very aware of the challenge ahead of us, but were equally as eager for this chance to prove ourselves against some of the best in the world,” Edel added.

Ireland Squad:

Jessica Scannell (Geelong United Supercats, Aus), 

Michelle Clarke, Claire Melia (Killester), 

Sorcha Tiernan, Rachel Huijsdens (injured), Áine O’Connor (FloMAX Liffey Celtics), 

Sarah Hickey, Kate Hickey (SETU Waterford Wildcats), 

Edel Thornton (injured), Lauryn Homan (Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell), 

Hannah Thornton (DCU Mercy), 

Bridget Herlihy (Ensino Lugo CB, Spa), 

Annaliese Murphy (The Address UCC Glanmire).

Weldon knows what's in store for his side and coaching staff, however, he is excited at the prospect of playing one of the leading sides in European basketball.

"I guess on this particular game the reality of it is that France are the third-ranked team in Europe and the fact is that all their players play in either the WNBA, the Euro League or Euro Cup for their respective clubs. 

As this is one of the highest-ranked teams to ever play in Ireland, our aim is to trade baskets and go as deep into the game as possible without a gap developing.

“The team know that we need to raise and maintain our own level of play to give ourselves the best opportunity to stay in this game. 

"As with the Austria game in the National Basketball Arena, the home crowd were fantastic and proved to be the extra player and we will be looking to them again on this occasion."

Overall it is a difficult group on all fronts with the game against Israel due to security concerns postponed for the moment and Latvia another top-ranked team, having beaten Spain during this past summer at Eurobasket.

“Our preparation over the past few months has been excellent and we had two good wins over Austria and also a win over a travelling American Division 1 team Holy Cross College which allowed us to use a large squad rotating 20 different players over these games."