No final joy for Rachel Huijsdens and her Ireland colleagues

There was no final joy for Rachel Huijsdens and her Ireland colleagues in the decider of the basketball FIBA European Championship for Small Countries in Nicosia, Cyprus today.

Ireland lost to surprise finalists Luxembourg who shaded the decider on a 69-59 scoreline.

Dayna Finn top scored for Ireland with 17 points while Huijsdens was next in line with 11.

Speaking afterwards, head coach James Weldon said:

“I suppose we had a bit of a slow start, we came back into the game a little bit, fair play to the girlsthey dug deep, again, as they have all tournament.

"Again the third quarter we struggled against their press a small bit, just from the point of view we had to make the shot clock the whole time and it knocked us out of sync.

"You have to credit Luxembourg, they came out and did a great job defensively on us. In fairness, our girls never stopped playing.”

Ireland - Michelle Clarke (1), Aine McKenna (DNP), Dayna Finn (17), Claire Rockall, Rachel Huijsdens (11), Gráinne Dwyer (5), Edel Thornton (3),Fiona O’Dwyer (7), Claire Melia (7), Hannah Thornton, Sorcha Tiernan (6), Aine O’Connor (2)