Athletes show their quality in frenetic contest

BASKETTBALL: If by Special Olympics you think sport-light, think again. The defence is nothing less than full-contact, the pace nothing less than frenetic. No one here, it is clear, believes in making up the numbers.

One can include in that Team Ireland, which played its first competitive game in the ESB Arena yesterday. Setting the tone from the start was powerhouse all-rounder Barry McGuinness, who in the first minute bowled over a Kuwaiti defender as he muscled his way into a shooting position.

Back on their feet, the two shook hands - as was the norm when such collisions occurred. The game may not have been a friendly. But it was sporting, in the best sense of the word.

Looking on was an army of fans, parents, friends and mere passers-by, among them 33 trainees decked out in Offaly jerseys from the Rehab National Training Development Institute in Tullamore.

"We're doing a bit of a tour of the venues to give support to the rest of the athletes," said Pat Mooney, a member of staff at the centre.

"You can see the standard is very high. Some of our athletes got gold and bronze at the national games last year but they did not make the team with that."

Also in the crowd was Maria Shriver, wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who stayed on to watch the Irish game after seeing USA beat Russia 48-35 in another high-quality contest earlier in the afternoon.

Back to the field of play and it was Kuwait who opened the scoring after two minutes. Another "away" score quickly followed but Ireland hit back, first with a long-range effort from Noel Rush (18) from Sandymount, Dublin, and then a similar shot from McGuinness (21), Ballinteer, something of a local hero as a daily attendant of Cheeverstown training centre, less than a mile away in Tallaght.

Cue chants of "Olé, olé" and "Ireland", well meaning no doubt, although they proved to be something of a distraction. As Ireland celebrated, Kuwait racked up a lead of seven points, stretching to nine at half time, thanks to some canny set-piece movements around the free-throw line.

Adding to Ireland's woes appeared to be a ticking-off of head coach Ann Marie Whelan by one of the referees. But all was not as it seemed. "Under the rules, you have to play every athlete in the team, and he was saying 'Number 4 must play'," she explained afterwards.

"I said Number 4 is already playing. 'No,' he said. 'Number 4 is good. He must play.'"

Number 4 (Rush) did keep playing, and his steal on the half-way line, when Ireland lay 13 points behind, prompted a thrilling comeback. He converted that chance and four others, bringing his game tally to 17. McGuinness scored just a point less. Yet it wasn't enough to overhaul the deficit, and Kuwait prevailed 39-35.

"I'm really happy. Four points in basketball is nothing," said Whelan. "At the beginning our defence let us down but that was pure nerves. Once we settled in we got more confident. It was the first game, and we'll improve. Before the next one we'll have a chat about keeping our minds focused on the ball rather than the families."

Hidden in the performance were minor triumphs, brave defending from Meath's Niall McConnon and confident attacking from Jonathan Killpatrick, of Blackrock, Dublin. "Jonathan was one player who did not mind the crowd. He lived for the moment," said Whelan.

"It was a good game," said Rush. "We played well. So we have to be happy with that."

"I'm over the moon," said McGuinness, who after the final whistle ran straight to the crowd to kiss his mother, Pat, a long-time supporter.

"We've seen him so many times you'd think we'd get used to it. But it was still nerve-racking," she said.

The team play tomorrow against Kazakhstan, which Whelan ranks as one of the group favourites. Ireland's second team in the men's competition was also in action yesterday, leading for a time by nine points against France only to lose by five.

Basketball continues at the ESB Arena, UCD and Loughlinstown until Saturday.