Arena erupts as Irish hoop dreams come true

It will not be most famous Irish sports story of this new century but it is probably the greatest. Ireland shouldered their way in among the big boys of continental basketball with an historic European semi-final win at the National Arena in Tallaght last night.

A rag-tag bunch of domestic Irish stalwarts, American-Irish pro-players and former NBA traveller Marty Conlon, the home team took the Arena by storm after the break, hitting 50 points.

At the outset, Ireland were flat, and shot the ball like strangers to the game. The visitors, in contrast, were typically European: excellent long-range shooters, clinically coached and oh-so-big.

At times, Irish centre Marty Conlon was overwhelmed by the massive trinity of Gecevski, Blaveski and Bocevksi, who plundered the Irish boards for baskets.

A series of brilliant "threes" by the Macedonian snipers pushed them into a 38-22 half-time lead and when Cekovski popped another seconds after the restart, the Arena fell silent.

Then the impossible happened. A Billy Kennedy "three" re-awakened the Irish and over the next eight minutes, they outscored the Macedonians 19-2.

Highlights? A Jay Larranaga three from about 30 feet, a running jump shot from Damien Sealy, a flick pass from Donlon to Conlon. The Irish were on the run.

There were a few flutters in the last minutes and the Macedonians closed the gap to 64-60. Cue Conlon to carry his lanky frame into three-point territory and swish the most famous distance shot this Arena has known.

IRELAND (team and scorers): B Donlon (6), A Fulton, D Sealy (3), G Maguire, J Larranaga (14), T Kennedy (12), M Mitchell (17), J Moran (10), J O'Connell, M Conlon (13).

MACEDONIA: C Stefanov (5), M Srbinoski, M Kurtovik, G Cekovski (8), P Maumoski (14), T Gevevski (11), D Jovanovski (6), S Sljivancan (12), P Hlazevski (2), D Bocevski (10)