Ireland hope to rebound in Croatia

FOLLOWING their superb midweek performance in losing to Germany by just nine points, Ireland will be in good heart for tonight’s European qualifier aginst Croatia in Zagreb.

The German coach was confident Ireland would beat Croatia, said assistant coach Roger Kelleher

However, he said: “It must be remembered we are a very new association in this league. We learn something from every game. The association learns something new, the coaches learn something new and the players learn something new. It is a whole new learning experience.

“This team is still just coming together. There is a lot of good talent there. Cal Bowdler, for instance, was outstanding on Wednesday night. We were without Mike Mitchell who is a very strong player and he would have definitely helped. Jim Moran was missing as well.

“In Germany we were playing against a team that was playing their 14th game in row. They had just come off the world championships in the USA and we were trying to put a team together in two or three days.

“We are also very fortunate in having a coach of the caliber of Gerry Fitzpatrick. He is very good at managing men and forming teams.”

Ireland now have it all to do tonight, Croatia in good shape after an 85-93 away win over FYROM on Wednesday and now co-lead the group with Germany at 5-1.

Gerry Fitzpatrick has been studying the Croatian team for the last number of months and knows that an Irish victory will not be easy. “They are an experienced side, they proved that last year when they came back and caught us in the closing minutes. We have studied their game and offensively, they’ll be difficult to stop. Unfortunately our preparation has not been ideal, but we are doing well and we are all too aware of the importance of this one.”

Ireland are now in the unenviable position of having to win three of their remaining four games to keep their hopes of European Championship finals alive.

John O’Connell is back with the London Towers for the weekend, committed to a British League fixture and will rejoin the Irish squad in Ohrid ahead of the November 27th clash against FYROM.

Mick Richardson will be the tenth squad member against Croatia, his first competitive game with Ireland since the qualifying round.

Richardson was a late call to the Irish squad following injuries to Jim Moran and Mike Mitchell.