Tough evening for the Irish youngsters

The Irish Cadets and Cadettes had a tough evening of basketball in the final games of the European U16 Championship qualifying tournament.

The Italian superpowers demolished the U16 girls, 85-25, with Germany topping the group to qualify along with Italy and Israel.

An excellent first half performance from the Irish boys had the Italians under pressure for a time, before they came back in the second half for a 49-83 victory.

Italy, Finland and Iceland now go through to the semi-final round.

Ireland stormed into the game with a 3-pointer from Gary Walsh to put Ireland on the scoreboard.

Outstanding play from Eoin McDermott and Eoin Purcell helped Ireland to a 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Ireland held their lead until midway through the second quarter before a basket from the tournament's top scorer and top rebounder, Luigi Da Tome levelled the sides on 20-points.

A Darren Randolph basket gave Ireland a slight edge before Italy went on a run of 11 unanswered points to pull away 31-22.

Ireland came back with baskets from McDermott and Randolph to make it a 56-point game at half time, 29-34.

Francesco Desole went on a run of ten points to leave a bewildered Irish team trailing 48-31 four minutes into the third quarter. Ireland trailed 42-62 at the end of the third quarter and Italy continued their domination throughout the final quarter.

Ireland struggled with the Italian height under the boards, Italy winning every rebound as well as first place in the U16 boys qualifying tournament.

Top scorers: Darren Randolph 12, Eoin Flanelly 8, Gary Walsh 8