Mayo basketball sensation shines as Ireland kick-start Eurobasket qualifiers

Rising Mayo basketball star Hazel Finn has put in yet another string of impressive performances on the court, this time in the green of Ireland as they put in a solid start to their attempts to qualify for the 2027 FIBA Women's Eurobasket competition.

The girls in green are aiming to be amongst the great and good of the game on the continent in June 2027 for the event, which will be played across Belgium, Sweden, Finland, and Lithuania.

Kiltimagh native Finn was in the squad for the first batch of qualifiers and played a starring role in both of the opening games.

First up was the visit of Luxembourg to Dublin on Wednesday. On a night when there were plenty of debutants in the Irish side, a fine final quarter was not enough for James Weldon's troops as they fell to a 53-69 defeat.

Despite the defeat, the Trinity Meteors star was leading the charge, finishing the day as top scorer for her side with ten points.

"We were performing really well in practice," Finn told The Mayo News afterwards: "We were shooting really well in practice and then it came to the game and our shooting percentage just went completely down. We missed, I think it was 17 open lay-ups, ones that weren't contested or ones that we didn't get pressure on the ball, so that was unfortunate."

Ireland had to regroup quickly, as they faced a stern test in the form of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The world's number 29-ranked side posed a serious threat and were the top seed in Group A.

"We still had that energy we had before the Luxembourg game," Finn explained: "We were the exact same team going into the Bosnia game. During the warm up of the Bosnia game, we had our heads maybe a bit more screwed on and looked like we wanted to fight. We looked like we wanted to have that grit inside us."

Ireland definitely showed that grit and put on a stellar display, and none more so than Finn. A three-pointer from the proud Mayo native, less than three minutes after tip-off, set the tone.

Ireland continued in the same red-hot form throughout the clash, and by the end, they had powered to an incredulous 94-67 win, with Finn once more topping the scoring charts with a 16-point return.

"You come into that game then on Saturday and to have that big of a crowd behind us and to perform as well as we did just shows how much potential our team has. It's nearly a relief as well because people do realise that Wednesday was just one of those days."

The emphatic win over Bosnia gives Ireland a big boost ahead of the next challenges. It might come down to points difference eventually, so finishing on a commanding 27-point lead might prove to be decisive.

"Everyone performed well," Finn pointed out: "No matter whether it was points, rebounds, offensive rebounds, steals, everyone had very impressive stats. It just shows that when we play together as a team, we are unstoppable."

Next up: Ireland have traveled to Riga's Komandas Sporta Spelu Halle for the third and final game of the window against Israel on Tuesday, November 18.