The Ballina duo of Trinie Naylor Kennedy and Anthony McHale were both in action for Ireland at the European Masters Basketball Championships which took place in Italy last week, concluding on Sunday, June 30.

Trinie was part of Ireland’s F60 team that reached the semi-finals, beating Italy and Hungary in the group stages and despite a five points defeat to Germany, qualifying for the last eight of the tournament. There they beat the Czech Republic 38-26 to secure a semi-final showdown with pre-tournament favourites Estonia where, unfortunately, they endured an agonising one-point loss, 29-28.

They were then unable to reverse their earlier group result when facing Germany once more in a 3rd and 4th place playoff.

Germany were also too strong for Ireland’s M65 team that Anthony McHale was a member of, losing to them by 20 points in the group stage and again in a 5th and 6th place playoff. One of the Irish team’s highlights, however, was the 16 points scored by McHale in the 39-34 group win against Italy.