IRELAND SUFFERED A 30-point defeat against Israel in their controversial FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 Qualifier, losing 87-57 in Riga on Thursday afternoon.

With a number of squad regulars unavailable for selection or choosing not to travel, Ireland head coach James Weldon handed out three senior international debuts to Grace Prenter, Alex Mulligan and Amy Dooley.

Israel, who are 31 places above Ireland in the world rankings, led 51-32 at half-time before closing out a comfortable win.

The defeat leaves Ireland winless from their opening two qualifiers, following on from a defeat to France in Dublin last year.

Ireland’s next qualifiers are scheduled for November when they face a double-header against Latvia and Israel in Dublin.

“I think for such a young group of players they showed incredible maturity in how they handled a very pressured week,” Weldon said afterwards.

“It’s been difficult for all of us, but we kept it tight and kept it together and all I can say is that we did not back down out there today.

“The second half was really good and we’ve got plenty to build on.”

The build-up to Thursday’s game, which was moved to a neutral venue in Riga, was dominated by debate over whether Ireland should fulfil the fixture or boycott it in light of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

More than 27,000 people have been killed by Israel’s military campaign in response to the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, according to the health ministry in the Gaza Strip. 

Ireland’s players did not engage in any pre-match formalities, including pre-match handshakes, in a direct response to comments made by an Israeli player earlier this week.

Dor Sa’ar said “it’s no secret” that the Ireland team are “quite antisemitic”, comments which Basketball Ireland refuted as “inflammatory and wholly inaccurate”.