Malta figured in a heavy 98-49 defeat at the hands of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday in their European Championship qualifier.

Playing in front of a noisy 800 crowd, the Irish looked superior from the start as they took the first session 26-10. They maintained the same levels in the second session which they won 28-12, to go for a rest with the scoreline reading 54-22 in their favour.

The pattern did not change much after the break and in the third session, the Irish registered a 21-2 score to go ahead 75-24. It was only in the final session that the Maltese finally clocked as they won this period 25-23 for the final 98-49 scoreline.

Malta’s best scorer was Omar Said with 18. He was followed by Silvio Cassar on 11. The other points were obtained by A. Bonnici and M. Mercieca, 4, D. Schembri and E. Bezzina 3, J. Bonnici, A. Huizer and A. Micallef 2.

At the end of the game, Malta coach Bruno Di Pietrantonio said that he was satisfied with the collective team’s performance. “We knew that this would be a difficult game and we played an organised game where all players gave their 100% and played as instructed by me. The Irish team fielded players who play

in the NBA, Spain and Italy. We were an organised team and managed to limit the damage to a minimum.

The Irish coach congratulated the Malta team and said that although they knew they were stronger, they were surprised by the organisation of the Maltese players. He also said that Malta could only improve if they continued in this direction.