Ireland secure series win over Estonia

Ireland 65-61 Estonia

Ireland senior women battled back from a third quarter deficit to record a second win in two days over Estonia in the Gotham Drywall Series at Oblate Hall in Inchicore on Sunday afternoon.

Ireland had to recover from sluggish starts to both halves, but were composed when it counted in the latter stages of both to pick up the win against a very combative and higher ranked Estonian team.

If Ireland started yesterday's game like a freight train, that train was stuck in the station this afternoon.

Estonia to their credit matched up much better with Ireland in the first quarter, restricting the hosts to just one made shot from play, an Enya Maguire three-pointer midway through the period.

Edel Thornton and Bridget Herlihy kept the scoreboard ticking for the Irish at the free-throw line, but their performance lacked the vigour of 24 hours earlier.

By contrast, Estonia found scoring much easier to come by. Their captain Mallis Polk picked up where she left off, getting her team on the board with a nice drive and layup early in the piece.

In all, four of the Estonian team got their names on the scoreboard, with two daggers from range by Maarja Grunmann and Janne Pulk extending their lead to 12-7 as the buzzer sounded.

With the words of head coach James Weldon no doubt ringing in their ears, Ireland found their range early in the second quarter and put on a clinic of scoring thereafter.

Bridget Herlihy was a powerhouse on debut and Ireland once again tried to establish the Malmo Basket player inside the paint. Held to two points in the first, she would go for eight points in the second.

Ireland continued to have problems stopping Estonia from developing extended scoring runs but crucially they now were recording