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Padraig Doherty told how resilience was called for as Carndonagh defeated Inishowen neighbours Urris to book a place in the semi-finals of the junior championship.

An impressive cameo from the fit-again Conor ODonnell and a Ryan Kelly goal gave Carndonagh the little pocket of breathing space they needed.

Carndonaghs 1-10 to 1-8 win offered something of a rare knockout success for the Foden men.

Thats our first knockout win in so long, Doherty told Donegal Live.

I cant remember us winning a knockout game since we last won the junior (2008).

It was important for us to win at home too. If were playing chess at home, wed want to win that.

We showed a good bit of resilience. That has sort of typified our championship performances at home this year.

We keep going to the end. Thats going to be important no matter how far we get this year. Nobody remembers much beyond who wins a game.

It was all square, 0-5 apiece, at half-time. It had been cagey and remained so in the third quarter. ODonnells arrival added a new gear to the Carndonagh engine. Ultimately, it was his introduction that tipped the scales in Carns favour.

Doherty said: Conor brings that extra wee bit of a spark to us. He brings a bit more confidence to anyone.

Its no different to any club, in any standard, when a county player comes back in, its a case of: Right, we have to up it now too. The standards are set again.

A player who has played at that level coming in is an obvious lift for any club, even up at intermediate or senior championship levels.

Urris certainly didnt wilt, though.

When Dean Kelly netted for Urris, it threw a gauntlet down to Carndonagh, but the home side responded with ODonnell tacking on a point with the next attack, restoring a lead which they held to the finish.

Doherty said: We had to keep our shape. The last couple of times we played here against the wind, we started at 100 miles an hour. Urris wanted to bring it down the stretch and they did.

They got their goal and the next score was so important. We went back up the field and got a point. That broke their momentum after getting back into the game.

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'If we're playing chess at home, we'd want to win that' - Padraig Doherty - Donegal Live

EFL and NationalLeague clubs will be allowed to call off matches if they clash with England and Wales World Cup games.

A full schedule offixtures is planned over the weekend of December 3 when the Home Nations could be playing in the last 16 in Qatar.

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EFL and National League bosses bothsaid clubs can decide whether theyrearrange, though it is possible a collective decision could be made.

England and Wales are in Group B with Iran and the USA and feasibly both teams could progress.

The top two to qualify will face rivals from Group A.

That World Cup group is made up of hosts Qatar, Louis van Gaals Netherlands, Sadio Manes Senegal and Ecuador.

Wrexham are due to visit York in the National League on the Saturday.

But the Welsh side will likely postpone if Robert Pages Dragons are in a first World Cup knockout game for 64 years.

Then thenext Saturday night could also see England or Wales play in the quarter-finals hours after domestic games have finished.

Argentina and France are bothpossible opponents for that one.

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Although the leagues say they will expect teams to fulfil fixtures that day.

England kick off their campaign against Iran on the opening day of the tournament, while Wales face the USA on the same day.

The Three Lions take on the Dragons in their final group game.

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EFL and National League clubs to be allowed to call off matches if they clash with England or Wales World... - The US Sun

On the eve of EuroBasket 2022, the cover was all for them. The three NBA phenomena, coming from Europe and inextricably linked to the jersey of their national team, are ready to bring back to Ljubljana, Athens, or Belgrade that gold medal.

Instead, the stars have already returned home and are watching the final from their television set without even reaching the semifinals. Should they be blamed? Why the top players in the competitions couldnt get a medal?

Heres the answer.

The trio delivered

Nobody can really blame the players themselves for the failure. Speaking by the numbers, all three of them had a phenomenal tournament.

To be exact, according to the efficiency rating the Eurobasket way of taking account of all stats Giannis Antetokounmpo was first (32.7), Nikola Jokic second (31.7) and Luka Doncic fifth (27.1), behind two other players who practically carried their teams as far as they could. Bulgarias Sasha Vezenkoc is third (31.2) and Finlands Lauri Markkanen is fourth (30.4).

It has to be noted that the player following Doncic is Lithuanias Jonas Valanciunas, but with an average of 21.8 efficiency per game, a long gap from the top five.

Nobody can really say that the Joker, the Freak, and Magic Luka were not themselves. On the contrary, they pretty much dominated. Giannis is the top scorer of the tournament (29.3 ppg), with Doncic being the fourth best (26 ppg). Jokic is the fifth-best scorer (21.7 ppg) and also the fifth-best rebounder (10 rpg) with Giannis being sixth (8.8 rpg).

So what really happened?

Nikola Jokic: The Serbian question

While the leaders of the Milwaukee Bucks and the Dallas Mavericks saw their hopes of winning shattered in the quarterfinals, Nikola Jokic came out of EuroBasket 2022 in the Round of 16 against Italy.

He finished the tournament averaging 21.7 points, 10 rebounds, 4.3 assists, shooting 66.2% from the field, 46.2% from three points, and 90.9% from free throws. You can say that he was attacked on defense, but this is not news and nobody expected him to be a defensive stopper.

And in the crucial loss against Italy, the Joker returned home after his best performance statistically (32 p., 13 r., 41 EFF), while the rest of the team couldnt contribute as much.

The game turned upside down after the ejection and the reactions of coach Gianmarco Pozzecco, which, despite many Serbs stating the opposite, totally changed the momentum of the game. You can attribute to that at least the breakout night of Marco Spissu who scored 22 points after averaging five in the previous five contests.

Meanwhile, Serbia had no reaction from the bench, while Italy was making big shot after big shot, and things quickly went south.

The blame here went straight to coach Svetislav Pesic, who will remain in his position and already declared that he will not change his ways. And even if he didnt say that, what would you expect from a 73 years old coach who has already won the Eurobasket and the FIBA World Cup?

The truth is that Serbia dominated a relatively easy group phase and in the first sign of adversity, they seemed uncharacteristically shocked.

The future outlook for Serbia remains more than positive. The team is expected to present itself even stronger in the upcoming FIBA World Cup if they qualify having not only Jokic and Micic as their main stars but also Bogdan Bogdanovic who was injured this summer.

Giannis Antetokounmpo: a reliable three-point shot missing

Although Greece was eliminated in the quarterfinals, the Milwaukee Bucks star ended up challenging even the scoring numbers of Greek Eurobasket legend Nick Galis. Galis famously scored 30+ points in every game of the Eurobasket 1987, which ended up being the big bang of Greek basketball as the host Hellas won the tournament, beating the USSR in the final.

Giannis became the first Greek player since then to score at least 25+ in every game he played in the tournament.

However, it was evident since the first knockout game against the Czech Republic that things are not going to be easy for Greece, which survived the Round of 16, but couldnt make it past the hosts Germany.

With all the attention of the defense on Giannis and without a solid threat from the perimeter, Germany had a 20-1 run at the start of the second half that mentally destroyed the opponents.

On the offensive end, except for Giannoulis Larentzakis (4/4 3PTS), the three-pointers of Tyler Dorsey (2/7 3PTS), Kostas Sloukas (1/4 3PTS), Kostas Papanikolaou (1/4 3PTS) and Giannis (1/5 3PTS) didnt fall, despite many of them being open. Mind you that Greece finished the tournament shooting 34,9% on threes. Not exactly bad, however, its a number that gives hope to every opponent, guiding them to the risk of trying to contain Giannis, while leaving three-point shooters open.

On the defensive end, Greece let at the start of the game Germany get hot with 7/8 threes, and when in the second half the defense changed and the switches pushed Giannis in the perimeter, Germany took advantage of the mismatches in the paint for easy buckets and offensive rebounds, while continuing shooting excellently from the three-point line.

Greece finished the game shooting 31% in threes, while Germany had an admirable 55%, for a total average of 40% in the tournament up to this point.

Still, the progress made by Giannis compared to the stubborn, but inexperienced player in FIBA rules seen in the 2019 World Cup, has been widely witnessed.

But the lack of a solid outside threat is haunting the Greek national team, as it also haunted for years the Milwaukee Bucks. And it has to be noted that entering the tournament with the two centers of the team, George Papagiannis and Kostas Antetokounmpo, injured, didnt help either.

The positive outlook is that this was just the first tournament for coach Dimitris Itoudis with the national team a two-time EuroLeague winner, but a rookie in FIBA tournaments and also the fact that outside Tyler Dorsey, Greece may also have the option of adding Naz Mitrou-Long on their roster, if he gets a Greek passport, due to his Greek heritage.

The same happened with Dorsey, whose mother is half-Greek, but then the Greek national team, while having to use either Mitrou-Long or Dorsey for the sole, permitted naturalized spot on the roster.

Luka Doncic: Thats on me

Of the three main stars who came out of EuroBasket 2022 earlier, Luka Doncic was the only one to appear at the press conference alongside his coach after the decisive loss against Poland.

This can be considered first and foremost as a move that solidifies him as the leader of the future for the team on every level.

And although the defeat came not only because of his performance (14 p., 11 r., 7 a., but 5/15 FG and 6 turnovers), he did not want to find any excuses. On the other hand, he did play injured, getting an injection in order to stay on the court and fight after having back pains in the second quarter.

Contrary to Serbia and Greece, Slovenia was in the game until the last minutes. After a terrible first half in which Poland led by 19 (58-39), Slovenia came back with a 24-6 run. Ultimately with Doncic fouling out with two minutes left and Mateusz Ponitka registering just the fourth triple-double in Eurobasket history, Poland got the win.

The bad news for Doncic is that Goran Dragic who came back from national team retirement for this tournament will be missed. And while theres a solid core of Cancar, Blazic, Prepelic, Muric, and Tobey on the roster, the talent pool of Slovenia is not vast.

Thats why the team will focus on continuity with coach Aleksander Sekulic staying on his bench and Doncic having to push forward without hoping for a real talent boost in the near future.

On paper, Doncic without Goran Dragic onboard gets clearly less help from his teammates compared to Jokic and Giannis. That happened also in this tournament with Slovenia being in theory a team of good shooters, especially Prepelic and Blazic, which finished the Eurobasket with a 31% efficiency from the three-point line.

The nature of the tournament

In FIBA tournaments after the Round of 16, theres no room for mistakes. Thats part of the charm, but its also an opportunity for huge upsets. Think less on NBA terms and more on a March-Madness-like situation.

And when any team plays against Jokic, Doncic or Giannis has the biggest motivation ever to create such an upset. Theres also an old practical saying among coaches in those tournaments. Its always better to lose one game during the group stage, just for the team to get over the anxiety of defeat and be more ready when adversity comes in knock-out contests.

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Jokic, Doncic and Giannis delivered, but their teams didn't - Eurohoops

By John Rammas /irammas@eurohoops.net

Italy shocked the world by beating Serbia in the Round of 16 of EuroBasket 2022 to capture a spot in the quarterfinals for the fourth time in a row while eliminating one of the gold medal favorites.It was the second straight win for the Azzurri over the Serbian side in a knockout game since they also defeated them in the final of the 2021 Olympic Qualifying Tournament that was held in Belgrade.

Italian national team captain Gigi Datome wasnt available during that magical night in Belgrade but was present in this years stunner.This team showed a lot of character also last year, Datome told Eurohoops. When we play like this aggressively, in defense, on the same page, taking responsibility with personality on offense. We created a lot of good shots, and in front of us, there were champions, an amazing team with great players. We played really really well and I think that at the end of the day we deserved the win, Italys captain said about the 86-94 win.

Before the encounter against Nikola Jokic and his teammates, everybody was betting on Serbia to win the game. Except for Italy.We know that we only played one bad half in our first group, the second with Ukraine, Datome said. Other than that, we played really well but everyone would have said that Serbia was the favorite. Theyre a great team. But this is basketball: we played with great personality, and we built big shots. We helped each other in defense and the game plan was executed very well.

Asked about what they will expect in the big match against France, Datome concluded: Serbia knew us from last year. Everybody respects us and we have to do the same. It will be another physical game, against another big center and a lot of talent on the guards. 0-0 on the jump ball and we will start to play.

Then, it was time toreassure everyone about his most famous recognition mark: My beard? Everybody wants that, but its gonna stay there.

Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL

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Gigi Datome: Serbia knew us from last year, we deserved the win - Eurohoops

As summer began, it was unthinkable that Democrats in the midterm elections could keep control of the House of Representatives; as summer ends this week, its thinkable.

Its still very likely that Republicans will win more than the net of five seats necessary for the majority. They would be intent on making Joe Bidens life miserable for the next two years.

Yet Democrats today may have more current tailwinds than historic headwinds. Six reputable non-partisan congressional preference polls this month NPR/PBS/Marist, Wall Street Journal, Economist/YouGov, Fox News, Harvard-Harris and the New York Times-Siena all show Democrats leading; the average is more than three points.

This may be a political Prague spring. GOP voters may come home by November, and some polls again may be undercounting low propensity Donald Trump-loving voters. The betting markets still see a Republican House next year.

The buoyant optimism of Republicans peaked three months ago. After an initial analysis that redistricting was a partisan wash, Ohio Republicans, despite a court order, were able to keep their deeply gerrymandered map, while the equally gerrymandered Democratic-drawn map in New York was thrown out. These two outcomes may have gained five GOP seats.

But most everything since has cut against the Republicans: foremost, the Supreme Courts decision to end abortion protections, which has energized Democratic candidates and voters; Trump has been dominating the news, which Democrats believe helps them; gas prices are coming down a bit, and there have been some legislative achievements.

National tides will affect competitive house races, as will the quality of candidates and local politics.

There is no typical contest, but Ive selected several races in five states three in the usual Midwest battleground, plus Pennsylvania and California that crystallize the Democrats possibilities and the daunting challenge. These include both their own seats they must hold and prospects for pickups.

Pennsylvania: In the Keystone state, Republicans are targeting two Democratic incumbents:Matt Cartwright and Susan Wild in the swing Northeast part of the state; the Cook Political Reports Dave Wassermans PVI index the partisan voting index that reflects how each district performs at the presidential level compared to the country as a whole shows Republicans have a small edge in these districts. There also is an open seat in Western Pennsylvania rated a tossup.

The onus is on Democrats to win these three seats. The life raft may be the top of the ticket, which features especially weak Republican candidates for governor and U.S. Senate.

Michigan: With an abortion referendum on the ballot, Democratic hopes have soared, perhaps enough to rescue an endangered incumbent, Dan Kildee, in his Flint-based district. Democrats got a break and should win a Grand Rapids seat after a Trump right-winger defeated a more moderate GOP incumbent in the primary.

It will take a blue wave in the Wolverine state, however, to win another seat in the lower peninsula, where Republican John James, who lost two close Senate, races, is the stronger candidate in a district with a PVI of plus-3 Republican. But his anti-abortion stance could make this a close contest.

Ohio: Republicans may have miscalculated in redistricting when they targeted Democrat Marcy Kaptur; her Toledo-based district now has a Republican partisan advantage, but the GOP then nominated P.J. Majewski, who attended the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol and peddles QAnon conspiracy theories.

Conversely, they didnt protect Republican Cincinnati Congressman Steve Chabot the new district leans Democratic and Democrats are convinced theyll win this seat.

Tougher will be the open seat in northern Ohio. Most of this district has been represented by Tim Ryan, a Democrat whos running a very competitive Senate race; the redrawn district has a Republican edge.Democrats need to win all three of these Ohio seats.

Iowa: This is a tough nut for Democrats to crack in a state that has moved Republican red. Democrats are trying to knock off two freshman Republicans and hold onto their only member of the delegation. All three districts have a GOP PVI advantage.

Moreover, the Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and the 89-year-old seven-term Sen. Chuck Grassley are favored at the top of the ticket.

The glimmer of hope is Republican efforts to push through a heartbeat bill that would ban abortions after six weeks. The always reliable Anne Selzers Des Moines Register poll shows Iowans by 54 percent to 38 percent oppose this measure. Democrats have to win at least one, maybe two, of these seats.

California: Democrats enjoyed a banner year in 2018 that Republicans reversed two years later. Democrats have to win back three of these seats, represented by Republicans Michelle Steel in Orange County and further north, David Valadao and Mike Garcia. Valadao is one of only two Republicans who voted to impeach Trump still politically alive.

Joe Biden won these districts in 2020. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to win easily, and Democrats have an abortion rights referendum on the ballot to bring out more voters. All three of the GOP House targets are anti-abortion. Democrat Bill Carrick, an eminence grise of California politics, is optimistic about these races and ventures there are a couple other sleepers if theres a blue wave.

Overall, if Democrats win, say, 80 percent of the races in these five states, they have a shot at holding the House.

Thats a very tall order, but not unthinkable.

Al Hunt is the former executive editor of Bloomberg News. He previously served as reporter, bureau chief and Washington editor for The Wall Street Journal. For almost a quarter century he wrote a column on politics for The Wall Street Journal, then The International New York Times and Bloomberg View. He hostsPolitics War Roomwith James Carville. Follow him on Twitter@AlHuntDC.

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Democrats now have a chance however slim to retain control of the House - The Hill