Two Portlaoise Panthers In Contention For Ireland Selection

Wednesday, 27 October 2021 14:15

They've come through the latest round of scouting at underage level.

Two underage stars for Portlaoise Panthers could be set for recognition at International level.

Rachel Byrne and Shannon Quigley have advanced to the extended panels for Ireland at U18 and U16 levels respectively.

Byrne is a 16-year-old point-guard standing at 5'5'' who also competes for her Scoil Chríost Rí in Portlaoise, another hot bed of local basketball talent.

She is one of 27 players remaining on the list of head coach Tommy O'Mahoney.

O'Mahoney is preparing this group for the FIBA U-18 European Championships next year, saying:

“We had great interest in the U18 programme and can't wait to get started, the next trial should give us a greater insight into the players after such a long lay off from the sport".

The next round of trial practices are slated for November 20th and 21st.

.@andyviewssport, Ireland U16 girl's head coach, has chosen his provisional squad following their talent identification session over the weekend ⛹️

These players will progress to the next phase of trials in November 🏀

Read more ➡️ https://t.co/zvng6otjC7 pic.twitter.com/yjyzBCBkLF
— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) October 27, 2021

Meanwhile in the U-16 grade, coach Andy Gill will cast his eye over 39 players on their next scrimmage.

Among them is 5'11, 15 year-old forward Shannon Quigley.

The Portlaoise Panther is a force around the basket but also has the deft touch required to excel in the modern game.

Quigley is one of 11 forwards retained for the next trial day which is also the 20th/21st of November.

The FIBA European Championships is also on the horizon for this bunch and coach Andy Gill has been casting his net far and wide in order to bring together a cohesive unit:

"We had over 130 players over the trial weekend, so it has been a tough job to make a squad selection.

We decided that we would select an extended squad to attend, what is effectively, a second trial but with much smaller numbers thus giving the coaching team time to truly assess each players skill-set and attitude to the demands that will be placed upon them.

We were pleased with the overall standard we saw, and we look forward to another difficult weekend of selection".