Claire Melia’s EuroCup success generating huge excitement in former club Portlaoise

THE success of Ireland senior international, Claire Melia on the FIBA Women’s EuroCup stage with BAXI Ferrol this season has been generating huge excitement among the Irish basketball community and, in particular, her former club, Portlaoise Panthers.

The Monasterevin woman has played a huge part in the Spanish side’s remarkable journey all the way through to this year’s final, the first leg of which is tonight,, emerging their most prolific scorer in their 156-136 two-legged aggregate victory over 2023 winners, LDLC ASVEL Feminin in the penultimate rounds earlier this month.

That result has now set up a date with another French outfit, Villeneuve-d’Ascq LM, the 2015 champions, in the two-legged decider starting Wednesday night in Spain and concluding the following week in France on April 2nd.

Having started out in the sport with Kestrels BC in Portarlington, Melia made the move to Portlaoise where she played from Under 14 right through to senior before embarking on a short stint in the US that was followed by a glittering few years in the Super League at home, the Kildare woman enjoying huge success with The Address UCC Glannmire and Killester.

Making the move to Spain only last summer, Melia and her BAXI Ferrol team mates have enjoyed a remarkable run in the club’s very first season competing in the Women’s EuroCup, while also pushing strongly for a play-off berth in the Spanish League.

One of Melia’s former coaches in Portlaoise, Aoife O’Malley believes the 2023/24 Super League Player of the Year very much deserves her place on the European stage and has delighted in the excitement her success overseas has sparked in Panthers.

“Claire’s making a huge impact over there in Spain” remarked O’Malley. “She’s a phenomenal player and she's really doing some damage out there.

“Other teams are looking at her as one of the players they see as a huge threat and one of the targets that they have to try and defend against.

“I’m delighted for her. She's found a team that's working for her and now she's being seen on that big stage, and that's where she deserves to be.

“There's huge hype around it here in Portlaoise, even though Claire hasn't played with us for a number of years now.

“Everyone’s talking about it. Everyone's like, ‘Did you see the game last night? Are you going to get to watch the game tonight?

“It's really bringing everyone together to support someone who’s had a huge impact on our club and still does” she told The Laois Nationalist.

Melia’s prodigious talent was clearly evident from a young age, O’Malley among those who appreciated her abilities on the court early on.

“Being out of age as an under 14 player with Kestrels, she, pretty much, beat our Under 16 team [in Portlaoise] by herself.

“She just had everything from the start. Her composure for such a young player was amazing. She was a standout from a young age and I knew she would have a great career once she stuck with it and put in the work.

“And the big thing about Claire is, she’s very understated. She doesn't go out and promote herself as being one of the best in the country even though she is one of the best, if not the best international player that we have.

“She’s nearly embarrassed when you start talking to her about all that kind of stuff, but she deserves everything that she’s achieved” insisted O’Malley.

Melia, while, herself, admitting an aversion to publicity and attention, does appreciate the positive impact her overseas success this season has had on the sport in Ireland.

“I don't like the attention, but it’s good to get the coverage at the home” Melia told the ****Laois Nationalist*******.

“And even for basketball itself, there's people who’ve probably never watched it, but who are now tuning into it. It's probably just a bigger version of when you get to a cup final at home” she said.

Certainly competing abroad and playing in a EuroCup final was something Melia, herself, never even envisaged as a young player with Kestrels and Portlaoise.

“It wasn't even in my head back then to move out of Ireland, move away from family and stuff” recalled the Ireland international.

“People would have always said it to me, but I was happy where I was at home. I never knew any different. I was just always out playing in front of the house with daddy or my sisters, playing different games.

“I think the thing that probably helped me most was that I was always allowed to go and enjoy basketball. There was never any pressure or anything put on me.

“I had great support from my sisters, my brothers, mammy and daddy. They were at every game.

“It helps that way, when you're not put under pressure and that's probably why my mindset is the way it is as well, just from Mammy and Daddy keeping it so positive” she smiled.

For O’Malley’s, Melia’s impact has been huge on players coming through in Portlaoise as she explained “Claire would have been the first player from our club since the likes of Catherine O’Sullivan to make international teams.

“Then you had, coming behind her, all the other players like Shauna Dooley and Ciara Byrne. And now we have Shannon Quigley, who’s been named on the Ireland Under 20 panel.

“That’s all stemmed from the success of Claire. She put our club out there on the map and it's something that we won't ever forget. As far as we’re concerned, she’ll always be a member of Portlaoise Panthers” she insisted.