Four Nations delight for Kiveney, Iheme and Ireland U17 squad

There was no hiding the joy felt by head coach, Ciaran Kiveney after he led his Ireland Under 17 men’s basketball team to Four Nations gold in Scotland earlier this month.

Kiveney, who has, only recently been appointed the new head coach of Portlaoise Panthers’ Men’s National League team, saw his Ireland squad record 77-64 victory over England in their opening game of the tournament in East Kilbride.

And while they did suffer a 16-point reversal at the hands of Scotland just a few hours later, they still managed to secure the coveted prize the following day by way of an 85-48 triumph over Wales, coupled with England’s eight-point win over the hosts in their closing match of the tournament.

Added to the joy of lifting the Four Nations title was the sight of seeing Ireland and Portlaoise Panthers player, Justice Iheme picking up the tournament MVP award following two excellent performances against England and Wales in which he averaged no less than 19.5 points over the two games.

It was tremendous weekend for Ireland, who had fallen just short of the title in previous seasons, floundering more often than not on the rock that was England, but not this time around.

“The last couple of years we've lost to England and then we've beaten the other two teams, so our whole preparation was built around playing England and how we were going to beat them” explained Kiveney.

“To be fair, they came with a very well-equipped team. I think they'd four or five players over 6’8”. A lot of them had experience playing prep school or high school basketball in America.

“They were very good, but the advantage that we had was that our team was together for most of the year, whereas they only came together in the last month or so.

“So, we made a game plan and said if we can stick to this, we can beat them, and that's pretty much what we did.

“The chemistry and the heart in our team was absolutely massive for us. If anyone's head began to drop even for a small bit, the entire team was picking them up, going at it. It was just a phenomenal all-round team performance” he told The Laois Nationalist.

While they managed to surmount what many viewed as the biggest hurdle to their Four Nations title ambitions, Ireland faced a quick turnaround against a Scottish outfit that was looking to bounce back from their narrow loss in their curtain raiser against the Welsh.

“We were on such a high after the England game, we had to try and come down and then build back up, and we only had a two-and-a-half hour break” recalled Kiveney. “Unfortunately, we didn't and it was a game I thought we left behind.

“Going home on Day One, we kind of thought we had done awfully against Scotland, but it was not until after seeing the result in the Scotland v England game that we realised that it wasn't a case that we had done awful, as opposed to Scotland having actually really developed their game,” he pointed out.

Still, that reversal meant Ireland not only needed to see off Wales on Day Two but were also relying on a victory for England over Scotland if they were to top the table.

“We were playing Wales and one eye was on that game and one eye was on the Scotland game,” said Kiveney.

“I kept all the players focused on our game and the team manager was on his phone keeping his eye on the other score. Even at half time, Scotland were still winning, and if Scotland won that, they won the Four Nations.

“We needed England to win. It was kind of up and down in the third and, as long as I live, I'll never forget walking around the corner and Fiona Whelan, the Under 17 women's team manager, came over and just said, ‘England are up 11 and there's 20 seconds left’. That's when I knew we had this won.

“We were over in other court, waiting for the final buzzer, and when that buzzer went, it was just pandemonium. It was fantastic.

“It was brilliant. For all the work the lads put in, the coaching staff, and everyone, to win the tournament was just absolutely massive” he said.

For Kiveney and Ireland, the icing on the cake was seeing their own Justice Iheme scooping the tournament MVP honour, having turned in dominant displays in the opener and against the Welsh.

“For us, in the England game, Justice was immense” remarked Kiveney. “He was shooting, he was getting down the lane, he was just phenomenal defensively. He was locking up players who were physically bigger than him. They were not expecting what they got from Justice.

“Against Wales, he scored 20 points in less than 20 minutes. He had steals, he had blocks, he had assists.

“It was just an all-round, unbelievable tournament for him. He really stepped up when we needed it, and he stepped up far beyond what we thought he was capable of. He opened a lot of eyes as to the level he’s able to play at” he said.

Iheme is one of several highly-rated players making the breakthrough at Portlaoise Panthers and Kiveney is hopeful that that young cohort will play their part in his first season as the club’s National League team head coach.

Panthers have taken huge steps forward under previous team boss, Jack Scully, including reaching the final of both the National League and Division One Cup, and Kiveney is aiming to build on that with the help of the emerging youth in the club.

“We're looking to move back up into the play-offs and see how far we can go” said Kiveney.

“But it's also about blooding through the younger players, because Portlaoise, at underage, there's nothing they haven't won this year, or if they haven't won it, they’ve got to the semi-final or final.

“If we can bring the young lads through, plus, with 99 % of what we had last year staying on, I think it's going to be a fantastic season and Portlaoise are going to be moving back up the table, because the young talent that's coming through is just phenomenal,” he insisted.