‘I was like – what?’ - O’Connell on being call-up to Ireland U/20 squad for European Championships

CILLIAN O’Connell will be making a return to international basketball having earned a late call-up to the Ireland Under 20 squad that will contest the FIBA Youth EuroBasket tournament in Bratislava next month.

Having originally been named as a reserve when the panel was announced late last month, the young Portlaoise Panthers point guard was informed by head coach, Thomas Walsh, last week, that he would, in fact, be travelling with the team to Slovakia.

For O’Connell, who had last competed on the European stage as an Ireland Under 16 player back in 2022, the call-up came as a huge surprise.

“We had a training session there recently and he (Walsh) just called me over and said, ‘you're in’,” O’Connell told the Laois Nationalist.

“I was like. What? I didn't know what he meant, but he just said that I'm going to the Euros. It was kind of a shock. It caught me a bit off guard, but I was delighted,” he said.

Ireland have been drawn in Group A for this year’s competition and will ignite their campaign with a game against North Macedonia in the EUBA Sports Hall on Saturday 11 July.

The following day they will take on Sweden, with Azerbaijan providing their opposition on Tuesday 14 July with tournament hosts, Slovakia providing the opposition the following day.

Ireland will be coming into this competition bolstered by their best ever run in the Under 20 European Championship last year when they finished in seventh position, and four of those players, namely Joshua Osayanrhion, Fortune Igbokwe, Harry Scully and Declan Gbinigie were included in this year’s panel at last month’s announcement.

Delighted to be part of the travelling party to Slovakia, O’Connell believes the team has the ability and the experience to deliver another strong campaign in July.

“We have a strong team and I don't see why we won't have a chance to go out there and push for a winning spot,” remarked O’Connell.

“I think 10 out of the 12 of us have all played at the Euros before, and then there's two lads getting their first caps for Ireland, so we have lads who have been there for years.

“I, myself, was a reserve for the Under 18s before, and I think they had the best finish that an Under 18s Irish team ever had. A lot of the same lads would be on this team now, so we're just looking to do that again with the Under 20s.

“I think everybody on the team this year has played with somebody else in the team before, whether it be with Irish teams or club or whatever. Everybody knows everybody, so I’m sure we’ll be okay when it comes to things like team chemistry,” he insisted.

O’Connell, himself, is looking forward to getting another crack at the European Championships, particularly in light of the fact that he and the Under 16 team with whom he travelled to the Euros four years ago faced huge challenges and did not enjoy the best of runs back then.

“That year we were poor, but we had a lot of injuries over at there at the Euros,” he recalled. “We had one lad with concussion, I think I missed two games and I was on restricted minutes for two games.

“Fortune, another big player for us, was on restricted minutes for every game that tournament, so that one didn't go as we had hoped. This year, the Under 20 Euros is very early, especially with lads coming from America and stuff, but we’re hoping to do well,” he said.

O’Connell only recently returned home from the US where he played basketball for a season in the NEPSAC AAA ranks with Lee Academy in Maine.

The 19-year-old competitor relished the opportunity to travel and compete abroad, and believes the experience will certainly stand to him.

“It was a good experience,” he said. “It was worth it, and if I had to do it again, I definitely would.

“I thought the level was fairly similar to Ireland, although the biggest difference was probably how athletic everybody was and it took me a couple weeks, but you settle into it after a while,” he added.

O’Connell has been one of Portlaoise Panthers’ top emerging players over recent years and his return is a massive boost for the club’s new Men’s National League team head coach, Ciarán Kiveney, who only recently took charge of the team after Jack Scully stepped down from that post.

During his three years in charge, Scully led the squad to the final of both the Division One National League and National Cup, and O’Connell believes it is an exciting period for the team, especially given the huge amount of home-grown talent that is coming through in Portlaoise.

“I'm excited for the season coming up,” he said. “It's a young team, but we've all played together before so we can certainly gel together.

“It’s great to see the young players starting to come through and getting those National League minutes. It's a new look for Portlaoise, having a younger team, but we'll have the pros coming in as well.

“I know Jayden (Umeh) was playing a good few minutes last year and hopefully Des (Ogedegbe) will make the jump now this season.

“‘Kiv’ is a very good coach. He was there as assistant coach of the National League team a couple years ago and he was also one of the coaches when I was on the Irish Under 17s team, so I know ‘Kiv’ well,” he said.