Laois school gearing up for World Schools Basketball Championships

St Mary’s CBS Portlaoise are gearing up to represent Ireland at the World Schools Basketball Championships in Valencia in November.

Having captured the All-Ireland Under 19A Schools League title following a thrilling 56-53 victory over Coláiste Éanna in the final back in February, the Portlaoise side subsequently earned the opportunity to compete on the global stage later this year.

The tournament will see St Mary’s battle it out in a group phase ahead of classification games, hoping to make their mark on the international stage for Irish basketball.

It is yet another huge success story for the sport in Portlaoise, which has enjoyed tremendous growth both on the schools and club fronts over recent years.

Indeed, St Mary’s, having raised the All-Ireland Under 19A Schools Cup in 2025, made a return to the final this year, but were ultimately denied that prize by, none other than, Coláiste Éanna.

Still, they managed to exact revenge in the league decider the following month, bagging the title they had just missed out on the year before when they again went up against their Dublin rivals in the decider.

On the club front, Portlaoise Panthers have enjoyed huge success in 2026, raising the Billy Kelly Under 17 tournament trophy and securing their first ever All-Ireland Club Championship crown after their Under 16 boys enjoyed an unbeaten run all the way to the A division honour.

Now set to see the St Mary’s CBS Under 19 boys team step on to the world stage for the very first time, head coach Jack Scully believes it is further evidence of the rise of the sport in Portlaoise.

“It’s another stepping-stone,” he told the Laois Nationalist: “It’s another thing that we’ve achieved and something we’ve never achieved before.

“It’s like when we won the All-Ireland Schools Cup last year, we won the Schools League this year, we won the Under 16 All-Ireland this year, the Under 17 All-Ireland. It’s just ticking off all those boxes, which is great for the club and the school,” he said.

While there is no doubt that competition in the World Championships will be fierce, St Mary’s do boast a very talented squad that includes the likes of Ireland Under 18 international, Jayden Umeh, who, himself, will be competing for his country in the European Championships in Croatia next month.

He, along with several other players on the St Mary’s panel, namely Desmond Ogedegbe, Love Omoijade and Justice Iheme, have all been playing increased roles for the Portlaoise Men’s National League team.

The latter emerge top scorer from the All-Ireland Schools League final on 17 points, while Ogedegbe carded a massive haul of 34 points in the Schools Cup decider.

All those players have earned valuable minutes on the club’s senior squad under Scully this season and will be hoping to feature even more under new Portlaoise head coach, Ciarán Kiveney, who was appointed only last month.

While Scully anticipates a huge challenge ahead for his St Mary’s team in November, he and is players are simply relishing the prospect of competing at that level.

“It’s hard to know how we’re going to fare at the World Championships,” he admitted. We’re just delighted to be involved and delighted to be there.

“It’s the first time any (boy’s) team from Portlaoise is going to this competition. The girls went to it four or five years ago when they won the league, with the likes of Shauna Dooley, Ciara Byrne and most of our Super League team.

“Obviously, when you’re playing at world level, you’re going to come up against some seriously strong teams, so for the moment, we’re just delighted to be there, and I think when we get there, we’ll know more about the standard and how we’ll fare,” he said.

A strong run by St Mary’s in the World Championships will provide another massive boost for basketball in the midlands region, and Portlaoise in particular, where there has been no shortage of young talent emerging in recent seasons.

Indeed, Panthers have seen two of their girls, Bett Donoghue and Kate Dowling make the Ireland Under 15 Girls Academy, while Katie Rose Harrison was named on the Ireland Under 16 national squad for this summer’s FIBA Youth EuroBasket tournament in Greece, Lucas Lumanlan and Noah Finn made the cut for the Ireland Under 15 panel and Zeik Pullos did likewise at Under 14 degree.