Portlaoise Panthers players continue journey with Ireland squads
PORTLAOISE Panthers Basketball Club will see at least three of their young players continue their bid to represent Ireland in FIBA Youth EuroBasket competition this summer, having survived initial cuts to their respective national squads following the Christmas period.
Jayden Umeh, Katie-Rose Harrison and Justice Iheme have all made quite an impression in the early phase of preparation for the Europeans and will be hoping they can safely navigate further cuts later this year.
Iheme will continue on with the remaining 19 players that currently make up the Ireland Under 16 Men’s panel, and national team head coach, Emer Howard is pleased with her selection so far, telling the : “We are excited about the reduced squad.
“We have a very hard-working, talented and athletic group, and we plan on playing a style of basketball that brings out the best of them in North Macedonia next August,” she added.
While this panel will be reduced again later in the year, Iheme’s coach in Portlaoise Panthers, Donna Colohan is backing the 6’1” guard to make a serious push for inclusion in the final group.
“Justice is an exceptional athlete,” said Colohan. “He dominates every time he steps on the court, not only as a player with his immense talent, but also as a leader whom all of his team mates hold great respect for.
“An honest and hard-working player, Justice has successfully diversified his game to become the versatile and skilful athlete he is today.
“He has proven his ability to dominate at both local and national level with Portlaoise Panthers and I look forward to seeing him prove his ability at international level,” she added.
The club will also continue to have some interest in the Ireland Under-16 Girls squad, which was whittled down to 18 players and features their own Katie-Rose Harrison. Another talented young guard, Harrison is a player who has elicited no shortage of praise from both her club and international coaches.
“Katie Rose is incredible considering she is a year underage,” said Ireland Under-16 Girls head coach, Paul O’Brien. “She is a great leader and pushes everyone to be better. She has great potential to be an elite point guard,” he added.
Portlaoise coach, Jackie Coleman echoed those sentiments, telling the ****Laois Nationalist****: “Katie-Rose is an exceptionally talented player. She combines her natural talent with hard work and dedicated training. We’re delighted to see her continue her journey with the Irish panel and wish her every success.” Harrison will continue to train with the other 17 members of the national panel up until, at least, the end of April when the group will be further reduced to 12 for sessions in May and for the summer.
The squad will take part in a number of training camps over the next few months, with some friendlies hopefully being organised for around the Easter period given that there is no Four Nations competition for Under 16s this year.
Jayden Umeh, meanwhile, remains on with the Ireland Under-18 Men’s squad following their reduction to 24 players, 18 of which are home-based, with the remainder playing overseas.
He will be looking to draw on all of his international experience, which has seen him line out for his country in Under-16 Four Nations competition, as the panel trains together up until March when it will be pared back to about 18.
Following that, head coach Niall Berry and his backroom team will look to organise games around the Easter period against either Irish competition or through an international series.
A final squad of 12, together with three reserves, will be selected following that, and they will work together in the lead-up to the European Championships in Romania in July.
“We’re very excited about the talent of the group, which is testament to the increasing standards of the game and to the progression of our coaching levels here in Ireland,” said Ireland Under-18 head coach Niall Berry.
“These players are a product of their club, academy and international coaches, who have helped them progress to this point.
“There are always difficult decisions to make as we narrow the squad down towards a final 12, and we sincerely hope players that have not been selected can take the knowledge gained and apply it to progress towards future international programmes,” he stressed.
