Portlaoise Panthers trio selected for initial Ireland Under 18 squad

PORTLAOISE Panthers Basketball Club have seen three of their players included among the 35 that have been named in the Ireland Under 18 initial squad at the outset of the 2024/25 international season.

Jayden Umeh, Luke Kavanagh and Riley Comerford will all train under National Under 18 team head coach, Niall Berry and his backroom staff, that include Portlaoise Men’s National League team boss Jack Scully and Titans BC head coach, Ciarán Kiveney, hoping to survive a series of cuts to the squad in their endeavour to eventually represent Ireland at next summer’s European Championships.

It is another major boost for Portlaoise who are one of the most strongly represented clubs in this initial panel, second only to Éanna and Titans BC who each have four included in the line-up.

While this is new territory for Comerford, both Kavanagh and Umeh have both represented Ireland at Under 16 degree, the latter competing in the Four Nations tournament last season, while Kavanagh did likewise the year before.

2024 has been quite a significant year for Umeh, the young shooting guard playing his part in Four Nations wins for Ireland over Wales and Scotland, carding a total of six rebounds, three assists and five points against the latter.

While he missed out on making the final 12 for the national squad later in the year, he did make his National League Division One debut for Portlaoise.

Kavanagh, like Umeh, lined out for the Ireland Under 16s in Four Nations competition the year before and also just missed out in the cut for the final squad.

But he, Umeh and Comerford will be pushing strongly to go all the way this time around especially given all the experience they have been garnering with Portlaoise.

While Kavanagh and Comerford made their debuts for the Panthers National League Division One team last season, Umeh followed suit this year.

All three lined out for Portlaoise Under 20s in their 96-50 demolition of Neptune in the National Cup earlier in the month, Umeh and Kavanagh combining for 20 points and 16 rebounds in that game.

Scully, himself, is in no doubt about their potential and value to the club, particularly the Panthers Under 18s.

“With Portlaoise, they’re three of our most important players at Under 18” he told the *****Laois Nationalist*****.

“We’re heading into the National Cup in two weeks and they’ll definitely be really important to help us make a really good run in that” he insisted.

The three will be hoping to make an equally strong impact on the national squad, and Ireland head coach, Niall Berry is confident he and his team have chosen well in their selection of the initial panel.

“I am delighted to announce this squad of 35 players moving forward in this year’s Under 18 men’s programme” he said.

“After much deliberation we are very confident that each of the players progressing have earned the right to be evaluated further, with the goal of being part of our FIBA Youth EuroBasket squad next summer.

“We leaned heavily on the feedback from coaches in last year’s Under 17 Academy programme, as well as feedback from the staff of last year’s Under 16 men’s programme.

“This, combined with two intensive try-out days, makes us very confident we have identified the right players to move forward in the selection process.

“The level of talent in this group is a testament to the work done by each player with previous international coaches, the academy programme, and their development at local club level.

“It is now up to each one of them to put their best foot forward in showing us their value to the team as we proceed toward international competition in the coming months” he stressed.