Quigley named in extended Ireland Under 20 Women’s squad ahead of this summer’s Euros

PORTLAOISE Panthers player, Shannon Quigley has kept alive her hopes of representing Ireland at this summer’s FIBA Under 20 Women’s EuroBasket Division B competition in Hungary after she was named in Karl Kilbride’s extended 19-strong panel.

Quigley is no stranger to international competition having lined out at the European Under 16 Championships back in 2022 before narrowly missing out in the final cut for last year’s Under 18 national squad.

“I think that disappointment will drive Shannon on with the Under 20s this year,” insisted Aoife O’Malley, Portlaoise Panthers Women’s Super League team assistant coach.

“Shannon has always had the ability to play at the top level. She has been on the Super League panel since she turned 16 two years ago, but unfortunately injury has plagued her this season.

“However, she’s been working hard in the gym, keeping herself fit and has built up her physical strength which is going to hugely benefit her game.

“She’s a clinical finisher under the boards and can easily give you 20 points a game” O’Malley said of the highly-rated Portlaoise Number Five, who will be going all out to make the cut for the final 12 that will be heading out to the Hungarian city of Miskolc for Under 20 EuroBasket tournament, running from August 2nd-10th.

Ireland will be heading into this season’s tournament aiming to build on their fifth-place finish last year.

Indeed, Karl Kilbride’s team are top seeds in Group B this time around and will face off against Great Britain and Ukraine, hoping to land some silverware.

Kilbride, who coached FloMAX Liffey Celtics to this season’s Paudie O’Connor National Cup, is very encouraged with the line-up he has so far as they continue preparations for a return to the European stage.

“Having seen the standard of players playing at National League level and in the Domino’s Women’s Super League throughout the country, we were really excited to begin” he remarked.

“We were hugely impressed with the level of talent at the two trial sessions we ran. It made our job in selecting an initial group a really difficult one.

“It’s our job now to harness that talent to create a team, and a culture that is good enough and strong enough to go and compete at the highest level “We’re going into the FIBA Under 20 Women’s EuroBasket Division B as a Number One seed, with a huge opportunity to be successful.

“With the group we’ve named here, we’re really excited for the summer ahead” insisted Kilbride, who is now in his fourth season as Ireland Under 20 Women’s head coach.

Quigley’s inclusion in the Ireland Under 20 panel is another major boost for women’s basketball in Portlaoise Panthers.

Despite suffering a quarter-final exit from the Women’s Super League playoffs at the hands of Trinity Meteors on Saturday, Portlaoise have every reason to feel encouraged after finishing fifth in the regular season, ahead of the likes of Guarrnabraher Credit Union Brunell and The Address UCC Glanmire.