Cork-dominated Irish Wheelchair Basketball squad Eye promotion as they head for Euros
Rebel Wheelers dominance shows with four chosen, including Jack Quinn to represent Ireland at Wheelchair Basketball Euros.
The Irish Wheelchair Senior Men’s Basketball squad led by Corkman Con Coughlan and featuring four Cork players are set to travel to Samokov, Bulgaria where they'll compete from September 8th to 14th in the European Championships, Division C with the hopes of gaining promotion to Division B.
After narrowly missing out on promotion to Division B back in 2023, head coach Cork's Con Coughlan has selected his 10-man strong Irish Wheelchair Basketball squad who hope to rectify missing out two years ago.
After dominating the Irish Wheelchair Basketball League and making history as the first Irish Wheelchair Basketball side to compete at the EuroCup earlier this year, Rebel Wheelers Multi-Sport Club dominate the make-up of the squad.
Out of the 10 selected, four come from Cork, as well as head coach Con Coughlan and assistant coach, Alan Dineen.
The Rebel Wheeler players travelling to Samokov are Conor Coughlan, Darragh O’Regan, Jack Quinn and Adam Drummond.
Rebels captain Jack Quinn said: “It’s an incredible feeling; the club is very proud of us and have supported us greatly for so many years.
"Four of us being on the squad is a huge testament to the incredible work that goes on behind the scenes in our club.
“We have huge talent in our club and our training sessions each week are so competitive, which drives you to develop your own game.
“We’re looking forward to getting over to Bulgaria, getting the competition started and achieving our goal.”
In the pool stage, Ireland have been drawn to face off against Sweden, Finland, Armenia and Belgium.
If Ireland finish within the top two places of Pool B, they’ll progress to the semi-finals, where they can potentially face Serbia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary or Denmark.
All strong opposition, each side are all ranked within the top 30 of the IWBF European standings, with Ireland the third highest at 21.
Although Ireland will be striving for gold, they can still gain promotion by finishing in the top two.
Speaking ahead of the Competition, coach Coughlan said they’re braced for a fight but ready to give it their all.
“Preparations have gone well with great buy in from the squad.
"We don’t play on the first day of the competition so we will get to see the other teams playing.
“Both groups are strong, but for the moment we have to concentrate on our side of the draw and take it one game at a time.
"On day two of the competition, we have two games facing Sweden and Finland, followed by Armenia on day three and lastly Belgium.
"We are conscious there are some quality nations in our group with two of the sides previously playing in the A & B Championships.
"We’re going to leave it all out on the court and give it our best from all involved.”
Ireland’s European Championships campaign begins on Monday 8th September, where they face Sweden at 7:00am Irish Standard Time (IST).
The 10-man squad selected to represent Ireland at the IWBF European Championships, Division C are:
Jack Quinn (Rebel Wheelers Multi-Sport Club, Cork) Stephen Melvin captain (Titans Galway Wheelchair Basketball Club) Joseph Hargrow (Limerick Celtics, Limerick) Tom Barnes (ADM Encoy, Gran Canaria) from Co. Wexford Matthew Rollston (NI Knights Wheelchair Basketball Club, Antrim) Jack Mangan (South East Swifts Wheelchair Basketball Club, Carlow/Kilkenny) Darragh O’Regan (Rebel Wheelers Mutli-Sport Club, Cork) Conor Coughlan (Rebel Wheelers Mutli-Sport Club, Cork) Adam Drummond (Rebel Wheelers Mutli-Sport Club, Cork) Neil Carlisle (Mohawks Wheelchair Basketball, Middlesbrough, UK) from Co. Antrim.
Monday 8th September:
7:00am IST Ireland vs Sweden 4:00PM IST Finland vs Ireland
Tuesday 9th September:
9:15am IST Ireland vs Armenia
Wednesday 10th September:
11:30am IST Belgium vs Ireland
All games will be broadcast live via IWBF Europe’s YouTube channel.
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