Kilkenny man ready to lead Ireland to promotion at Wheelchair Basketball European Championships

The Irish Wheelchair Basketball squad is set to travel to Samokov, Bulgaria to compete from September 8 to 14 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 Con Coughlan has selected his 10-man strong Irish Wheelchair Basketball squad who hope to rectify missing out two years ago. Kilkenny's Jack Mangan, who plays for South East Swifts Wheelchair Basketball Club is eager to pull on the Ireland jersey and help play his part in their quest to gain promotion.
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“It’s an exciting time in Irish Wheelchair Basketball. We have a great group of players and all eager to get the job done. I’m looking forward to wearing the jersey and playing my part in what’s going to be a difficult competition, but I’m confident we can come home with our goal of gaining promotion achieved," he said.

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. TAP HERE FOR MORE KILKENNY SPORTS NEWS

Although Ireland will be striving for gold, they can still gain promotion by finishing in the top two.

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 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

Helping Ireland in their bid to move up to Division B will be Head Coach Con Coughlan, Assistant Coaches Alan Dineen and Richard Sargent, Team Manager Adrian Donoghue and Team Physio Jana Hargrow-Prihonska.

Coughlan shared how preparation has been going and said that 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.”

He continued: “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, September 8, where they face Sweden at 7am Irish Standard Time (IST). The full schedule for the pool phase is as follows:

Monday,September 8:

7am IST Ireland vs Sweden

4pm IST Finland vs Ireland

Tuesday, September 9:

9.15am IST Ireland vs Armenia

Wednesday, September 10:

11.30am IST Belgium vs Ireland

All games will be broadcast live via IWBF Europe’s YouTube channel.