Three players and one coach have been selected to represent Basketball Ireland in FIBA’s International tournaments and 4 Nations over the summer.
Aoibheann Donnelly- St Dominics College Belfast Star / Cleveland Rockets – U18W Ireland
Aoibheann has been selected for her fourth Irish programme in a row. The Belfast Star/Cleveland Rockets dual star has a stellar season in the national league where her club were just pipped for a place in the women Super league. Aoibheann led Cleveland Rockets in scoring with 17.5 points per game and shot 29 % from 3. Along with her national league success Aoibheann led her school, St Dominic’s College to an All-Ireland League U19B play off success scoring 42 points of the team total of 51 earning her MVP of the game. The 2025 European championships were held in Vilnius/Alytus in Lithuania with Aoibheann playing 312 minutes a game and averaging 11.3 points and 4 assists a game. The 2026 Europeans will be held in Tulcea, Romania 31st July-10th August.
Marc Burns – St Malach’s College – Belfast Star – Brewster Academy – Ireland U18M
Marc’s selection for Niall Berry’s Ireland under 18 men’s team is his third year as an international player. A product of St Malachy’s College and Belfast Star, Marc is now furthering his basketball career at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, USA. He competed for Ireland in the 2025 European championship in Pitesti, Romania and averaged 23 minutes and 8.3 points per game. This year’s Europeans will be held in Rijeka-Opitija in Croatia from 24th July-2nd August.
Layden O’Neill-Belfast Star Basketball Club – St Malachy’s College – Ireland U17 men
Layden, who was a member of the Ireland under 16 men’s team in 2025 narrowly missed out on selection to the Ireland U18 12 but is now part of the Ireland U17 panel who will compete in the 4 Nations in Scotland from 12-14th June etc. A high scoring guard with both St Malachy’s and Belfast Star Layden has also led the scoring when competing for Team NI U15’s in 2024 and 2025. In the BNI league season Layden averaged a team high 18 points per game as Star won both the league and league play-off earning both BNI All Star and MVP of the playoff finals. During the 2025 European championship Layden averaged 16 minutes per game and 3.4 points.
Andy Gill, BNI Pathway Performance Co-Ordinator – Ireland U18 Women
Andy Gill, BNI Pathway Performance Co-Ordinator continues his involvement with Basketball Ireland national teams as assistant coach for Ireland U18 women. In his 14th season with Basketball Ireland Andy has been a head coach for the Under 16 women and the Under 17 women development squad and is also an academy lead for Ulster region
BNI’s Andy Gill commented ‘All of these players demonstrate an unwavering commitment to the game and our exemplars to our young basketball players. They represent what can be achieved with hard work and dedication and we wish them all the best during their summer tournaments. All these tournaments will be streamed live and for free on their respective tournament websites and I urge our basketball community to support our young players’.
