BNI players make the final cut for Irish teams!

Ireland U18 Men’s Head Coach Joey Boylan has made reduced his squad down to 14 players as part of preparations for the 2016 European Championships.

A squad of 12 will compete in Macedonia in July and the latest cut has almost halved his panel ahead of a preparatory trip to Cherbourg in March. They will be competing against Bulgaria, Hungary, Cyprus, Poland, MKD in the European Championships.

. Enya Maguire from Ulster Elks and Ulidia Integrated school has made the squad and is set to compete at her second European Championships. Enya competed for Ireland Under 16 in 2015 under Head Coach Andy Gill ( current BNI head of coach and player development) in Macedonia where they finished a record breaking 7th. When interviewed on this achievement Enya said ‘ It’s fantastic news and I am really happy to be going to my second European championships. Even though it is very intense I really enjoyed my time last year and I hope my experience can help us in Romania’.

Andy Gill , who is currently Head Coach of Ireland Under 15 Women which features 3 players from the BNI Academy ( Fiona Connelly, Alex Mulligan and Erin Maguire) commented. ‘ I think it is testament to Enya’s hard work and dedication to this great game that she has achieved such a fantastic outcome. She has a great foundation in place with highly supportive parents and being part of the BNI Academy. This is great news for the Academy and basketball in Northern Ireland generally. I am really hopeful that BNI will have a number of other players in international squads’.