Portlaoise Panther within touching distance of Irish basketball green jersey

Claire Melia will be hoping to swap the green and black of the Portlaoise Panthers for the green of Ireland following her selection on the shortlist for the Irish Senior Women's Basketball team

Claire is on the shortlist of 18 Ireland Senior Women’s team. Head Coach, Mark Scannell announced the selection following a successful trial held in Cork recently.

The squad will take on the Irish Under 18 Women’s team in a much-anticipated game this Saturday, May 13th, at 5pm at the Mardyke Arena in Cork (read more about that here), before travelling to Luxembourg from May 19-21st for three friendly games against the hosts.

Speaking about the news, Scannell stated: “We are looking forward to this weekend’s session with the Under 18 squad as they prepare for European Championships in Dublin this August. It will give us vital court time before we head to Luxembourg next weekend, and will be good preparation for the Mardyke Series which will take place in Ireland in June and will see the squad face off against Iceland in two friendly games on June 9th and 10th.”

The selected players are:

Aine McKenna, Ambassador UCC Glanmire

Aine O’Connor, Courtyard Liffey Celtics

Amy Waters, Singleton SuperValu Brunell

Aoife Whelan, Meteors

Cathy Kavanagh, Maxol WIT Wildcats

Claire Melia, Portlaoise Panthers

Claire Rockall, Ambassador UCC Glanmire

Danielle O’Leary, Singleton SuperValu Brunell

Edel Thornton, Quinnipiac/Singleton SuperValu Brunell

Emma Sherwood, Pyrobel Killester

Fiona Dwyer, A.S.D. Basket Femminile Stabia

Grainne Dwyer (C), Ambassador UCC Glanmire

Kathleen Keating, Ambassador UCC Glanmire

Michelle Clarke, Pyrobel Killester

Orlaith Woods, UL Huskies

Sarah Kenny, Ambassador UCC Glanmire

Sarah Woods, DCU Mercy

Sorcha Tiernan, Courtyard Liffey Celtics

The squads for both the men's and women's senior teams for Luxembourg will be announced next week.