Bernard O’Byrne: Ireland near return to international stage

Irish basketball could be about to restore its senior teams to full international competition after a five-year hiatus, according to Basketball Ireland chief executive Bernard O’Byrne.

The sport had to suffer the humiliation of withdrawing from all international competition after the association was plunged into a financial crisis in the late autumn of 2009, much to the chagrin of its players, especially its women’s national senior team that had been on the verge of breaking into Europe’s top tier.

But with that debt of €1.2m down to €500,000 and relations between Basketball Ireland and the Irish Sports Council now particularly healthy, O’Byrne envisages stars such as this weekend’s cup winners Colin O’Reilly and Gráinne Dwyer back competing in green — and with how Fiba are revamping qualification for its major tournaments, even as early as this autumn against superpowers like Spain or France.