Conor O’Sullivan to make it family Irish hat-trick

Conor O’Sullivan continues a great family tradition when he makes his Ireland senior basketball debut in Luxembourg on Wednesday

COMING HOME: Ulster University's Conor O’Sullivan celebrates. The Cork man makes his international debut on Wednesday against Luxembourg.  Pic: Bryan Keane, Inpho

Conor O’Sullivan continues a great family tradition when he makes his Ireland senior basketball debut in Luxembourg Wednesday - the only surprise, perhaps, is that it has taken so long.

This year’s InsureMyVan.ie Division 1 Player of the Year led Ulster University to a Cup/League double and promotion to the Super League, shooting 500 points alone during their league campaign with an average of 22.7ppg.

He was previously outstanding at underage for Neptune and Colaiste Choilm and spent three years in college in Alabama before returning to Jordanstown for a post-grad.

It is hard to credit the 25-year-old has never played international at any level before.

“No, I just didn’t get picked at underage,” he confirms. “My dad (Tom) had done it and Darragh (younger brother) represented Ireland underage so it’s a pretty big deal alright,” he says of making the final 12 to face Luxembourg in the third round of Eurobasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers (Live TG4, 7.15 Wed).

Paul Dick’s injury against Croatia a week ago gave him his shot - the only change to Mark Keenan’s squad - and O’Sullivan doesn’t come in cold as he was part of the extended panel that played two warm-up games against Switzerland.

“Mark had told me I was going to be in the reserves and I was happy with that, just to come up (to Dublin) and train. Obviously, if you’re training with all these lads you’re going to get better. Then he called me last week. I was with my dad at the time so it was pretty cool.”

Ireland lost 49-89 to Croatia (ranked 25th), over 70 places higher, so a big margin was expected.

They only lost the second half by a point (33-32) but a shocking start – scoring just five points in the first quarter (5-24) and trailing 17-56 at half-time – has left them with a lot to prove.

“Croatia are a powerhouse. They were just on fire from the perimeter. That takes a toll on you because if you’re not matching it that deflates you a small bit. But the spirits are high here, we seem to be ready to bounce back against Luxembourg and hopefully we can,” O’Sullivan says.

The good news for Neptune is that he’ll be back with them for the coming Super League after completed a Masters in sports management in UUJ and securing a sales job in a data protection company which he can do fully remotely from home in Cork. 

Luxembourg are ranked just 19 places higher and lost 62-98 to Croatia last Saturday.

Aidan Harris Igiehon, the 6’10” 22-year-old from Clondalkin who’s been playing in America since he was just 13, says Ireland are hell-bent on exorcising last week’s demons.

“The most important thing is that people care so we’re definitely going to fix it. In the first quarter, we shot two (three-pointers) for 17 and they shot 10 for 15. That’s 30 points difference right there. They had a really good night and we had a really bad one but our whole philosophy has changed since.” 

IRELAND: J Carroll (unattached), S Flood (unattached), CJ Fulton (Charleston), C Quinn (Belfast Star), C O’Sullivan (Ulster University), L Murphy (Templeogue), S Alajiki (Rice University, USA), T Badmus (Saudarkrokur Tindastoll), M Treacy (Moy Tolka Rovers), J Blount (Neptune), A Harris Igiehon (Abilene Christian), N Quinn (University of Richmond).