Ireland's latest teenage prospect set for first cap
NEW CAPS: Ireland head coach James Weldon
Any story about an Irish kid signing for US college basketball giants ‘UConn’ (University of Connecticut) was destined to go viral.
That the Huskies recently recruited a relatively unknown teenage girl from Munster proved even more intriguing and sent people scampering to Google the name Gandy Malou-Mamel.
The 6’4” 17-year-old from Limerick Celtic is getting her first senior cap on Saturday in a friendly against Austria at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght (5pm) which is being streamed live on basketballireland.tv
National coach James Weldon hadn’t even heard of her until alerted, by a friend in America, to the UConn deal.
He is at pains to stress how young she is and that he’s primarily brought her in acclimatise to the standard and culture of his senior team whose next major competition, the 2025 Eurobasket Qualifiers, starts on November 5-13.
But he will still struggle to quench the hype around a youngster who doesn’t turn 18 until Christmas and will join UConn in 2025, after completing two more years in an American high school.
Malou-Mamel plays it down herself, saying it’s her height and massive work-rate that’s got her to this point.
She’s the eldest of four children who have already outgrown their parents who came to Ireland from the Congo before they were born.
“My dad is 6ft 1in and my mom is 5ft 10in but all of us are already much taller than them. My 16-year-old brother is 6’7” and my brother who is 14 is 6’4”. I think it (the height) comes from my mom.”
She was a burgeoning soccer goalkeeper before she even stepped on a hard-court and credits Michelle Aspell, the legendary Irish international who founded ‘Celtics with her husband Tony Hehir, with her development and tireless playing style.
She immediately took to it when a coach from ‘Celtics taught some basketball in her school and actually played her first club taster in her school uniform.
“I was in a shirt and a tie but it was very fun. I enjoyed it because I loved blocking people. I felt it suited me more than soccer and immediately switched sports.”
She played in two All-Ireland schools finals with Castletroy College and made an Irish U17 side but that was more a development squad.
It is former Irish international Kieran Quinn she has to thank for her gateway to America.
The Cappawhite native took the US collegiate route himself and stayed. His kids Sidney and Kieran are already playing U16 for Ireland and when he saw some club video of Malou-Mamel in 2021 he got in touch with his Limerick mates to check her out.
“I think him and his son were checking my height and how fast it took me to get from one baseline to the other baseline. I’m not sure how fast I was but I was fast for my height,” she explains with a grin.
She now boards with Quinn’s family while attending Gil St Bernards HS in New Jersey.
“It was hard at first to keep up,” she admits. “I had to adjust to how many stronger and taller girls that were there. After high school season ended (October to March) I joined a club team for the summer season and we travelled across the different states.”
She caught UConn’s eyes while playing particularly well defensively at one tournament in Texas.
“I think they just liked my persistence, my motor, being able to run. They just expect me to keep working as hard as I have been because I think that's what interested them so much, that I would dive for loose balls and could keep up with players who are 5’4.”
Ireland assistant coach Gillian Hayes was familiar with Malou-Mamel who was in the same schools’ cohort as her daughter Sarah Hickey and quickly assessed what massive progress she’s made in the past year.
She’s one of three new senior caps on Saturday with Glanmire’s Annaliese Murphy and Brunell’s Lauryn Homan.
Last year’s Irish-American find Bridget Herlihy has noticeably just gone from Sweden to Spain (Ensino Lugo) but Dayna Finn has taken the AFLW route to Australia.
Injury rules out Rachel Huisjdens and Sarah Kenny and Claire Melia is also out with a family commitment but it’s a great chance to see Enya Maguire, Ella O’Donnell and Bronagh Power-Cassidy who’ve all been impressing for their US colleges.
The women’s 2025 Eurobasket draw was due last week but FIBA have postponed it until mid-September.
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