Weldon's much improved Irish women will face biggest challenge yet against French maestros

It is not just to Weldon’s credit but equally his various players through the years and Basketball Ireland itself that his vision is being realised: only the timelines have altered

James Weldon was reappointed Ireland women’s head coach for FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers.

Back in February 2019, shortly after he had been appointed coach of the Irish senior women’s basketball team, James Weldon held a meeting of prospective players at the national sports campus in Abbotstown and told them of a vision that he had that at the time seemed more like an outlandish dream.

Ireland were coming off a disappointing performance at the previous summer’s European Small Countries championship, finishing sixth out of eight teams, even though they had hosted the event (in Cork) and had been runners-up in the previous tournament in 2016. Out of the 44 nations affiliated to FIBA Europe, the Irish women’s team were ranked 42nd.