Claire Melia back, Lorraine Scanlon set for European bow as Weldon's Ireland gear up for qualifiers

Ireland begin their Women’s EuroBasket 2027 campaign with two home games at the National Basketball Arena - Luxembourg on Wednesday, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday

DUAL ACE: Lorraine Scanlon (left) celebrates Kerry's 2025 All-Ireland SFC final win over Galway with Jadyn Lucey. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

KERRY All-Ireland winning midfielder Lorraine Scanlon is one of three new European basketball debutants in James Weldon's Irish squad for this week's start of Ireland's FIBA Women’s EuroBasket qualifying campaign for 2027.

Claire Melia will also hook up again with the Ireland squad for her first appearance since claiming a silver medal with BAXI Ferrol in the FIBA EuroCup Women last April. The Kildare native is named in Weldon’s 12-person squad for the three-game window having missed the friendly wins over Norway in July.

Three players are in line for their Women’s EuroBasket debuts – Bronagh Power-Cassidy, Enya Maguire and Scanlon. Power-Cassidy and Maguire both made their international debuts against Estonia in August 2022, while Scanlon made her bow in the 78-63 win over Norway in July.

Power-Cassidy has concluded an impressive Stateside career, where she finished the 15th highest scorer of all time with Holy Cross, on 1,425 points, winning the Patriot League twice. She then played for Villanova Wildcats during 2024/25 season and is now a graduate assistant coach with the team.

Maguire is another recent US college graduate and is now playing club basketball in Spain. She also played with Ireland’s 3x3 team in the 2024 FIBA Women’s World Series. 32-year-old Scanlon helped Killarney's St. Paul’s to the Women’s Super League final last season and won an All-Ireland medal at midfield for Kerry in 2024.

Ireland begin their Women’s EuroBasket 2027 campaign with two home games at the National Basketball Arena - Luxembourg on Wednesday (5pm), followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday (7.25), with both live on TG4. Ireland are scheduled to face Israel in Riga, Latvia on November 18th.

Ireland defeated Norway twice last July, with the second of those a 75-67 success in a behind-closed-doors contest.

Head coach, James Weldon, said: “Our squad is in good shape, Claire Melia is coming off the back of a hugely impressive FIBA EuroCup Women silver medal last season with her club BAXI Ferrol. We also have some positive momentum, thanks the two friendly wins over Norway in the summer.

"Our two home games against Luxembourg and Bosnia and Herzegovina will hopefully give us a good platform to build on, as naturally we’re eager to get some wins early in the campaign to give us the best possible shot of making the second round of qualifying.” 

The winners and runners up from each of the seven groups qualify for the second round of FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2027 Qualifiers, along with the three best-ranked third-placed teams.

SQUAD: Hazel Finn (Trinity Meteors), Edel Thornton (Brunell) Sorcha Tiernan (Liffey Celtics), Abigail Rafferty (GDESSA-Barreiro, Portugal), Bridget Herlihy (unattached), Bronagh Power-Cassidy (Villanova Wildcats), Enya Maguire (HGB Horbisa Greenkw Barakaldo, Spain), Lorraine Scanlon (St. Paul’s), Claire Melia (BAXI Ferrol, Spain), Michelle Clarke (Killester), Sarah Hickey (Waterford Wildcats), Kate Hickey (Waterford Wildcats).