International

Aug 02 2026

Ireland finish 17th at FIBA U18 Youth EuroBasket

A commanding 22-point victory against Portugal capped off Ireland’s FIBA U18 Youth EuroBasket campaign, finishing three places higher than the year before. Ireland’s 3-4 record was filled with dramatic endings and dominant displays, earning them 17^th for the tournament.

Mark Burns averaged 13 points-per-game and racked up 91 points to lead Ireland’s scoring, while Aidan McGrath (76), Fryderyk Klimas (67) and Kieran Quinn (60) followed closely behind. Head coach, Niall Berry, spoke about the lessons that this squad have learnt after putting in a fantastic effort on the court.

"I think one of the big things this group of players need to learn from this tournament was that it's about setting standards and maintaining performance levels. If they take that away from this tournament, then they will have more consistent performances in the future," said Niall Berry. "We're a little dissapointed not to have finished higher, we feel like we could have been further up, but we're very proud of how we finished the tournament out. To have three wins coming away from tournament is great and overall, I'm proud of the boys and proud of the lessons they learnt. We'll take all these lessons on board and we'll go again in the future."

Ireland were drawn into Group C alongside Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Great Britain and Cyprus, where they took away two wins from five. An opening dramatic victory for Ireland saw them win 78-76, with Aidan McGrath tipping Michael Cunningham Smyth’s inbound ball into the basket at the buzzer.

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A convincing 20-point win against Cyprus saw Ireland go two for two, but losses against Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain meant Ireland finished fifth in their group with seven points.

“We started off strong against Finland and had a nice win against Cyprus, but after, that I feel like the standard of the team didn’t reflect what the record was in the group stage,” said captain Kieran Quinn.

Sweden awaited Ireland in the 17-22 Classification Game, having finished fifth in their own group. The Swedes took a nine-point lead in the first half; however, a vibrant third quarter from Ireland saw them level the score before the final ten minutes of play. The sides finished level after the fourth, bringing the game to overtime where Sweden snuck away with a one-point win, 106-105.

In their final fixture, Ireland faced Portugal in the 17-18 classification game, where Ireland came away with a decisive win. Ireland took a commanding fourteen point lead in the first quarter and continued to build on this through Mark Burns and Aivaras Buzas, who combined for 31 points.

"We felt like today was the first time that we put together a complete performance where we played in all four quarters," said Niall Berry following the contest with Portugal. "We had an up and down tournament, we played some really good basketball and we showed that we could be in the upper half of teams here. We could have been looking at a top ten finish, but we had inconsistent performances where we played really well in the first half and then stopped playing in the third quarter. I'm very proud of the boys and they're very proud of themselves that they could finish the tournament with a complete and professional performance. They didn't take their foot off the pedal and they maintained their standards throughout the game."