International

Feb 19 2025

Ireland head coach and captain share their thoughts ahead of Switzerland clash

The latest from Ireland camp ahead of Thursday's FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Pre-Qualifier against Switzerland, live on the TG4 Player from Fribourg, Switzerland. Watch it here.

Ireland head coach Mark Keenan and captain Sean Flood spoke to media on Tuesday ahead of the game, with Ireland still in the running for qualification from Group A, sitting in second place on a 2-2 record. First up, coach Keenan addressed his squad selection and what he expects to see from Ireland's opponents.

"Obviously everything is channeled towards Switzerland right now," said Keenan. You know, they're a quality side that run a lot of different actions on the offensive end. So, you know, a lot of emphasis on defense for us this week. They're a great short, real screen and short roll team. And that's hurt us in the past. So we've just got to key in on, trying to contain that."

Kyle Hosford has ended his international retirement to be part of the squad and Keenan believes he'll bring some steel to the group.

"Kyle has been putting in some great performances for his club. We needed another natural point guard in the team so he was the obvious one to call up. Delighted to have him back.He played here a couple of years ago, so he's not going to be fazed by anything. It's unfortunate some guys (Paul Dick, Aidan Igiehon, Taiwo Badmus) are injured, but it's opportunities for everybody else to step up."

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Ireland have played Switzerland five times in recent years, a fact not lost on the head coach.

"They'll also know our personnel, obviously some have changed but you know, I think there's still six or seven guys there from the team a couple of years ago, so yeah, for me, both sides are familiar with one another. I think we played them five times, including two friendlies, you know, over the last two or three years, so we do know them well, but it's still about, taking away what they love to do."

"Look it's all it's all to play for. So we want to go into the next round. We want to elevate ourselves, you know, to another level. We set a great bar for ourselves in November in the last window with the way we played. So we want to keep that standard open, try and push on," added Keenan.

Looking to make it 3️⃣ wins in a row on Thursday evening in Fribourg 👌#Greenmeansgo ☘️ | #IrishBasketball pic.twitter.com/E9fHoHHmzm
— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) February 18, 2025

"We're very excited," began Ireland captain Sean Flood. "I think meeting up on Monday, there was a good sense of enthusiasm and stuff to get back to it. Obviously we had a great November window and yeah, we said two more and now we've the opportunity to do that this week and progress further in the competition. So everyone’s excited and looking forward to the game on Thursday first."

Ireland have played some very close games with Switzerland in the last few years and Flood is hopeful that it is their turn to come out on the right side of the result.

"I mean we've played Switzerland a lot over the past probably three or four years and I think we're probably due at this stage. They've got us the last couple of times so it's one that we now are familiar with. We know they're very talented, very disciplined and stuff like that. So, we'll have to be on par with that going into a game on Thursday."

Finally, asked to address the impact of a returning Kyle Hosford to the fold, Flood added:

"Now we're definitely going to miss the likes of Taiwo (Badmus), Paul (Dick) and Roy (Downey) and Aiden (Igiehon), who were part of the last window in previous windows as well, but it's a welcome boost to have Kyle back with us now this week. He’s somebody who's been part of the senior international setup for probably the last 12 years or whatever, so it's someone who's tough, brings obviously leadership and someone who won't be scarred and in difficult moments."

You can watch both Ireland's FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 European Pre-Qualifiers against Switzerland on Thursday at 18:30 and Azerbaijan on Sunday at 13:00 on the TG4 Player here, TG4 app or FIBA YouTube Channel.