Ireland U16 men's head coach to continue with 13 strong squad following Four Nations success

Ireland U16 men's head coach Dr. Michael Lynch has selected a squad of 13 who will compete to be part of his final 12-person roster for the FIBA U16 Men's European Championships in Romania. 

It comes in the wake of the Ireland's victory on home soil in the U16 Four Nations a week ago. 

Lynch includes Ireland's top three scorers from that success, Dylan O'Rourke (15 points-per-game), Eoin Potito (13.5ppg) and Darragh Horkan (13ppg). Also making the grade are two overseas players, Charlie Marcoullier who came off the bench at the death of the decider against England to make a number of important shots and Kieran Quinn who proved effective from beyond the arc as well as provided a strong presence beneath the rim. 

Galway's Titans BC have the highest representation in the squad, Luke Herrick and Nathan Gbinigie joining the aforementioned Potito.  Seven others also feature, UCD Marian, Baltinglass Bulldogs, Drogheda Wolves, Éanna BC, Limerick Lions, Neptune and St. Vincents.

Next on the radar for the team will be the Dussman Trophy in July before they tackle the group stage f the FIBA U16 Men's European Championship in August. 

Speaking on the difficulty of his decision, head coach Dr. Michael Lynch said: "It is never easy to reduce a squad especially after an achievement such as the success of last week's Four Nations tournament which was great for us and all of of the Irish basketball community.

However, that success did create some real headaches and difficult decisions for me and my coaching staff. Again we would like to thank all the players and parents that have been involved in the Programme to date. Their commitment and dedication has been nothing short of exceptional. We still have a lot of work to do so now it's time for us to refocus on the next stage of our preparations for the FIBA European Championships.

We look forward to working with the players selected going forward and are excited to get back to work this weekend."

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FIBA U16 Men's European Championship Group:

Ireland, Croatia, Denmark, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Luxembourg. 

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Ireland U16 Men's Roster: Darragh Horkan, Adam Charles, Nathan Gbinige, Charles Marcoullier, Kieran Quinn, James Power, Noah Winders, Rojas Rimas, Dylan O'Rourke, Eoin Potito, Piers Postma, Kareem Matonmi, Luke Herrick. 

Full Breakdown