Ireland v Austria – All You Need To Know

Ireland take on Austria at the National Basketball Arena at 5pm on Saturday. It’s the first of two weekend games, with Sunday’s fixture behind-closed-doors.

Tickets:

Spectator tickets are still available and can be purchased here. 

Where can I watch it:

Saturday’s game will also be broadcast live on basketballireland.tv and is free to view for monthly or annual subscribers, while you can also watch via PPV for €6.99. Watch it here.

Less than 5 hours to tip off at the National Basketball Arena, as the Ireland women's team take on Austria - you can watch it live on https://t.co/HqBGMOAjRW

Spectator tickets also still available, be there to support and get behind the team, buy them here ➡️… pic.twitter.com/v0kKBeSD5B

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) August 12, 2023

Game preview:

Ireland head coach James Weldon has selected a 13-person squad for Saturday’s game, with three players in line for their international debuts - Abigail Rafferty, Lauryn Homan and Gandy Malou-Mamel. Malou-Mamel recently signed for UConn, she spoke at Friday’s media day and you can read more about her in Saturday’s Irish Examiner here and the Irish Independent here.

Ireland’s other debutant, Annalise Murphy, will play in Sunday’s behind-closed-doors game.

Injury rules out Rachel Huisjdens and Sarah Kenny, while Claire Melia misses the fixture due to personal commitments and Ciara Bracken is playing with the Irish U23 3x3 squad at this week's FIBA U23 3x3 Nations League in Romania.

The Irish squad faced American college Holy Cross last weekend and these two fixtures against Austria are being used as preparation for Ireland’s FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers, which will begin in November. The qualifiers draw was due to take place on August 8^th, but was postponed by FIBA until an undetermined date in September. 

Ireland squad:

Michelle Clarke, Edel Thornton, Hannah Thornton, Sorcha Tiernan, Enya Maguire, Abigail Rafferty, Ella O’Donnell, Lauryn Homan, Mia Furlong, Kate Hickey, Gandy Malou-Mamel, Aine O’Connor, Bridget Herlihy, Annaliese Murphy.

Head Coach: James Weldon

Austria squad:

Nina Krisper, Bettina Kunz, Sigrid Koizar, Anna Boruta, Rebekka Kalaydjiev, Petra Pammer, Michaela Wildbacher, Simone Sill, Anja Knoflach, Alexia Allesch, Sara Solyom

Head Coach: Christopher O’Shea