Mark Keenan to step down as Ireland men's basketball head coach
Keenan said: 'I've thoroughly enjoyed my time as Ireland head coach, it's been a great honour to lead my national team. It's now time to pass on the torch to the next head coach to build on what we've achieved over the last six years.'
Keenan was appointed in 2019 and led Ireland to trophy success, winning the 2021 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries. That tournament victory helped send Ireland into the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 pre-qualifiers, where the team claimed home and away victories over both Cyprus and Luxembourg.
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Keenan subsequently led the side into the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 pre-qualifiers – the first time an Irish side has competed at World Cup level. The team came close to advancing to the next round, having achieved three wins, twice against Azerbaijan and a home victory against Kosovo.
Keenan stated: 'There have been so many highs, including winning the 2021 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries in Dublin. Leading our return to FIBA EuroBasket Pre-Qualifiers was a big task, but one I and the rest of my coaching staff relished, picking up four wins over Cyprus and Luxembourg, who were both ranked higher than us.'
He added: 'Our two home wins last November during the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Pre-Qualifiers and the atmosphere at those games will also live long in the memory and we came so close to advancing to the next stage of qualifying, with three wins overall.'
The decision follows a meeting between Keenan, Basketball Ireland CEO John Feehan and Deirdre Brennan, chair of the Elite Performance Committee, where all parties 'agreed it was time for a change,' according to a statement from Basketball Ireland.
Brennan praised Keenan's contribution to Irish basketball.
She said: 'Mark has left a legacy with Irish basketball and on behalf of the EPC I'd like to thank him for his outstanding service as head coach of the Irish senior men's team over the last six years, giving us so many wonderful moments.'
Feehan said: 'Mark Keenan has given so much to Irish international basketball. As a player he won the FIBA Promotions Cup in 1994 and then 25 years later he was head coach as the team lifted the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries, a remarkable feat.'
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The 42
35 minutes ago
- The 42
Making history at the Tour de France after a nasty crash and a confidence rebuild
A WOMAN HAS just crossed the line of the final stage of the Women's Tour de France when the camera closes in on her distressed face. Delirious with fatigue, she crouches over the handlebars of her bike while a race official props her up. She leans down, pressing her helmet into her left hand before moving across to the other side in a desperate search for relief. Every breath is a fight for air. Her whole body is heaving. After nine days, and roughly 1,000km of cycling, she's finally at the end of the toughest tour of her professional career. Another minute and she wouldn't have made the time cut. The record would have shown that Fiona Mangan from Limerick didn't finish the Tour de Femmes, a sign-off she would not have deserved. She has already made history by being one of the first three Irish women to compete at this prestigious cycling event. And on Stage 7, she became the first Irish rider to win an intermediate sprint. This is the ninth and final stage. Cycling with the last group on the road, it's been a grind to get through the 3,000m of climbing to cross the line at Châtel Les Portes du Soleil. A big push to get inside the cut line. 'It was such a suffer-fest out there,' she says to the interviewer as she slowly starts to recalibrate. 'I'm not a climber so I'm really suffering . . . I've achieved things I've never done before . . . definitely the hardest thing that I've done.' **** The pain didn't arrive immediately after Mangan was thrown over the handlebars during a race in Belgium. She leapt back up and tried to haul down a car for assistance. She can't quite remember, but she thinks her saddle was loose. There was about 30km left in the Omloop Nieuwsblad in March, when she veered off the road, out through the bushes, and over the handlebars after her front wheel became lodged in a drain. That's when she noticed her saddle was broken and that's also when her shoulder and right hand started sending signals. A hospital in Belgium saw nothing of concern in her injuries, but a second opinion in Spain offered a clearer picture of the damage. A broken collarbone and a broken metacarpal in her right hand. 'I got a plate in my collarbone and a screw in my hand,' Mangan, 29, recalls. 'They said , 'You have to get surgery done on your metacarpal, because if you don't, it's going to heal like in a strange way.' 'You won't have like proper functioning of your hand for writing and stuff.' Crashes are unspectacular events in cycling. They happen frequently and procedures are in place to respond quickly. Mangan has had a few spills in her time. 'At least 20, if not more,' she says when asked for a rough estimate. Most of her falls have resulted in minor injuries like cuts, bruises and scrapes. In January, she was unseated during a race in Majorca and was left with just a cut on her face. 'There's so many crashes in cycling that that was a good crash,' she adds. But the Belgium incident was more serious and the impact on her confidence was quite significant. The Omloop Nieuwsblad is what is known as a spring classic on the cycling calendar, and is raced over cobble roads. Riders need to be strong for these races as the course is mostly flat with a lot of corners to navigate. This was a race that Mangan felt she was suited to and was building her training towards it. But mishaps can still happen in a sport like cycling. Saddles can loosen. Equipment can fail. Riding that line between safety and danger carries a cost. Advertisement 'It took me like a few months before I could fully descend properly and corner properly. It took me a few months to get back confidence. 'You have to manage your risk because you're going 60, sometimes 80km per hour on descents. 'So in training, I try to be as careful as I can and really mindful and not pushing it. And and then when you're in race mode, you're in race mode. And I guess, you're always taking risks. It's a sport that's dangerous in so many ways. But I think the more you do the sport, the more you know when to take the risk, and when not. Fiona Mangan pictured at the Tour de France. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo 'But then, the reason I love cycling sometimes is because there's there's such a thrill to it, too. A bit like probably Formula One or jockeys, there are parts that are thrilling. And when you're in a flow, you don't even feel the fear. You just you just go with the flow.' **** Cycling was in Mangan's family through her father who had an interest in triathlons. Growing up, Fiona would often join him for a cycle but didn't like the length of time they spent on the bike. She didn't want to wear a helmet either. Her attitude to road safety came up at a friend's wedding recently. They went to school together and when they were in transition year, the pair started cycling to school. 'As soon as she was gone around the corner of her house,' Mangan says taking up the story, 'She'd take off her helmet. My parents would leave for work earlier so they wouldn't even see me sometimes leave the house without a helmet. One day our neighbour caught us and I think we got in trouble.' Gaelic football was Mangan's main sport at that point. She played basketball too, and some soccer but playing for her local GAA club Mungret was her main priority. County football came up for her at the underage grades up to about minor. Cycling came back into her orbit during her college years. While studying Biomedical Engineering in NUIG, she went to Georgia Tech in Atlanta as part of an exchange programme. A local triathlon club was organising events and Mangan decided to head along with a friend. 'For some reason, I really got hooked to cycling out there. 'It gave me an opportunity to visit all like the roads around and to visit and I had no car. So like I really got into cycling, like I would cycle to the school, to the gym, like just to the shop. I was just cycling all the time to get anywhere. 'I did a few triathlons out there and I really enjoyed it. And then came home and Dad said he had an old road bike. That's when I started using doing triathlons in Ireland.' Her Dad was also quick to remind her of a time when cycling didn't meet her standard. 'He definitely did. Although I think he was delighted when he was doing a bit of triathlon. He would take me along with him. It was nice for the two of us to have a day out at the weekend, so I think he was happy. 'He wasn't happy, though, when I started beating him.' Cycling tightened its grip on Mangan during the Covid-19 pandemic. She moved back home with her parents in Limerick and found the bike to be a useful instrument for getting around the 2km and 5km social distancing restrictions. She joined a local cycling group called Greenmount and found an instant acceptance among the other cyclists. A new obsession was born as she took part in her first competitive race in the 2020 National Championships, which were held in Limerick. 'They [Greenmount] really took me under their wing and showed me how to race. They gave me a lot of confidence. They were always challenging me to do a harder race or do more training and things like that. I loved that. I really loved the community that they had built around cycling.' **** Mangan didn't think she would rebuild her form in time to earn a selection for the Tour de France. She signed a professional contract with the Winspace Orange Seal team in France last October, but the crash that followed in March had knocked her. She was the national Time Trial and Road Race champion in 2024, but was unable to defend her double success this summer. And then, in July, she revived her season with her first international victory as a pro. Mangan won the sprint finish to claim the third stage of the Volta a Portugal Feminina Cofidis. It was a big win for her confidence, and a landmark win for her team. '99 percent of the time you're losing. When you do win, it's just such a nice feeling. You you kind of can't believe it. There's 150 girls in the race and when you actually do cross the line first, you're like, 'What'? 'It was really nice for the team, too. I was their first podium win with the Winspace sponsor.' Mangan found out that she was on the Tour de France team about three weeks out from the first stage. She had plenty of support as her mother is from France and her parents loaded up the car to follow her campaign. Her cousins in Brittany supported her too. Mangan made history in 2023 by becoming the first Irish woman to complete one of cycling's Grand Tours at the La Vuelta Femenina. And now, she was opening the record books again. Along with Mia Griffin (Roland Le Dévoluy) and Lara Gillespie (UAE Team ADQ), the three riders broke new ground by becoming the first women to represent Ireland at the Tour de Femmes. It was a successful debut as Gillespie took third place at Stage 4 to secure a podium finish. And then Mangan delivered another milestone moment with that intermediate sprint finish on Stage 7. She was in a breakaway group when she heard there was a sprint coming up. Winning sprints during a stage entitles the rider to points and Mangan was allocated 25 of them for her effort. 'My director was on the radio and he said, 'Look, there's a sprint coming up. You might as well take it.' 'When you're in a breakaway, it's a lot easier to win those kind of points, because instead of competing with a peloton of 200 girls, you're only competing with the breakaway of, in our case, it was 17. 'It just a nice kind of experience to have as well, to kind of practice maybe in a few years time. The green jersey is something I might want to aim for.' **** It's unusual to take a full week off from cycling, but that was exactly what Mangan needed after the Tour de France. After nine straight days of racing, a beach in Spain sounds like just the ticket. 'It's like you're really hungover. Your brain is really foggy.' She's peddling again now, working towards a stage race in Ardèche in France next month. The European Championships are after that. She has also started some track pursuit training in the Velodrome. A shot at qualifying for the LA Olympics could be on her bingo card. Ben Healy in the yellow jersey during this year's Tour de France. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo These are prosperous times for Irish cycling. Ben Healy set the tone with his yellow jersey exploits at the men's Tour de France before the trio at the Tour de Femmes boosted cycling's profile in Ireland once again. Eddie Dunbar, Darren Rafferty, Gillespie and Griffin, Mangan mentions them all when she thinks about the sport's recent growth spurt. And the Limerick woman wants more of this. More risk-management. More riding the line. More pain. More joy. And hopefully, more success.
The 42
35 minutes ago
- The 42
4 years ago, he was in the Team of the Year. Now, he's without a club
IN ELITE football, luck as well as talent is key to the success of any player. Being in the right place at the right time can be fundamental to a footballer's progress. In the Premier League last season, two Irish internationals — Jake O'Brien and Matt Doherty — were out of favour at their clubs. In the two cases, a change of manager midway through the campaign changed the fortunes of both individuals, and they became first-team regulars at Everton and Wolves, respectively. A few years ago, James Brown was considered a player of significant potential and might even have had a chance at Premier League football were it not for an unfortunate twist of fate. After starting at Shelbourne, the right-back's career fully took off with Drogheda. In 2020, he helped the club win the First Division title. The following year, he enjoyed another stellar season, earning a place in the PFAI Premier Division Team of the Year, winning Drogheda's Supporters' Player of the Year and being made captain of the club. The youngster's form caught the attention of clubs across the water. In late 2021, he had trials at Blackburn and Bristol Rovers. Brown joined the Ewood Park outfit and made a significant impact. The then-23-year-old initially signed a short-term deal and became a regular for Rovers' reserve team. 'I know a lot of lads that wouldn't take a six-month contract, and I just said: 'Why not?'' he tells The 42. Brown impressed in this new environment to the extent that he was soon rewarded with a two-year extension. Under Tony Mowbray, the club were chasing promotion to the Premier League, and Brown made the first-team bench a couple of times before getting his debut in Blackburn's May 2022 clash with Birmingham, completing the full 90 minutes. The Dubliner looked set for an extended run in the first team. '[Mowbray] told me that I'd be more in the plan next year, because I signed for him in January, and then towards the end, he was very good to me. He constantly had chats with me, saying he was happy with what I'm doing.' Advertisement Unfortunately for Brown, just four days after his debut, Blackburn announced that Mowbray would be leaving as manager after over five years in charge. The club had looked set to secure a place in the Championship play-offs at the very least, but a dire run of one win in nine matches around the pivotal March-April period meant they finished six points adrift in eighth. This decline in form had serious ramifications for Brown as well as the club. 'I think if Tony Mowbray didn't leave, I probably would have got a lot more games the following year,' he says. Jon Dahl Tomasson, the ex-Newcastle and AC Milan striker, took over the reins. The Danish coach had 'different ideas,' and they did not involve Brown. 'That's football,' as the defender pragmatically puts it. Brown knew he needed regular first-team game time and spent the 2022-23 campaign on loan, making 16 appearances in League Two with Stockport County and 17 in the same division for Doncaster Rovers. Stockport narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing fourth and losing the play-off final on penalties. 'They had 22 really good players, which was frustrating at times,' he recalls. 'Because we'd win games and the manager would rotate, and I was on loan, so I wanted to try to play every game, or as many games as possible.' Doncaster were battling down the other end of the table, ultimately finishing 18th, but the fact that they had a 'lighter' squad proved attractive to Brown. 'They didn't finish as well as Stockport did in the league, but I got games in, which is all I wanted that season.' He continues: 'When I went to Stockport, it was hard picking back up fitness-wise. And then I was starting to get rotated, which, in all honesty, I didn't know how to handle. 'When I was in Ireland, I was playing every week, and things were rosy. When I was at Blackburn, I wasn't expecting to play, whereas when I went to Stockport, I was expecting to play.' James Brown of Ross County slide tackles Kyogo Furuhashi of Celtic. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Despite having a year left on his contract, Brown decided to leave Blackburn with no apparent pathway to the first team there. In the summer of 2023, he joined Scottish Premiership side Ross County. In two seasons, the full-back made 58 top-flight appearances, gaining substantial exposure, often playing in front of TV cameras against teams of the calibre of Celtic and Rangers. However, Brown says he was not surprised when the club opted against renewing his contract at the end of last season. Ross County suffered the agony of relegation, losing to Livingston in a play-off after finishing the league season four points off safety in 11th. This outcome resulted in considerable budget cuts, with the Irishman one of the players let go. 'There's been dips in [my] form 100% and then I've had some positive games [since moving to Britain]. '[At Ross County] it's difficult when you're up against it every week. So there are games where you wouldn't push [forward] as much as you would in other games 'It's a harder level over here [compared with Ireland], of course, and demands are higher, and you're playing against better opposition. So it's more difficult, but it's a lot easier to impress in a better team than it is in the team down at the bottom of the league.' During the summer, the PFA (Professional Footballers' Association) runs a 10-week pre-season camp for unsigned players in Britain, and Brown is one of a constantly changing group of around 40 who are part of this setup. The full-back has been in talks with several clubs and had offers, but is still waiting for the 'right' opportunity. 'I don't want to rush into a move that I'm not happy with,' he explains. 'But at the same time, you see the fixtures going on each week, and you'd like to be involved. '[If I'm still a free agent] later on in the window, I'll probably get a small bit more agitated.' Elaborating on why he declined certain offers, he adds, 'It's probably a bit of everything. One, probably the location, and another was the level. And then you have some clubs financially not meeting what you're expecting.' St Patrick's Athletic were one of the clubs rumoured to be interested in Brown, and the defender says he did have offers to return to Ireland. 'I just said the same thing I'm going to say to you — I want to try to stay in the UK. 'The standard is great at home, and it's only getting bigger and bigger, but my priority is to stay in the UK for a few more years, or anywhere [abroad] really.' At 27, Brown is experienced enough to know that he can recover from this predicament, as he has the maturity to cope with setbacks. 'I think everyone gets to a stage where you want success straight away, [but] you're going to have knocks and bumps, where you just have to be patient. I've lost my head a few times when I probably shouldn't have, in my head, not at other people, but being patient and just chipping away, keep working hard [is key]. 'Everyone's human. Confidence is a massive part of it. 'It's a huge amount of luck involved.'
RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Ballinasloe's best ready to take Rugby World Cup by storm
As the club celebrates its 150th anniversary, Ballinasloe's Béibhinn Parsons, Aoibheann Reilly and Méabh Deely are excited to take on the challenge of Rugby World Cup 2025 and to make the local area proud. For some towns or villages, to produce one inter-county player is a big moment. For Ballinasloe, after a few barren years that preceded it, the sky has become the limit. Since 2021 they have produced an Olympian, three senior women's rugby internationals and five Ireland Under-20 men's rugby internationals, all of whom have gone on to represent Connacht. It is a remarkable feat for a club that has a long and complex, but unique backstory; but it is even more impressive for a town hampered by Ireland's post Celtic Tiger urbanisation. As the IRFU wanted to make clear in their social media content; everyone has a back story. For these three, the opening chapter kicks into gear in October of 2013. The east Galway club started the 2012/13 season without ever fielding a full women's team before, youths or senior; but that was soon to change. "It was Aoibheann's dad Stephen who started it all," says Deely. "He kind of got them to round up the troops in first year in Ard Scoil Mhuire and that's how we started." Reilly adds: "When the girl's team was set up in 2013, so many girls from the school, and also from the neighbouring GAA areas of Pearses, Ballinasloe and Aughrim, decided to pick it up. "As a lot of the girls had played other sports before, they picked rugby up so easily and we just did so well. It was very enjoyable." Familial ties are the norm in underage sport, but especially for this watershed team. Reilly's dad, Stephen, was their coach, while Deely's mother, Ann, was the team manager. Neighbours and friends came onboard en masse, and over a decade later, their group became the catalyst for years of success. "I remember at one point my mam told me there's over 90 girls playing in the club," Deely says. "When I was there it was just our team for a while and then we got to two teams eventually. "It is pretty cool and it's nice to know that we started something there with our group of girls that's still there and hopefully will stay there forever." "To see the growth of the girl's section in the club now, it's amazing." The road to Northampton has been a winding one for the three girls in green. An untimely knee injury curtailed Reilly's Olympics aspirations and could have hampered her World Cup quest. Parsons did feature at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but she and the squad had to settle for an eighth-place finish, winning just one of their six games. As for Deely, she missed the 2025 Six Nations through injury, but a consistent 80-minute showing in the warm-up clash with Scotland secured her plane ticket. Now, with the squad's feet firmly on the ground, the excitement is mixed with a steely focus. "There's lots of excitement. The start of summer, we were like, 'oh, it's ages away', but the nine weeks of pre-season and then a few weeks in between, it flew by", says scrum-half Reilly. "As soon as I got that injury before the Olympics, I had my sights set on getting back in form for the World Cup. "I got back for the opening game of the Six Nations and I'm glad I have the pre-season under my belt now and I'm ready to go. "For me, it's just also just getting confidence again and back in playing with different combinations and getting that gel." The aim is clear, get to the latter stages and set foot on the hallowed Twickenham turf in a final ideally, but a third place play-off would not be sniffed at either.. "As a team, we have this motto that we want to get to London," confirms Deely. Reilly says: "[If we] get to the quarters, you try to go all the way. That's why every team goes there to do. "We know we have the talent in the squad if we can just put our best performances out there." One of the most prominent names in Ballinasloe folklore is that of Noel Mannion. The former Ireland number 8 is most famous for his thrilling try in Cardiff back in 1989 and is now the club's director of rugby. After over 50 years with the club, he could not be prouder of the recent resurgence. "It's no accident that this talent arrived, it's a combination of good coaching as well talented young players. You can't take it for granted," said Mannion. Noel and others are heroes of the past but now comes a new generation of unbridled talent. From Ballinasloe underage to the top billing of international stages, one of the oldest clubs in Ireland has fast become one of the biggest suppliers in the club route. "It is quite unique and it's only when you look around that you see most junior clubs don't produce provincial or international players," said the former Ireland forward. "If you went to bigger clubs in Leinster, they wouldn't be anywhere near this level of production." With 18 counties represented in the 32-player squad, this is an Irish rugby team that represents every corner of the island, and within it, Connacht's oldest club of Ballinasloe RFC are well and truly punching above their weight.
