Cork basketball: Colin O'Reilly and Paul Kelleher will coaches Irish 3x3 teams

C&S Neptune player/coach Colin O’Reilly has been appointed as Ireland’s new 3x3 senior men’s head coach, while Paul Kelleher is the new Ireland 3x3 senior women’s head coach. 

The two Cork men will take charge for the FIBA Europe Cup 2022 Qualifiers, which take place in Limassol, Cyprus on June 4th/5th.

This season O’Reilly led C&S Neptune to the InsureMyHouse.ie National Cup final and InsureMyVan.ie Super League final. 

He has a wealth of international experience, having previously played and coached the Irish senior 3x3 team at FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup’s. 

O’Reilly was also head coach of the Irish senior men’s team from 2014 to 2016, helping them to a fourth-placed finish at the 2016 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries.

“I’m delighted to get this opportunity to coach the Irish 3x3 senior men’s team," O’Reilly said.

"I won’t be playing and will be entirely focused on coaching. 3x3 continues to grow in popularity in Ireland and that’s good news, as it will be a talented and competitive squad of four that will take to the court at the tournament in Cyprus.” 

Kelleher has plenty of international pedigree too, he is the current Ireland U18 men’s head coach, a role he’s held for the last five years. 

He also coached the Irish 3x3 senior men’s team at the FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup Qualifier in Constanta, Romania last June and led the Irish U18 3x3 men's team to the FIBA U18 Europe Cup in Debrecen in 2018. 

Domestically, Kelleher has coached Super League sides Neptune, Blue Demons, UL Eagles and Glanmire.

Speaking about his appointment, Kelleher stated he was looking forward to the job.

“This is another new adventure and one I’m looking forward to. Last year with the men’s 3x3 team we learned a lot and I hope we can bring that to the women’s side. 

"We’ve some wonderful talent, who I hope want to be involved and hopefully then we can take this another step and build on what has already been some memorable moments in the past.” 

Basketball Ireland Senior Technical Officer, Matthew Hall, added: “We are really pleased to have Colin and Paul as our men’s and women’s 3x3 senior head coaches. 

"Their standing within the domestic and international game is without question and both have considerable 3x3 coaching experience, which will be invaluable as we send our teams to Cyprus in June.” 

Ireland’s men will be in a pool of four teams at the FIBA Europe Cup 2022 Qualifiers, while the Irish women’s team are in a pool of three teams. The pool winners will advance directly to the semi-finals, while the 2nd and 3rd placed teams in the pool will play an additional play-in game to the semi-finals. 

The men’s and women’s competition winners will qualify to the FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup 2022, which takes place in Graz, Austria from September 9th-11th.