Nulty set for euro basketball championships in bulgaria

Padraig Nulty from Bellewstown will be competing with the Irish basketball team this week in Bulgaria at the u-16 European Championships.

The Bellewstown teenager is the only player from this area to be selected on the Irish team, he attends St Mary’s Diocesan School, Drogheda and plays basketball for Drogheda Bullets.

He has won various honours already including a first year Schools Basketball All-Ireland title, an Inter-Regional Plate competition, the All-Ireland B club title this year and a North East Schools All-Ireland.

Last year he played his first international for Ireland against Scotland in Cork and when the current panel was reduced to 12 after a trip to Denmark, he made the cut.

The final 12 continued training and took part in the Dussmann International Tournament in Luxembourg in July where they played Luxembourg, Netherlands and Tunisia.

From there they travelled to Portugal to play challenge games against Belgium and Portugal as part of the preparation process for the European Championships.

Last week the Irish boys played in a series of challenge games in Kerry and Cork and they are well prepared for the trip to Sofia this week with the tournament scheduled from Thursday 6th to Sunday 16th August.

Ireland will face Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Slovenia and Norway in the qualifying group.