Colin O'Reilly (born 30 January 1984) is an Irish

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach and former player. He played Division III

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Post University Post University is a private for-profit university in Waterbury, Connecticut. It was founded in 1890 as Post College. From 1990 to 2004 it was affiliated with Teikyo University in Tokyo, Japan and during that time it was named Teikyo Post U ...

in the United States in the early 2000s and later represented the Irish national team as both a player and as a player-coach.

Professional career

On 26 March 2015, O'Reilly was named an inaugural

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

All-Star First Pick alongside

UCC Demons UCC Demons are an Irish basketball team based in Cork. The team competes in the Super League and plays its home games at Mardyke Arena. The team is a division of Blue Demons Basketball Club and is directly associated with the University Colleg ...

teammates Kyle Hosford and

Lehmon Colbert Lehmon Colbert Jr. (born April 14, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Jacksonville Dolphins before playing professionally in England, Mexico and Ireland. With UCC Demons in the Irish S ...

. Three days later, he helped Demons create Irish basketball history by winning the Champions Trophy and adding to their undefeated 2014–15 season. With a 24–0 record, the team also won the League and National Cup titles. In addition, O'Reilly earned Champions Trophy MVP honours after scoring 25 points in the final. He was later named both Player of the Year and Coach of the Year for the 2014–15 season. In 2015–16, he helped Demons reclaim both the Premier League title and the Champions Trophy. On 22 June 2016, O'Reilly was appointed head coach of the

Cheshire Phoenix The Cheshire Phoenix are a professional basketball team based in Ellesmere Port, England. Founded in 1984, they are members of the British Basketball League and play their home games at the Cheshire Oaks Arena. From 1993 until 2015 the team was ...

for the

2016–17 British Basketball League season The 2016–17 BBL season was the 30th campaign of the British Basketball League since the league's establishment in 1987. The season featured 12 teams from across England and Scotland. The season started on September 23, 2016, and ended on May 14, ...

. However, after a poor start to the season, he parted ways with the club in December 2016. In July 2017, O'Reilly returned to UCC Demons as player-coach for the 2017–18 season. He parted ways with Demons after the 2018–19 season. In June 2019, O'Reilly joined Killorglin as player-coach for the 2019–20 season. O'Reilly was set to serve as player-coach of

Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 time ...

for the 2020–21 season before it was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. He returned as player-coach of Neptune for the 2021–22 season.

Coaching career

For the 2022–23 season, O'Reilly continued on as Neptune's head coach.

National team career

O'Reilly was 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 The 2016 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries was the 15th edition of this tournament. It was hosted by Moldova. Armenia won its first ever gold in this championship by beating Andorra in the final, 79–71. Teams After the withdrawal o ...

. In 2019, O'Reilly served as player-coach of the Irish 3x3 team at the

FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup The FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup had its inaugural tournament in 2014 in Bucharest, Romania. There are two events in the championship, one men's event and one women's event. Each team has four players (three on court and one on the bench). The match is pla ...

. In April 2022, O'Reilly was re-appointed coach of the Irish men's 3x3 team.

Personal life

O'Reilly's older brother, Niall, also plays basketball. His sisters,

Orla Orla may refer to: Places *Orla, Missouri, USA *Orla, Texas, USA *Orla, Jharkhand, India *Orla, Podlaskie Voivodeship (north-east Poland), a village **Gmina Orla, a commune centred on the village *Orla, Krotoszyn County in Greater Poland Voivodesh ...

and Sinead, played college basketball for

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public research university with campuses in Binghamton, Vestal, and Johnson City, New York. It is one of the four university centers in the State ...

. After graduating, Orla went on to play professionally. O'Reilly is a former Cork senior hurling championship winner. He played for

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with tri ...

and helped them win the

2002 Cork Senior Hurling Championship The 2002 Cork Senior Hurling Championship was the 114th staging of the Cork Senior Hurling Championship since its establishment by the Cork County Board in 1887. The draw for the 2002 opening round fixtures took place on 9 December 2001. The cha ...

.Cork hurling title winner O'Reilly bids for Cup final
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References

External links

Eurobasket.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oreilly, Colin 1984 births Living people Cheshire Jets players Ireland men's national basketball team players Irish men's basketball players Plymouth Raiders players Blackrock National Hurling Club hurlers Sportspeople from Cork (city) Forwards (basketball)