AMY DOOLEY - Basketball

Ireland senior women’s basketball international, Amy Dooley has made a massive impact since her arrival at Women’s Super League side, Portlaoise Panthers in the summer of 2024.

Having helped former club, UCC Glanmire to a Champions Trophy berth following a joint third-place finish in the top tier of Irish women’s basketball last season, the Old Leighlin native has proven an even more formidable force for Panthers, helping turn the Laois outfit from a side that barely avoided relegation in 2023/24 into serious play-off contenders.

Indeed, Dooley’s record with the midlands side in 2024 speaks for itself, the Portlaoise centre averaging 10.9 points and 12.6 rebounds in the league, while, in their one single appearance in the Paudie O’Connor National Cup against Trinity Meteors in November, she served up 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

Certainly her powerful presence under the boards has proven a huge factor in Portlaoise taking down some of the big guns of Women’s Super League this season, including last year’s National Cup champions, Brunell, along with Fr. Mathews, St. Paul’s and even her former team, Glanmire.

Dooley is no stranger to success at the highest level of Irish women’s basketball, having helped Glanmire to Super League, National Cup and Champions Trophy honours during her time with the Cork outfit.

Her superb form did not go unnoticed by national team management, with head coach, James Weldon drafting her into the Ireland senior set-up for the first time last February as his side competed in the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 qualifiers.

With that competition now in the rearview mirror following Ireland’s final game earlier in the month - a narrow six-point defeat at the hands a Latvia side that is ranked 57 places higher than them in the world standings - Dooley will now be turning her attention back to the club front and helping Portlaoise secure a top-eight finish in the Super League and, with it, a play-off berth.