Kildare twins represent Ireland in European basketball championships
Identical twins Darragh and Eoghan O’Loughlin from Rathangan were headed to Gevgelija, North Macedonia last week
Rathangan identical twins Darragh and Eoghan O’Loughlin travelled to Gevgelija, North Macedonia last week to represent Ireland in the U16 Men's EuroBasket 2026 tournament. The pair are making their third trip abroad with the Irish team having been picked in Emer Howard's final squad of 12 for the tournament.
“It’s a great opportunity and a completely unique experience,” Eoghan said.
The twins have mirrored one another in their basketball journey having fallen in love with the sport by playing it during their lunch break in primary school. After getting into more organised basketball in school, they joined Kestrels in Portarlington and continued playing in secondary school as well.
“We liked playing it at break time so we said we’d give it a go. We started playing at the same time in school and stuck with it,” Eoghan explained with Daragh adding, “We just started playing it in sixth class and we liked it, so that was really it.”
The brothers also played football and rugby growing up but first realised that basketball was something they had major talent in when they both got picked for the Midlands team in 2024.
Darragh recalled, “It was that tournament with all the different regions and you go to trials and they pick the teams then. That was in 2024.”
Identical on and off the court, Darragh and Eoghan play like one another too, both occupying a guard or forward for club and country. When asked if there were differences in their playing style, Darragh smiled, “No not really… We play very similarly.”
They have been rarely separated on their basketball journey with both getting picked for Midlands, Leinster and Irish teams alongside the other.
“We got picked for basically everything together. Eoghan got picked for a summer programme which I was injured for at the time but that’s really the only difference there has been along the way,” Darragh explained.
Eoghan added, “It’s been really good. It’s great to have your brother there to speak to.”
The Irish team find themselves in Group A with Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and Montenegro for the U16 Men's EuroBasket 2026 tournament and Eoghan outlined that the boys in green have a clear goal in mind.
He said,“A top eight finish is what we are looking for and we have been doing really well in our prep games. We played two games against Luxembourg, won them both, and beat Macedonia and Bulgaria as well.”
As for the future, both Darragh and Eoghan are focused on the next step of their journey with Ireland and were eager to thank their coaches, Louise Foster from Kestrels and their Irish head coach Emer Howard for getting them to this point
Darragh and Eoghan are sons to proud parents Barbara and Ned who are continually delighted by their boys’ basketball journey.
“It’s been fantastic, we are so proud of the two of them,” Barbara said. “It’s a great achievement to travel as a part of the squad. They have worked so hard to secure this place in the final 12 so it will be great to see them represent their country in Macedonia.”