OISÍN O’Connor has the perfect record. In each of the four years he has played wheelchair basketball with the Rebel Wheelers, the Kealkill teenager has won the national cup.

‘I was 14 years old when I won the national cup for the first time,’ Oisín, now 18, tells The Southern Star. While each success has been memorable, the recent triumph against South East Swifts was his sweetest.

‘They are all special, but each year I’m getting better so it’s a nice feeling to get more playing time, and more experience on the court, especially in finals,’ he says.

‘This year was probably my favourite year. I’ve been on the team a good few years now so my team-mates know what pass to give me, I know what they’re going to do, and that comes from playing with them for years.’

The Rebel Wheelers, based in Cork city, have dominated the IWA National Cup and have now won seven in a row, but in last month’s final they faced a team that had inflicted a rare defeat on the Cork side earlier in the season.

Rebel Wheelers' coach Wesley O'Connor at the recent national cup final. (Photo: Nick Elliott/INPHO)

‘The Swifts beat us in the league at the start of this season, which wasn’t expected,’ Oisín says, as the Rebel Wheelers lost just their second game in Irish competition since 2020. But they regrouped and exacted their revenge with a convincing 62–47 IWA National Cup final victory at the National Basketball Arena.

‘We knuckled down after that league loss, worked hard on our defence and getting the stops. We learned from it, and it was a great feeling that it all came together,’ Oisín adds, as his rise in wheelchair basketball continues.

He competed with Paralympics Ireland at the European Para Youth Games in Istanbul last summer and has also been in action in the international EuroCup competition with the Rebel Wheelers.

Oisín’s sporting ambitions are being realised as he pushes forward in a sport he loves. He was just 14 years old when he suffered a serious spinal injury at a mountain bike event in September 2021. Sports-mad, he had played GAA with St Colum’s, rugby with Bantry Bay RFC, and basketball with Coláiste Phobail Bheanntraí. Now, it’s the hard court that has become his main sporting arena.

‘I liked basketball before my injury, but I was mostly GAA. Now I love it. I’ve tried other sports but wheelchair basketball suits me the best,’ he explains.

‘I prefer sports where you have different parts to think about at the same time, like catching, getting into position, and the speed of it too.’

He remembers his first training session with the Rebel Wheelers when simply staying balanced in the chair was a challenge. To see where he is now – playing and scoring in a national cup final – highlights just how far he has come.

‘They were trying to keep me upright!’ Oisín says, recalling that first night at training. ‘But what’s special about the club is that everyone is there to help you.

‘The skills I’m learning are down to all the coaches in the club and everyone who has helped me.’

It has naturally taken time to adjust to the demands of the sport.

‘The speed of wheelchair basketball makes it completely different to day-to-day pushing,’ he explains.

‘When you are on the court you have to go 100 percent, you are sprinting all the time. From playing other sports before my injury, you might jog and get a break, but in wheelchair basketball you have to get to the place you need to be at speed. It’s full-on all the time.

‘It takes time to get used to it, because while you know what you want to do you need the speed to commit, get there and do the right thing.’

Living at home in Kealkill means a twice-weekly trip to training sessions in Cork city. It’s a journey Oisín has grown used to – every Tuesday and Thursday night, with his dad Wesley driving.

‘He’s not just my chauffeur,’ Oisín quips, as Wesley, well known from his time with St Colum’s GAA, is also involved with the Rebel Wheelers as a coach. It’s a shared passion they now have. At the recent national cup win, Wesley was part of the coaching team behind the success.

‘He was a coach in GAA, and then with the Rebel Wheelers he started just watching training first before becoming assistant coach, and he loves it now too,’ Oisín says. The chats in the car on those weekly journeys mostly revolve around sport. Cork hurling and football get discussed, but wheelchair basketball is top of the list.

‘I wouldn’t say the double is on for Cork this season, but hopefully the hurlers can go far again!’ Oisín says with a smile, and just like the Rebels he wants more too.

‘Oisín has that mindset to achieve. He always had it before the accident, playing  sports with St Colum’s, rugby, biking, etc., and the Rebel Wheelers is a part of that continuation,’ his dad Wesley adds, knowing that his son’s goal is to keep improving in his sport.

Oisín O'Connor competed at the European Para Youth Games last summer. (Photo: Paralympics Ireland)

Central to his story is his school, Coláiste Phobail Bheanntraí. It became the first post-primary school in Ireland to set up a wheelchair basketball club and add the sport to the PE curriculum.

‘I haven’t heard of any other school that has done what mine has, and I am really thankful for what they have done – to get sports wheelchairs, to teach other students how to play, and to show what sport is all about,’ says Oisín, now a Leaving Cert student.

Coláiste Phobail Bheanntraí is one important pillar in this story. So too are the Rebel Wheelers, and his friends. But his family are his rock and his biggest supporters – his parents, Marie and Wesley, and his four older brothers. Now Oisín gets to share incredible memories with them, like the recent national cup success.

‘To everyone who has supported me in any way, I am very grateful,’ he adds, noting he still has a lot more he wants to achieve.

Next up, the Rebel Wheelers will host a European competition in April, with teams travelling from Greece, England, Holland and Italy. It’s another chance for Oisín and his team-mates to challenge themselves at a high level, and another step forward for an impressive young athlete whose journey in sport is still only beginning.