Ian O'Boyle


Ian O'Boyle is an Irish former basketball player. He spent the majority of the 2000s in the Super League. He has also played in the South Australian Premier League and was a member of the Irish national basketball team.

Basketball career

Early years

O'Boyle was born in Dublin and raised in Newbridge, County Kildare, where he attended Patrician Secondary School. In 2001, O'Boyle debuted in the Irish SuperLeague for Notre Dame. Following the 2002–03 season, he was named the Junior Men's Player of the Year. In 2003, he moved to the United States and enrolled at New York's Trinity-Pawling School. He played for the Trinity-Pawling School basketball team in 2003–04, earning first-team all-TriState and first-team all-New England. After graduating from Trinity-Pawling, O'Boyle accepted a scholarship to play at New Jersey Institute of Technology. In NJIT's home opener of the 2004–05 season, O'Boyle led the team in scoring with 16 points to secure a win over Philadelphia University, who were coached by Basketball Hall of Fame coach Herb Magee, who labelled O'Boyle as a phenomenal shooter after the victory.

Second SuperLeague stint

In 2005, O'Boyle moved back to Ireland to complete his university studies. Along with attending University College Dublin, O'Boyle joined UCD Marian of the Irish SuperLeague for the 2005–06 season. He returned to Notre Dame, now Shamrock Rovers Hoops, in 2006 and played two seasons there before moving north to Jordanstown in 2008, where he joined Ulster Elks for the 2008–09 season. In a game for Ireland against Luxembourg in 2009, he hit six consecutive first half three-pointers and ended the game with 23 points in a winning effort. After two seasons with Elks, he moved south to Cork in 2010 to join Neptune. His stint with Neptune was short lived, however, as he left mid-season.

New Zealand and Australia

Shortly after departing Neptune, O'Boyle moved to New Zealand to work at Massey University as a lecturer in sport and recreation management. In March 2011, O'Boyle joined the Manawatu Jets of the New Zealand NBL for their pre-season campaign. He re-joined the Jets a year later for another pre-season stint.
O'Boyle moved to South Australia in 2013 to work at the University of South Australia. He subsequently joined the Norwood Flames. In 2015, O'Boyle helped Norwood win the Premier League championship with an 81–73 grand final win over Sturt.

Return to Ireland

On 26 July 2016, O'Boyle signed with Swords Thunder for the 2016–17 Irish Super League season. He appeared in two of Thunder's first three games of the season, and one National Cup game, before departing the team in late October.

Personal

O'Boyle's father, Conor O'Boyle, is a former Chief of Staff of the Irish Defence Forces.
Off the court, O'Boyle is a senior lecturer in sport management. He and his wife Melissa have four children.