NBA prospect Aidan Igiehon blazing an Irish trail in US basketball

Aidan Igiehon is part of an exclusive group of elite Irish athletes currently playing college basketball in America.

"I want to blaze a path so that nobody can overlook Irish basketball again," he told BBC News NI.

The 20-year-old from Dublin is even being tipped by some observers to break into the National Basketball Association (NBA) - the pinnacle of the sport in America.

It's not hard to see why.

Standing at 6ft 10in tall, the Dubliner's aggressive style of play has led to him being given a memorable nickname by his new American fans.

"The way I played, I played angry. I wanted to break the rim every time. So they were like, you know: 'You play like a hulk, like the Irish Hulk.'"

Igiehon only began playing basketball at the age of 12 but said as soon as he picked up a ball "it just felt like it was meant to be, I became obsessed with it".

Before long the Clondalkin native was catching the attention of the Dublin Lions basketball club and, inevitably, American high schools and prospective colleges came knocking.

He is currently playing basketball at Grand Canyon University after a freshman year at the University of Louisville.

He's not alone - people like Belfast's CJ Fulton have a scholarship at Pennsylvania-based Lafayette University and Dundalk native Sam Alajiki is playing out of the University of California.

Igiehon said he is aware of how stiff the competition is at this level but he has set his sights high.

He said: "I'm here to win and to be the best athlete I can be, but my long-term goal has always been to be an NBA player.

"I want to bring Irish basketball back into the NBA."

The first in the game

For now, Pat Burke remains the only Irish-born player to have made the NBA.

After a successful stint in Europe, he joined Orlando Magic in 2002 and would go on to play for the Phoenix Suns.

"It's definitely an honour, I don't go around with a slogan on my business card saying 'first Irish NBA player', but I'm aware it's what I'm known for," he told BBC News NI.

Pat Burke remains the only Irish-born player to have made the NBA

Burke's father is from Mayo and his mother is from Offaly. They moved to the United States when he was four years old, but remained very much immersed in Irish culture.

During his career Burke played against some of basketball's most well known players.

He said: "Probably the most memorable was when I was at Orlando and we played the LA Lakers and I watched Shaquille O'Neal cross the halfway line, all 7ft of him.

Shaquille O'Neal is of the most celebrated players in the history of the NBA

"He eventually got the ball, took one dribble and dunked the ball on me so hard that I'll never forget it."

Burke believes it's only a matter of time before another Irish player enters the NBA.

"The diversity inside Ireland as a whole has changed, you're no longer looking at this stereotype that all Irish teams are going to be smaller.

"We're going to see more players getting opportunities for scholarships and going pro, it's going to happen and when it does it will be a huge boost for the Irish game."

The golden era

Gareth Maguire is one of the most recognisable names in Irish basketball.

In the 1990s he was an integral in leading Belfast club Star of the Sea to a number of league titles and would go on to play for Ireland at a national level.

"I've no doubt that Ireland and Northern Ireland can produce top quality players, but it's important we invest in them and in the game here," he told BBC News NI.

Like many players of his generation, the west Belfast native's early experience of basketball coincided with the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Gareth Maguire captained Belfast club Star of the Sea and played for Ireland at a national level

After the outbreak of violence in 1969 and in the years that followed, teams weren't always willing to travel over the Irish border to play.

But the late 1970s also saw a change that would help nudge the Irish basketball league towards the mainstream.

Rules were brought in which allowed Irish teams to have two players from overseas.

As a result, American college players, many of whom had just missed the cut to play in the NBA, began to see Europe, and Ireland in particular, as a feasible substitute.

Gareth Maguire has fond memories of this period.

"People loved the spectacle of seeing these American players, playing alongside local guys.

"You had legends like Dave Hopla, who is now a world renowned NBA shooting coach, playing in Andytown leisure centre and there would be hundreds packed in to watch the game."

He added: "It was the same in big basketball towns like Dungannon, when we would go there to play the leisure centre would be full to the brim, that was people's Saturday night back then, but somewhere along the way we've lost that."

The legacy

The 1990s saw another rule change which reduced the number of overseas players allowed on Irish teams to one.

It was hoped this would save money and increase game time for Irish players.

But it also led to less lucrative sponsorship, which impacted the reach of the game.

The sports' reputation took another hit only last month after the chief executive of Basketball Ireland had to resign.

He made what he later admitted was an "ill-judged" comment on social media about the Black Lives Matter campaign and English footballer Raheem Sterling.

But there have been other positive steps taken in the sport that are helping it become more visible again for the right reasons.

Having had huge success in both sports, former Kerry GAA player Kieran Donaghy has been a high-profile proponent of the similarities and benefits of playing both basketball and Gaelic football in Ireland.

Recently, the Irish senior women's basketball team claimed silver at the European Championship for Small Countries, signalling the potential for big things to come.

In Northern Ireland, local club Belfast Star won its first Irish National Championship in 21 years last March.

Belfast Star basketball club were All-Ireland Super League Champions for the 2019/20 season

Belfast has also played host to the prestigious Basketball Hall of Fame Classic, a tournament which saw some of the America's top college teams come to Belfast and was broadcast across America by a major TV network.

Gareth Maguire's organisation, Sport Changes Life, was instrumental in bringing this event to Belfast.

He believes there is an opportunity to build on an affinity towards the game that already exists across the island of Ireland.

He said: "One of the things I'm working on and I hope we're going to be able to do in the next few years, is have a team based out of Belfast that will be able to compete in the British Basketball League.

"We have an ice hockey team in Belfast doing that, so there's no reason we can't have a professional basketball team playing out of this city."

He added: "The reality is that unlike ice hockey, basketball is played in hundreds of schools throughout this country.

"So it's about giving young players here something to aim for, a platform to showcase, one superstar can change everything."

It's a sentiment echoed by Aidan Igiehon as he looks to a future on the cusp of potential NBA glory.

He said: "It's not just about me, it's about those that are coming behind me.

"All it takes is one person to show it's possible."