Galway man Shane O'Hara selected for Ireland's foam dodgeball team

Shane O'Hara’s call-up to Ireland’s national foam dodgeball team has put a Galway player on the path to Bangkok, where the sport’s biggest stage will run from December 5 to 13. He is now fundraising to make the trip, a reminder that in a niche sport, the distance from club floor to world championship can be measured as much in travel costs as in talent.

The selection carries real weight for Galway and for Irish dodgeball. O'Hara has moved from local competition into a national squad that will contest the 11th World Dodgeball Federation World Championships in Thailand, an event that will feature both foam and cloth formats. The federation announced Bangkok as host on January 27, then followed with a revised rules framework on May 9 as the championship cycle took shape through the spring and summer.

A fundraiser titled “Help Shane get to the World Championships” identifies O'Hara as the athlete behind the effort. The page underscores the practical side of representing Ireland: getting to Bangkok, staying there for the tournament window, and covering the costs that come with competing internationally in a sport that is still building its commercial base. In a field where national selection is an achievement but not a financial backstop, fundraising remains part of the route to the line.

The timing also highlights how quickly the Irish calendar is expanding. Irish Dodgeball has the 2026 All Ireland Cloth Dodgeball Championships set for September 5 at Gormanston Park Sports Complex in Meath, giving the sport a domestic marker just weeks before attention turns fully to the world stage. That schedule shows a code with more structure than casual observers might expect: national events at home, updated rules from the world body, and a pathway from club play to an international championship in Bangkok.

For O'Hara, the selection is both a personal breakthrough and a sign of where the sport stands in Ireland. A Galway player now has a route into a global championship field that spans foam and cloth dodgeball, and his fundraising push reflects the reality of chasing that opportunity from the west of Ireland to Southeast Asia.