Irish squad has 'fantastic opportunity'

MEN'S HOCKEY:This week Irish coach Dave Passmore revealed his squad for the Olympic Qualifying tournament which will take place in Auckland, New Zealand next month. In what is the most important tournament for many years for Ireland, the competition will provide the team with their final chance to earn a coveted spot in the Beijing Olympics later this year.

The squad was, according to Passmore, "the hardest I have selected in my nine years of international sport".

The campaign runs from 2nd-10th February during which time Ireland will face three higher ranked countries in their six matches, including the seventh-ranked team in the world, Argentina, who they recently played twice in a Four Nations tournament in Chile, drawing 1-1 and losing in the final 2-1.

"It is 17 years since the Ireland men last competed in an Olympic Qualifier back in 1991 coincidentally in Auckland also," said Passmore.

"This represents a fantastic opportunity for this squad to realise a lifetime ambition to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing.

"The squad has worked incredibly hard over the past number of years in order to give themselves the best possible chance to gain that one qualification berth."

Ireland will also face hosts and the 10th-ranked team in the world, New Zealand, France, who are ranked 16th, and the lower-ranked Trinidad and Tobago and USA who are ranked 24th and 27th respectively.

Despite their lower rankings neither of these teams will be easy pickings for Ireland, who struggled to keep a high tempo for the duration of the tournament at the last European Championships.

Both the US and Trinidad drew with Canada in the Pan Am tournament, which Canada went on to win resulting in their qualification for Beijing.

What Ireland seeks more than anything is consistency.

The team has already shown that it can compete with the best in the world, when it drew 1-1 with Spain and lost narrowly to the Dutch, 1-0, at the Europeans in August. But they went on to lose to France, which sparked off a dip resulting in the team's ultimate relegation to Division B of European competition.

The side will be leaving later this month in order to continue with their preparations and to get over jet lag.

"We are leaving early to provide further time for acclimatisation, team bonding and final technical and tactical preparation," added Passmore.

"We will be splitting the journey by going to Australia where temperatures have recently been in the low 40s."

IRISH SQUAD:M Ruddle (C of I), P Brown capt (Instonians), J Black (Harlequins), K Burns (C of I), R Gormley (Pembroke), M Watt (Grange), S Butler (Glenanne), M Gleghorne (Instonians), J Jermyn (HGC), E Mage (Banbridge), G Shaw (Glenanne), D Hobbs (C of I), A Barbour (Cookstown), M Black (Harlequins), P Maguire (TRR), I Lewers (HGC), T Lewis (Pembroke). Coach: D Passmore. Manager: S Hiles.

FIXTURES: Leinster Senior League: Division One:Glenanne v UCD 2.00pm Glenanne Park; Monkstown v Bray 3.00pm Rathdown School; Fingal v Corinthians 1.30pm ALSAA; YMCA v TRR 1.45pm Claremont Road; Kilkenny v Pembroke Wanderers 2.30pm Kilkenny College. Division Two:PSBPP v Suttonians 1.00pm RCSI; Naas v Weston 1.00pm Caragh Road Naas; Avoca v Navan 1.30pm Newpark; Clontarf v Railway Union 2.00pm Mount Temple.