Injury robs Ireland of Bruce McCandless

Fractured ankle means Irish team travel to Belgium for Olympic qualifier without midfielder

Bruce McCandless is set to miss Ireland's World League round three tournament in Antwerp in June due to a fractured bone in his ankle.

The Banbridge midfielder has been an ever-present for the panel for the past two years and would have been a certainty to travel to Belgium for what is the key Olympic qualifier.

He suffered the injury two weeks ago in the Irish Senior Cup final from a tackle from Cork C of I's John Jermyn who was sin-binned.

Prognosis

Initially, McCandless played on but the swelling did not go down in the week after the tournament and a protective boot has since gone on. The prognosis is at least six more weeks on the sidelines, robbing Ireland of a key man.

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The preparatory schedule has also been changed markedly. Ireland were originally banking on a round three trip to Argentina with a pre-tournament holding camp in the Netherlands. But, with Ireland being reallocated to Antwerp, they quickly scheduled a two-game series in France while they will also take on Germany in three Tests as part of their build-up in May.

On the domestic front, the action is confined to the semi-finals of the Irish Junior Cup with Three Rock Rovers taking on Annadale while Lisnagarvey face Monkstown.

Stephen Findlater

Stephen Findlater

Stephen Findlater is a contributor to The Irish Times writing about hockey