Burns a welcome addition

MEN'S HOCKEY / Round-up: The 18-man Irish squad for the BDO Hockey World Cup Qualifier in Changzhou, China, departs Dublin next Thursday for the 11-day tournament, which gets under way on Wednesday April 12th. Coach Dave Passmore has been able to select Karl Burns, following weeks during which he was frantically recovering from a hamstring injury.

The Cork Church of Ireland player passed a final fitness test at the weekend following an intensive rehabilitation program.

Taking the video of Ireland's Tests against France in Grange Road was not what Burns would have preferred before Ireland's biggest tournament for some years, but the defender is a welcome addition to Passmore's side. One of the issues illustrated in the final few Test matches was how vulnerable the Irish defence was to a swift running team like the French, who they could quite easily meet again at the important cross-over stages of the China tournament.

Burns' experience could help alleviate that problem before Ireland, ranked 22nd in the world, face the English in their first pool game on April 12th.

There are six new faces from the squad that won the European Champions Trophy in Rome last September. Trinity's Phelie Maguire, Tim Cockram, Brian Magee, goalkeepers Mark Ruddle and Charlie Henderson, John Jermyn and Ronan Gormley all come in for a number of retirees.

But overall the squad is experienced. They are led once again by Paddy Brown, now the most capped Irish player still playing with 102 caps. He is joined by eight players with 50 caps or more.

There would be a current view that the world ranking of 22 does not reflect the true position of the Irish team when their recent good performances against South Africa, France and Egypt are taken into account and that is indeed true.

So Passmore travels with a squad confident of facing every team in the pool and with an outside chance of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in over two decades.

WEEKEND FIXTURES Saturday: Leinster Senior League: Division One - Railway Union v Monkstown, 12.45pm, Park Avenue; Corinthians v Avoca, 2.30pm, Whitechurch Park; TRR v Glenanne, 12.30pm, Grange Road; Pembroke v Dublin University, 2.0pm, Serpentine Ave; Fingal v YMCA, 1.30pm, ALSAA. Division Two: Kilkenny v Naas postponed; Bray v Skerries 1.0pm Loreto, Bray; Weston v Suttonians, 2.30pm Glenanne; Portrane/StB/PP v Clontarf 12pm, DCU. Sunday April 2nd (at Park Avenue): 12.00pm Under 21 Cup final: Dublin University v Corinthians; 2.00pm Intermediate Cup Final: Mullingar v Portrane; 4.00pm Neville Davin Cup final Naas v UCD.

Ireland Squad: Andy Barbour (Cookstown, 50 caps); Jason Black (Cork Harlequins 95); Mark Black (Cork Harlequins 64); Paddy Brown capt (Instonians 102); Karl Burns (Cork C of I, 41); Stephen Butler (Glenanne 90) ; Timothy Cockram (Lisnagarvey 25); Mark Gleghorne (Loughborough Students, England 34); Ronan Gormley (Pembroke Wanderers 17); Charlie Henderson (GK, Corinthian 21); David Hobbs (Cork C of I 65); Mark Irwin (Instonians 86); John Jermyn (Cork C of I 31); Iain Lewers (Annadale 37); Phelie Maguire (Dublin University 21); Mark Ruddle (GK, Cork C of I 7); Graham Shaw (Glenanne 76); Justin Sherriff (Pembroke Wanderers 83).

Men's Hockey World Cup Qualifier, Changzhou, China, Apr 12th-23rd. Pool A: Belgium, Canada, Egypt, England, Ireland, Pakistan; Pool B: China, France, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand.

Timetable (Irish time): Wed April 12th 7am: England v Ireland. Thurs April 13th, 7am, Ireland v Canada. Sat, April 15th, 3am , Belgium v Ireland. Mon April 17th, 3am , Ireland v Egypt. Wed, Apr 19th, 1am, Pakistan v Ireland. Fri Apr 21st, crossover game (Ireland play team ranked above or below them in other pool). Sat, April 22nd, classification game (if not in contention). Sun April 23rd, classification game (if in contention).