National coach Dave Passmore has named his twenty one man squad for the three match series against Scotland at the end of November.
Three Rock Rover’s Andy McConnell is the one new addition, with Passmore saying "McConnell has impressed since his return from playing club hockey in Holland and is included for the first time. He is reasonably versatile but I intend to play him in midfield"
The squad is buoyed by the form of current oversees Irish players who competed in the EuroHockey League - Lewers, Jermyn and Magee all played for HGC while Michael Watt was on the score-sheet for Scottish Club, Grange.
The series will probably prove to be a major milestone for Cork C of I’s David Hobbs, who currently holds 99 caps.
Scotland are currently ranked four places behind Ireland’s world ranking of 19th
Jason Black (Cork Harlequins, 112); Mark Black (Cork Harlequins, 94); Paddy Brown (Instonians, 136); Karl Burns (Cork C of I, 76); Stephen Butler (Glenanne, 123); Timothy Cockram (Lisnagarvey, 56); Mark Gleghorne (Instonians, 68); Ronan Gormley (Pembroke Wanderers, 45); David Hobbs (Cork C of I, 99); Mark Irwin (Instonians, 123); John Jermyn (HGC, 64); Gareth Lennox (Banbridge, 10); Tim Lewis (Pembroke Wanderers, 13); Eugene Magee (HGC, 50); Phelie Maguire (Three Rock Rovers, 51); Geoff McCabe (Banbridge, 22); Andy McConnell (Three Rock Rovers, 0); Graham Shaw (Glenanne, 107); Iain Walker (YMCA, 8); Michael Watt (Grange, 21); Conor Harte (Pembroke Wanderers, 6)
Rested: Andy Barbour (Cookstown), David Harte (GK – Pembroke Wanderers), Iain Lewers (HGC), Mark Ruddle (GK – Cork C of I)
Match Times (Stirling):
20.00 Friday 23rd November - Ireland V Scotland
17.00 Saturday 24th November - Ireland V Scotland
13.00 Sunday 25th November Ireland V Scotland (Unofficial match)
3 comments:
McConnell will bring something to the Irish midfield which they don't have - he puts a huge amount of pressure on his opposite man,reads the game so well for his youth and pushes forward,at the right times, more than any other midfielder(bar jermyn) in this country. if given the chance i think he will be of huge benefit to them.
second that! hes class, shud have been there 2 years ago! Gonna be a legend
Best of luck to Andy, richly deserves his chance and I'm sure he'll take it to become a regular feature in the Irish Squad
Post a Comment