Irish team meet Bertie

The Senior Women’s Irish hockey team had a welcome break from their gruelling ten day South African camp when they met with An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at Mandela Rhodes Place on Sunday afternoon.

One of Irish Hockey’s key sponsors, Howard Eurocape, headed by Frank Gormley, and is credited with pioneering the regeneration of Cape Towns city centre with its flagship development Mandela Rhodes Place, took the opportunity to introduce An Taoiseach to the Irish team as they continue their preparation in a bid to qualify for the Beijing Olympics 2008.

The Irish team is taking part in a ten day training camp including international matches against the Dutch U21’s and South Africa. The twenty two strong squad also made a presentation of hockey sticks to the pupils of Quinqa Mntwana School in conjunction with Amawele.

Commenting on the Occasion was Manager Sally Ann Fanagan, “Meeting An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, was a very memorable day for all of the squad. The girls have been training extremely hard sometimes twice a day as well as a number of matches, meeting An Taoiseach was an experience which the squad thoroughly enjoyed.”