Dave Passmore revealed his squad for the Olympic Qualifying tournament which will take place in Auckland, New Zealand next month. This tournament will provide Ireland with their final chance to earn a coveted spot in the Beijing Olympics later this year.“The lads who have missed out can consider themselves very unlucky as the quality of individual performance is higher than at any stage of our preparation last year. There were no players out of form and each has put in many hours of physical and technical preparation. The margins for not being selected were very fine and often came down to ability at set pieces and versatility” commented Passmore.
Although Ireland can only utilise eighteen athletes throughout the course of the tournament they will travel with an extra player in case of injury which will allow the reserve to easily join the squad given that it will take about a week to get over jet lag and acclimatise.
Passmore’s non travelling reserves will continue to train back home through to the start of the tournament to cover any injuries, a wise move when you consider Passmore lost three players just before the start of the Europeans last August.
Ireland’s campaign in Auckland runs from the 2nd – 10th of February and the demands, intensity and matches, of which there are six, will be tough although one that the Irish team have fully prepared for, "it is 17 years since the Ireland men last competed in an Olympic qualifier back in 1991 co-incidentally in Auckland also. This represents a fantastic opportunity for this squad to realise a lifetime ambition to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing.”
Ireland’s men leaving on January 19 to continue with their preparations
SQUAD:
Mark Ruddle (Cork C of I, 21), Patrick Brown (C) (Instonians, 143), Jason Black (Cork Harlequin
s, 114), Karl Burns (Cork C of I, 83), Ronan Gormley (Pembroke Wanderers, 52), Michael Watt (Grange HC, 28), Stephen Butler (Glenanne, 125), Mark Gleghorne (Instonians, 73), John Jermyn (HGC (Holland)/Cof I, 71), Eugene Magee (Banbridge, 57), Graham Shaw (Glenanne, 109), David Hobbs (Cork C of I, 105), Andy Barbour (Cookstown, 78), Mark Black (Cork Harlequins, 101), Phelie Maguire (Three Rock Rovers, 58), Iain Lewers (HGC, (Holland)/Annadale, 77), Tim Lewis (Pembroke Wanderers, 19), David Harte (GK) (Pembroke Wanderers, 14),Travelling Reserve: Timothy Cockram (Lisnagarvey, 62)
Non Travelling Reserves: Mark Irwin (Instonians, 130), Geoff McCabe (Banbridge, 27), Gareth Lennox (GK) (Banbridge, 12)
Match Schedule.
Local Time Auckland Irish Time
Saturday 2nd February 12.00 01.00am Ireland V France
Sunday 3rd February 13.15 02.15am Ireland V New Zealand
Tuesday 5th February 14.00 03.00am Ireland V Trinidad & Tobago
Wednesday 6th February 18.00 07.00am Ireland V USA
Saturday 9th February 12.15 01.15am Ireland V Argentina
Sunday 10th February Classification Matches.
19 comments:
What do you think of the selection for NZ? Has the strongest squad been selected? Were the right players included/excluded? I'd be interested to hear peoples comments. The breakdown is interesting; 7 players originally from Munster, 6 from Ulster & 5 from Leinster.
The man made Irwin vice captain of the irish senior team and now drops him. Throughout the whole of irish hockey we are seeing flaws. I think its sad to see so many youngsters and mid 20's talented players not getting there chance to perform at senior level because Dave Passmore believes that by not being good enough at 20 you'll never be good enough. The story of how David Bane was suddenly called into the Irish Dev Squad after the interpros because Passmore realised he was 23 and not 26 sums up how the man thinks.
This post has been edited from the original
It's fair to say that a generation of potential Irish players missed out due to a dedicated focus on development when Passmore was appointed.
However, if the long term goal of the Irish team is qualification for an olympics (Beijing 2008, or London 2012) or world cup then you need a group that are young enough to be involved in the setup for a considerable period of time and can develop together over this period.
I think Passmore has had this for the past number of years and I think this group has improved as individuals and a team.
At the recent hooked hockey conference the idea of an Ireland "A" team was put forward. This is where future players will be developed (in place of an Ireland U-21 side) and it was reiterated that there is an open-door policy for any late developing players to step in at this level and prove their worth.
Best of luck to all the team who head off for New Zealand next week.
Queso
Good man queso!! Best of luck to the boys, do us proud!
Somewhat weird that he is only bringing 5 forwards-Gleggy,Eugene,Phelie,Barbour and Watt.Some of the squad say Butler and Jermyn can play upfront but there not out in out forwards.
I think Passmore is somewhat reluctant to bring in younsters but it seems hes getting better at it.
It will be interesting to see if he starts a fresh with younsters for the following olympics.
Also Irwin the ex vice capt being dropped isnt a flaw it just shows how Passmores selection is based on performance and current form and he isnt afraid to drop even someone with 130 odd caps for someone who is playing better than him.
initially the development squad was set up to replace the under
21's so what will the 'A' team consist of??
As correctly stated passmore has let numerous quality players fall by the wayside..players who are coming into their physical peak at the moment..
instead of this , younger and in my opinion undeserving players have played against the likes of germany..
Passmore coached the England B team.Is he qualified to make such important decisions about the structure of the selection process..
i.e. is the development squad worthwhile if relatively average players under 20 are given a chance simply because they have a bit of what my old coach used to call hanky ball..a bit of technical ability yet are sometimes weak and tactically inept??
He is also inconsistent as the irwin and David Bane stories suggest..and there are other instances..
Shouldn't John Hobbs in Cork be given his chance at centre half!!
I think Passmore has selected a great blend of experience and youth and you should give him a break and get behind him and the decisions he has or has not made. I wish the lads the best of luck in NZ, we are all rooting for you!
in fairness the ireland team selected will do their best and despite my somewhat anti passmore statement earlier i do also believe that the team selected is fully capable of qualifying..
i actually believe they will..
some truly outstanding players as demonstrated by the players playing abroad and also the wealth of experience in the squad..
i wish paddy power took bets on this!!
oh are any of these qualifiers televised??or are we relying on fieldhockey.tv to see us through??
that dave bane story tells you nothing except that passmore so a good player and thought he was playing at his peak and wasn't overly impressed. he then found out he was actually younger and still had time to improve and so called him in to a squad. any coach in any sport in the world would react the same.
I dont want to get into a tit for tat argument here. I just think that there are obviously a bunch of talented players between the ages of 21 and 25 who are not been given the right avenues to reach their full talent, and are being left by the wayside. No one can argue with this fact
When the All Ireland league comes in these talented players between 21 - 25 will have a platform to demonstrate their cases for Irish selection and/or reach their potential. The league is something Passmore wanted up and running 2 years ago!
How about players who dont play for the so-called 'big teams' who might not qualify for the All-Irelands? Surely club loyalty should not affect players who have the raw talent to make an impact on the international scene.
the all-ireland league point is well made .. as for players who play at the weaker clubs they should simply move clubs..
weaker clubs will not possess players capable of performing on the world stage..
the all ireland league structure is very exciting will be good for the game
I dont want to get into a tit for tat argument here. I just think that there are obviously a bunch of talented players between the ages of 21 and 25 who are not been given the right avenues to reach their full talent, and are being left by the wayside. No one can argue with this fact
Tell us who??
John Hobbs-hes a good player but they have Paddy Brown and Lewersy there and then Karl Burns or Gormley?
what clubs from leinster do u think will make the all ireland league next year??
Regarding the 4-4-2 automatic qualification for the All-Ireland league, I think it will be: Annadale, Banbridge, Cookstown, Lisnagarvey; Pembroke, Glenanne, Three Rock Rovers, Fingal; Cork Harlequins, Cork CoI.
The really interesting battle will be for the final 2 wildcard places, to be fought out between 5th in Ulster, probably Instonians, 5th in Leinster, probably Monkstown, 3rd in Munster, probably Bandon and 1st in Connaught, probably Galway
"Interesting Battle"
Not the case it will be clear cut: Fifth in Leinster (I predict Fingal) and fifth in Ulster will go through.
It is important however to have this system in place in order to develop the game in Connaught and to attempt to disolve the oligopoly CofI and Quinns control in Munster.
John Hobb's for Ireland, give me a break. The lad is slow & his distribution is very poor. If he was playing for a weaker team he would look average at best.
John Hobbs is one of the best defenders in the country & from what I've seen he isn't slow. He reads the game well, is a very good distributor & is a very strong tackler. When you look at some of the defenders who have been capped in the last few years, it's amazing that John Hobbs hasn't been capped at senior level.
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