Thursday, March 26, 2009

Paul Cooke names U-16 panel

Paul Cooke’s Irish U-16 panel has been reduced to 24 for the upcoming series with Belgium, to be played in UCD on April 7 to 9.

Seven of the players who took part in the recent Leinster U-16 cup final between Railway and Three Rock are included Corinthian’s attack-minded defender Robert Burke (pictured) also gets the nod. Monkstown pair David Cole and Stephen Nolan as is Fingal’s Mark Ryan and Kilkenny’s Jeremy Duncan.

The rest of the squad is characterised by its geographical spread with players from Limerick, Donegal, Down, Antrim, Tyrone and West Cork.

Squad:
Matthew Bell (Banbridge), Robert Burke (Corinthian), Nicolas Burns (Cork C of I), Ross Canning (TRR), David Cole (Monkstown), Jeremy Duncan (Kilkenny), Mark Ingram (GK) (Railway Union), Matthew Lecky (Raphoe), Shane Madeley (TRR), Owen Magee (Banbridge), Fiachra Maher (Railway Union), David McCrea (TRR), Ben McMillan (Mossley), Josh Moffett (Banbridge), Dylan Murphy (GK) (Limerick), Stephen Nolan (Monkstown), Paul Ritchie (North Down), Mark Ryan (Fingal), Ian Sloan (Cookstown), Tom Samuel (TRR), Robin Smyrl (Banbridge), Jeffrey Spillane (Railway Union), Scott Sullivan (Bandon), Darren Sweetnam (Bandon)
Reserves: Neil Gilmore (Banbridge), Matthew Rollins (Cookstown), Kirk Shimmins (TRR), Conor Montgomery (Belfast Harlequins)

Coach: Paul Cooke
Manager: Fraser Mills
Asst Coach: Coen Van Putten
Support/video: Tim Weir

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about the u16 girls?

Anonymous said...

Great to see the team is spread around Irealand as opposed to just Dublin, Belfast and Cork.... can only be good for the development of hockey.

Anonymous said...

very experienced u16 squad. a lot of the players competed in last years europeans in holland and with players like darren sweetnam ian sloan and nick burns things surely must be looking bright!

Anonymous said...

Rumour has it Sloan moving to 18's....crazy ....They have a good squad of players to choose from. He should be kept with 16's and maybe win Home Countries

Stephen Findlater said...

In response to March 27, 2009 4:30 PM. the U-18s post has been amended to reflect this. Basically, Paul Cooke recommended Ian Sloan to Andy Smyth to try out for the U-18s after his fine performances this month.

He moves up to the U-18s for the Belgium trip but if he is not yet ready to make the step up just yet, he will step down to the U-16s for their European campaign.

It has all been done in consultation between Cooke, Smyth and HPD Dave Passmore and the player and his parents.

The decision has been taken at this early stage to give both coach and player a chance to see if it will suit and so be able to prepare properly for either evenutality.

Anonymous said...

ian sloan is a maestro have you seen his recent performances for the school. Hat-trick hero and man of the match in the Burney Cup final he stands up as one of the key players in that side alongside the likes of ames, best, smyth, his brother, crooks etc. There is absolutley no doubt that he should be picked for the under 18's.

Anonymous said...

in response to all the below comments , ian sloan is a fantastic player but surely he should just stay in his own age group and develop as a player instead of being burnt out at this young age?

Anonymous said...

i disagree with the above comment. He will develop better playing with and learning from better players.

Anonymous said...

i seriously think that at under16 level players are pushed to hard and burnt out to easily either with ijuries at a young age or not developing from their full potenial. I think ian sloan should just stay with his own age group and i agree with the comment above that he will develop better at his own level > Dont forget the boys he is playing with arevery goof too and he will get maximim pitch time whereas up with the 18s he may be benched for older more developed players.