After a busy couple of weeks traversing the country to take in a host of club matches, Paul Revington announced today what can be seen as his first autonomous international squad selection.
He named 21 players for a two match series with France to be played at Serpentine Avenue with Monkstown's Gareth Watkins (pictured) a notable inclusion. The striker had dropped off the radar of national selectors after being included in Irish development panels a few years back.
Niggling injury concerns had kept Watkins on the sidelines but, back at full pace, he has netted an incredible 31 times this term - the vast majority from open play - scoring five in three separate matches while also netting an IHL hat-trick against Cork C of I.
He is included for the second of the two matches against France which will be played on March 24 and 25. France are considered to be Ireland's bogey team, relegating Ireland to European B division hockey, and lie a place ahead in the world rankings at 17.
John Jermyn and Mikey Watt, meanwhile, were not considered due to exam commitments for the matches will be used as part of Revington's building process towards a busy summer which will sees Ireland compete in the Champions Challenge II, Celtic Cup and the Europeans.
Speaking about the upcoming games, Revington said, “The games against France come at a good time in the club calendar after which our senior squad players will have enjoyed a series of tough games at league, ISC, IHL and Interprovincial level.
Speaking about the upcoming games, Revington said, “The games against France come at a good time in the club calendar after which our senior squad players will have enjoyed a series of tough games at league, ISC, IHL and Interprovincial level.
"All senior squad players will take this form into the games versus France . The squad will also enjoy their third training day together on Sunday 22nd March in Banbridge in preparation for these games."
Ireland Squad: Joe Brennan (Glenanne); Karl Burns (Cork C of I); Stephen Butler (Glenanne); Peter Caruth (Annadale); Timmy Cockram (Lisnagarvey); Mitch Darling (Three Rock Rovers); Ronan Gormley (Pembroke Wanderers); David Harte (Pembroke Wanderers); David Hobbs (Cork C of I); John Jackson (Loughborough); Gareth Lennox (Banbridge); Tim Lewis (Pembroke Wanderers); Phelie Maguire (Three Rock Rovers); Andy McConnell (Three Rock Rovers); Eugene Magee (Banbridge); Graham Shaw (Glenanne); Alan Sothern (Pembroke Wanderers); Keith Black (Cookstown); David Harte (Pembroke Wanderers); Geoff McCabe (Banbridge); Gareth Watkins (Monkstown).
Match Schedule:
Tuesday, March 24: Ireland v France 7pm; Serpentine Avenue
Ireland Squad: Joe Brennan (Glenanne); Karl Burns (Cork C of I); Stephen Butler (Glenanne); Peter Caruth (Annadale); Timmy Cockram (Lisnagarvey); Mitch Darling (Three Rock Rovers); Ronan Gormley (Pembroke Wanderers); David Harte (Pembroke Wanderers); David Hobbs (Cork C of I); John Jackson (Loughborough); Gareth Lennox (Banbridge); Tim Lewis (Pembroke Wanderers); Phelie Maguire (Three Rock Rovers); Andy McConnell (Three Rock Rovers); Eugene Magee (Banbridge); Graham Shaw (Glenanne); Alan Sothern (Pembroke Wanderers); Keith Black (Cookstown); David Harte (Pembroke Wanderers); Geoff McCabe (Banbridge); Gareth Watkins (Monkstown).
Match Schedule:
Tuesday, March 24: Ireland v France 7pm; Serpentine Avenue
Wednesday, March 25: Ireland v France 7pm; Serpentine Avenue
* For more information on the squad make-up, click here
24 comments:
where is fran lee??? haha. Delighted for watkins, shows that you dont have to be a short corner specialist to score loads of goals. 31 goals is a massive return for the season. I would say a very good contender for player of the season.
heres one for you steve.
apparently you dont have to be 5yards away from a free anymore. both teams included.
???????????????????
go on the ginger assassin.....monkstown til i die!
In answer to March 9, 2009 3:15 PM, stick your question in an email and the case in which it happened and I'll see what Ray's interpretation is of the situation.
Glad to see Watkins finally get his chance. Having a brilliant season and great to see our new coach giving recognising his quality and giving him a shot!
if i mark watkins out of training games does that mean that i should be on the Ireland squad.
Watkins - excellent inclusion, he has been magnificent all season.
Cockram - can only be there on reputation. Has eVERY poor all season
McCabe - see above
Hobbs - see above
Any one you guys feel is on form and deserves a shout!!
Bit harsh on McCabe to say its down to reputation as he has been injured quite a bit.
Against Scotland he had some of his better performances in an Irl jersey which Revs saw but not sure if he'll ever be a dominant international presence.
mccabe wasn't up to much in rovers v bann game on saturday. magee is world-class though.
watkins fully deserves this opportunity and i congratulate the new irish coach for making himself present at different matches to watch such players who deserve a chance.
brennan has impressed me a lot too, one of the top defenders in the country right now.
cockram is definitely there on reputation. he hasnt impressed me when ive seen him play. also drag flick isn't needed considering there's butler,sothern,gleghorne,jermyn all there.
rovers supporter
caruth?
fair play watkinc class player..but where is Alan Giles...deserves a call up..captain of pembroke!!
David Harte....So good that revington picked him twice!!!
R u trying to say there are better players then David Hobbs?
Really pleased for Gareth has had a really good season, again.
Injured players should not be critisised for their performances at club level.
Mc Cabe and Hobbs both fighting back from injury.
Lets wait and see for the good of the players and Ireland.
Good point about David Harte being selected twice. Will check that out, that's the way it came through in a press release and I blindly followed it. I'm guessing it means Conor Harte but will confirm it.
Watkins is a great inclusion in the Irish squad,behind Sothern he is one of the best goalscorers in Ireland,well done Gareth and good luck to all in the games
I dont think Gleghorne is in the squad. Is this cause of injury or is he to thinking of declaring for GB?
Gleghorne spoke to a number of senior players and Paul Revington earlier in the year to say that he was looking into the possibility of playing for Great Britain.
Apparently, it not as simple as just declaring for GB. There is quite a lot of red tape to be negotiated.
From my understanding, while GB's Olympic team is made of GB and NI for most sports, currently for GB hockey you must play for one of the constituent countries which only include Scotland, Wales and England so it is apparently, a little more complex than just being a passport holder for GB.
This means, currently, players have to declare for one of those teams. Changing from one country to another usually means a three-year hiatus from playing for the original national outfit. This is back-dated to the last time you play for the original country rather than when you 'declare' for another country.
So, again just from my understanding, Gleghorne is looking into his options as to whether is it possible and so will not be available for Irish selection in the meantime.
Hope all that makes sense
cockram has been good this year....its just lisnagarvey are terrible
Well done Gar!! just get youself some hockey shoes and you'll be flyin, Alec
Cockram has been average and to say Lisnagarvey are terrible is the stupidest comment ever.They have a young team and are having a bad season.They over achieved last year reaching to semis in both Irish comps.I back them to come good next season and silence comments like that
Congratulations Gar well deserved and best of luck!
cockram has been good this year....its just lisnagarvey are terrible
Lisnagarvey certainly not good this season but terrible would be taking it a bit far. The team is certainly changing and a couple of finals in Ulster last year coupled with play-off semi and Irish Cup semi also last year would suggest that either they overachieved last year or the standard of irish hockey is not great. Prob a bit of both. Certainly, the glory days are gone but like most other clubs in Ulster, they are now playing catch-up to the leinster league who would appear to be well ahead of the rest of the clubs in Ireland. The result against COI at the weekend, with a team with an average age of 22, would suggest that they are going in the right direction but with plenty of work still to be done.
also on the garvey cofi game i think they felt a little hard done by on a few key umpiring decisions that went against them
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