Following the exploits of Pembroke and Three Rock Rovers in their respective European competitions this season, Ireland has jumped three places in the EHL ranking positions and will receive two EHL places as a result.
Ireland moved ahead of Scotland, Poland and Russia to move from tenth to seventh in the official rankings released today with fifth to eighth positions gaining two places.
Poland maintain their two entries but Scotland were the big losers going from two spots down to one.
Elsewhere, after a year's hiatus, Switzerland are back in the competition in place of Ukraine while there could be a first ever change to the top four of the Netherlands, England, Germany and Spain. KHC Leuven's run in the competition thus far means if they win the competition and UHC come fourth, Belgium will replace Germany as the fourth ranked country and gain three places.
32 comments:
Great to hear.
Let's hope we can push on next year and go a step further.
how is the second spot won?
As mentioned in a previous post, one place goes to the IHL winners, the other goes to the ISC winners.
Should they be the same team, the runner-up in the IHL gets the second spot.
Fantastic achievements by both Three Rock Rovers and Pembroke Wanderers to elevate Ireland to 7th in the European Club Rankings.
It's testament to the increasing competitiveness and standing of club hockey throughout Ireland that will be further improved by the IHL.
I have to say though that it is ridiculous if the IHA don't amend the qualification process in light of this brilliant achievement.
The current process was valid when Ireland had only one place in the EHL and one place in EuroTrophy.
Now with two places assured we need to cement this ranking by nominating two clubs that play to this EHL match format through out the season and prove their consistency by reaching the IHL Finals.
Luckily though Banbridge, Cookstown, Glenanne, Pembroke and Rovers are all top quality club sides in this country and we will be well served by whomever qualifies to represent Ireland.
i hear that is unconfirmed and there is a meeting either today or 2moro to decide which teams get the places. as it is a bit ridiculous to send a team who are not good at playing ehl/ihl rules to the ehl which would be cookstown in this case should they beat pembroke in isc.cookstown failed to win any games with these rules here so it would suggest they would struugle majorly in ehl, so it makes absolutely no sense to me to send them to ehl should they win, although i do feel there should be some prize other than the trophy for winning isc.what do people think?
I would have thought it is pretty obvious that the places in the EHL should go to the top two clubs in the IHL. The ISC being a purely knock out competition can always have the possibility of a surprise winner who would then struggle in the EHL. Take for example last year the case of Monkstown. They were one game away from winning the ISC but (although still improving) would probably have really struggled this year in the EHL.
Theres no way they can change european qualification rules mid season. Absolute joke if the winner of cookstown & pembroke dont get a shot at Europe next season as everyone knew at the start of the ISC that winner got to play in Europe no matter what competition that may of been.
Ok if they talk about changes for next season but not this current one.
We will have to start winning Ehl games next season to prove Ireland is worthy of these two spots.
I think its 5 games without a win at this stage.
I totally agree with comments at 2:54pm. The aim should be to move ireland higher than 7th next year, given the results it wouldn't seem cookstown can do that, they might prove us wrong though....
Having said that, the rules were there before ireland had 2 places, the forward thinking IHA again !!!!
i would imagine the majority of people would have to agree that it makes a lot of sense that surely the competition which is formatted on the EHL rules, should be the competition from which the representatives for the EHL come from!
but then again it has been proven on numerous occasions that common sense doesnt always prevail in irish hockey!
To April 16, 2009 3:09 PM - are you suggesting Cookstown might have focussed more on the IHL than the ISC if they knew there wasn't an EHL place up for grabs?
neville cup winners get a place in the intertoto cup?
no dont agree, the ihl or club championships has always and will be for the forseeable future the main comp in irish hockey and its the main comp everyone wants to win and to say a team puts more effort into a diff comp is a fallacy.
since europe has become the main priority of the top teams, the isc has suffered dramatically, and is no longer the most sought after title. and as it has already been said, straight knockout is a lottery, with anyone having a chance at success. but for irish hockey to progress and become a force in european club and national hockey, the top teams at the end of the season (the ihl finalists) must be the european representatives. these two teams would have shown the most consistency throughout the season. lets not ruin the new ihl straightaway by only giving it one ehl spot, a lot of time, money and especially bigger effort by teams has gone into those games, so the two best must be rewarded.
As the rules are changing for the ISC next year, i dont see what the problem is with awarding an EHL place to the winners of the ISC. Both the IHL and ISC will be playing the auto pass so if cookstown do manage to win the ISC then they will have plenty of time to prepare for EHL.
May i also remind people that when Rovers entered the EHL this year they had no previous experience of playing the auto pass.
If i were to make a call on who's leaving the comments advocating an EHL spot for the IHL "losers", id say its Glens, Ban, and Rovers players/members.
experience of the rules should not really be the issue...
the ihl is this countries premier competition, the isc is a good cup but is very much a distant cousin at this point - sad but true.
IHL has been promoted and played at a much higher level and deserves more than to see a lesser competition get such a big honour
April 16, 2009 4:49 PM
nicely said Cookstown Hockey Blog!!
So we could have the ridiculous situation in the future where an EHL qualifier was not a team that was in the IHL and therefore not one of the top 12 clubs in the country. Is that not ridiculous? I can understand that it will be disappointing for Cookstown (who are a very good team and would be good representatives for Ireland in the EHL) but you have to look at the longer term.
not one other ehl participant from all the other countries gain a place in the competition from winning a domestic cup. EVERY OTHER PLACE ARE FOR LEAGUE PERFORMANCES.iha sort it out!
it is true, that whilst next season the format for the isc is the same as EHL. but as 'april 16 5.24' states it is a competition that is open to great cup runs from lower tiered teams.
which is something which makes it an exciting and one of the more prestigious cups.
but not exactly the ideal for providing a place in the EHL
"If i were to make a call on who's leaving the comments advocating an EHL spot for the IHL "losers", id say its Glens, Ban, and Rovers players/members."
You seem to have left Pembroke off your list, or have they already won the IHL/ISC?
Okay, there has to be something for the winners of the ISC to play for. Maybe if the winners of the ISC played a one of game against the losers of the IHL final, this would be a better way of deciding things. At the end of the day, there has to be some incentive for winning the ISC. Lets be honest, it will be very rare for a non IHL team to win the ISC.
Is it true Pembroke played an illegal player in the ISC quarter finals?
a lot of rumours going round that the IHA is trying to sweep it under the carpet!!
no but why would they complain about it when they have two chances to get EHL place rather than those others who only have one!!
yep - - ur rite. Pembroke have already the ihl and isc in the bag.
Cookstown have a frightening injury list and should prove no problem in isc.
I find this diminunition of the ISC rather pathetic. Every player in Ireland wants to win the Irish Senior Cup. No cup has the history of this competition nor will have.
If you don't think Three Rock don't care about it then why did we have a recent celebration re-union match for the last time we won it against Banbridge in the mid 90s. Frankly the IHA has done completely the right thing giving the ISC its due of the additional EHL spot. The best cup to win and the one you remember.
TTR former player and winner
Hahaha :-) Nice try "TTR former player and winner"???... but the last time Three Rock Rovers ACTUALLY won the Irish Senior Cup was in 1974 beating Cork C of I.
I believe they have been runners-up though on three further occassions - Banbridge, Instonians, Cork C of I.
The match you're alluding to was in the 80's (1987, I think). ISC final which Banbridge won 4-3!!
What do you mean Pembroke have the IHL and senior cup in the bag?!!!
Anyone know the details of the freightening Cookstown injury list? Be a shame if the final was a non-event.
pembroke player asking about injuries maybe?
they have a heep of injuries.. it has came at the worst time for them too!!
We have two players out at the minute with knee injuries, Thomas Hutchinson and Ivan Steen.
Glad IHA keep ISC meaning something, even if others want it to become a non-entity!
Its correct that Cookstown have underperformed in IHL this season, but they played their last two IHL matches without their starting midfield of Ames, Steen and T Hutch through injury. These three also have a large part to play in their SC routine so results here are probably not a true reflection of their whole season and weaken their side considerably! (See Glenanne result vs UCD without Butler/Shaw/Brennan). However, no excuses they will need to improve in this competition and the rule changes if they are to do better next season. Regarding ISC, ask any player who has won an ISC and they would tell you what it means to have that honour. In the last 25 years the winners of the ISC have come from the top 1/2 teams in their respective province, so it seems a bit harsh if CHC do beat Pem in final they wouldn't get the support from the Irish hockey community to try and maintain or improve on TRR's great performances this season. Isish teams who do play in Europe should should be backed and supported to do as well as they possibly can! Does 2 places in EHL mean Ireland definitely do not have a place in the Euro trophy Pem just won?
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