Hermes through to Euro final

Hermes reached the final of the EuroHockey Club Champions Trophy courtesy of a 1-1 draw with Belarussian side Ritm Grodno in Wettingen, Switzerland this afternoon.

Alexandra schoolgirl Deirdre Duke (pictured) proved the heroine, levelling two minutes into the second half with a superb diving touch to Shelley Sloan’s cross.

Grodno took the lead in the eighth minute through skipper Volka Shyntar as they enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in a tough, physical battle.

Indeed, Hermes – needing just a point to progress – were made to live on their nerves as they held out nine penalty corners as well as surviving the sin-binning of Jenny Kinch in the 50th minute unscathed.

Grodno also had a goal disallowed with just five minutes to go, chalked off after a lengthy Hermes appeal. For their part, the Belarussians picked up their seventh and eighth yellow cards from their three games in the tournament, the first coinciding with Duke's all-important goal.

It means, in combination with Saturday’s 9-0 win over host Club Rottweiss, the point was enough to see the Dubliners head their group on goal difference with Scottish champions Glasgow Western in second.

By virtue of heading the group, Hermes draw the potentially easier of the two final playoff games, facing Italy’s Mori Villafranca in tomorrow’s final.


Promotion to next season’s Club Champion’s Cup up for grabs for Loreto to take on though there have been some specualtion that a women's EHL could be inaugurated in the near future.

EuroHockey Club Champion’s Trophy schedule:
Hermes vs Mori Villafranca, 12pm

Final Group B standings (points/goal difference):
1. Hermes 5pts (+9) 2. Glasgow Western 5pts (+5) 3. Ritm Grodno 5pts (+4) 4. Rottweiss Wettingen 0pts (-18)

Nine goal hammering puts Hermes in pole position

Hermes’ destiny is in their own hands as they smashed host club Rottweis Wettingen 9-0 in Switzerland today to head their EuroHockey Champion’s Trophy group on goal difference after two games.

Former Irish international Linda Caulfield started the rout in the ninth minute with her first of four goals on the day and, from there, the Dubliners never looked back.

Aoife Harte deflected home a penalty corner before teenage sensation Chloe Watkins’ spectacular first time volley made it three on the 20 minute mark.

Caulfield and Christine Quinlan added corner goals to build up a 5-0 lead by the interval. Jenny Burke added a pair after the break with Caulfield completed her personal tally, once again from two switched corner moves.

Glasgow Western’s 2-2 draw with Belarus’ Ritm Grodno means Hermes need just a point from their game to advance to the final.

They lie top of their group ahead of Grodno – who they play in the final game of the group stages – by virtue of a vastly superior goal difference.

The Belarusian’s, though, will be no pushovers, showing a zest for the physical side of the game, picking up multiple sin-binnings in both their group games to date.

Group B Results:
Hermes 9 (Linda Caulfield 4, Jenny Burke 2, Christine Quinlan, Chloe Watkins, Aoife Harte) Rottweiss Wettingen 0; Ritm Grodno 2 Glasgow Western 2

Group B Standings (points/goal difference):
1. Hermes 4pts (+9) 2. Ritm Grodno 4pts (+4) 3. Glasgow Western 2pts (0) 4. Rottweiss Wettingen (-13)

Fixtures:
Glasgow Western vs Rottweiss Wettingen, 1pm; Hermes vs Ritm Grodno, 3pm

Hermes stung by late equaliser.

Despite leading three times, Hermes were forced to settle for just a point in their opening EuroHockey Club Champions Trophy group match against Glasgow Western in Wettingen, Switzerland, drawing 3-3.

The Booterstown club conceded with just three minutes to go, denying them a shock win against the pre-tournament favourites.

In the face of a huge volume of early pressure, Hermes took the lead in the 16th minute from the penalty spot, Sinead McDonnell netting after Anna O’Flanagan was stick-fouled.

Glasgow were level within two minutes, again from the penalty spot before Jenny Burke – playing in her sixth European club tournament – nailed Hermes only corner of the match to restore the advantage.

By contrast, the Scots won 11 corners but failed to convert any with stand-in goalkeeper Yvonne Kenny in inspired form.

She is likely to be replaced by Irish international Emma Gray for today’s game who was unavailable yesterday due to exam pressure,

Scotland striker Holly Cram did equalise just before the break for 2-2 but a superb move down the right-flank between Burke and Niamh Atcheler set up Chloe Watkins for what looked to be the decisive goal in the 54th minute.

But Glasgow pounced with 180 seconds to go to leave honours shared.

Irish umpires abound: Euro news in brief

* Continuing Ireland's recent trend of supplying top umpires and officials to major competitions, a wealth of Irish whistle-blowers are involved in the various European competitions in action this weekend.

Carol Metchette is in Den Bosch for the Women's EuroHockey Club Champions Cup - and will also be involved at the Europeans in August - while Julie Beamish travels with Hermes to Wettingen. Zenia Howe will be in Vienna for the Club Champions Challenge. On the men's side, Nigel McCullough will be a judge for the Club Challenge I event in Prague.

On the international scene later this summer, Kieran Bolger and Gail Taylor have been appointed to umpire the Celtic Cup in Edinburgh in June. Robert Johnston will be in Vienna for the Boy's Youth Nations Trophy; Crawford Tipping is the TD at the Youth Nations Challenge in Prague; Catriona Hassey umpires as the Girl's Youth Nations Championships in Nivelles.

Martin Canniffe and Colin Hutchinson will be involved in the senior Europeans in Amsterdam with David Stewart going to Wrexham for the Nations Trophy. Douglas Grey (TD), Geoff Conn (umpire) and Gavin Cullen (umpire's manager) make their way to Zagreb for the Nations Challenge I.

Chris McConkey will be in Bratislava for the Challenge II while Paula Jenkins goes to Rome as a Technical Official for the women's Nation's trophy.

* Ireland's U-16 boys and girls teams will travel to Barcelona in July 2010 for their respective European Championships.

The boys have been drawn in a group to face Holland, Russia and Austria wh

ile the girls will play Russia, Spain and Ukraine between July 12 and 20 of next year.

* Should you be chained to a computer all weekend, there is still plenty of hockey action available to you this weekend with the final's weekend of the EuroHockey League going on all weekend. The EHL website will have live streaming of every game. Uhlenhorst get the action underway against Three Rock's conquerors Leuven on Saturday at 11am with the all-Dutch semi-final between Bloemendaal and hosts Rotterdam tipping off at 1.30pm Irish time.

* To see if your question for world player-of-the-year Pol Amat (left) made the cut, you can read about his thoughts now on the EHF website.

Stewart aims to go out with a bang

Colin Stewart leads his Hermes’ side into action for the last time this weekend as he looks to cap a glittering four year spell with a tenth trophy.

His team gets their EuroHockey Club Champion’s Trophy campaign underway this afternoon against Glasgow Western in Wettingen, Switzerland looking to maintain an incredible record in European competition for the Booterstown club.

In six European adventures, Hermes only finished outside the medals in their first attempt back in 1998.

Since then, victories in the B-division in Dublin (2005 Club Champions), Villafranca (2006 Cup Winner’s Cup) and Swansea (2007, Club Champions) have been achieved.

The highlight, though, came in 2000 when the club achieved Irish club hockey’s best ever finish – third place in the Cup Winner’s Cup A division, trailing only German and Dutch opposition.

And Stewart expects that pedigree to transmit itself to the new generation of players rising through the Hermes’ ranks.

Five schoolgirls make the trip but will be guided by the experience of Jenny Burke, Linda Caulfield, Jill Hodgins and Jenny Kinch; all of whom have plenty of prior knowledge of these events.

Indeed, Burke has been part of the panel for every one of the club’s European adventures though missed out in ’98 due to injury.

His side goes into the tournament, though, without their IHL semi-final game-breaker Nikki Evans (pictured, left) due to exams while Emma Gray misses the Friday game for the same reason. Fiona Connery joins the squad in Evans' stead, the international returning 12 weeks after giving birth to add her wealth of class and experience, too.

The scheduling, as such, is something Stewart is none too pleased about. “I have to say one thing about this tournament. I don’t how it affects other countries but it is too late in the year very late, a really awkward time for anyone who studies. I can’t speak for other teams, some teams might have broken up for indoor but, for us, it’s certainly not great.”

Hermes will need to negotiate a group including Belarus and Switzerland’s national champions as well as Glasgow, needing a top two finish to reach Monday’s crossover finals.

Stewart says of the opposition: “The Scottish team will probably be the rivals but that’s not to degrade any of the other teams. I don’t really know much about them to be honest. Realistically, if we play well enough we should do well. We’ll look after ourselves rather than worrying too much about what they play like until we’re over there.”

The tournament will be the Tasmanian’s swansong with the club and while he remains coy over his future, he says the memories from his time will be cherished for a long time.

“People have asked me why I’m leaving. Well, it’s time to move on.

“I think you can have a voice for four years, it’s time to move on. You don’t want to be stale and boring the players.”

The initial plan was to step down at the end of last season but the team’s progression convinced Stewart to stay for an extra year. The whole club knew quite early [that I would be moving on] but because of the success last year, I wanted to finish off going to Europe.

“Initially, I was a bit sceptical going to women’s hockey just for a change because, originally, I was either going to have three years out of hockey or find a new challenge but it’s just been fantastic.

“I’d like to just have a public forum to say the club has been, the word I had in my head was ‘fortunate’, fortunate to be with a team for four years – this sounds a bit braggy but… - a side that has won nine trophies and we hope to finish off with ten.

“But also our seconds and thirds both won cups this year so the club has been really progressive. The coaching and organisation in the background has been superb and you look at the fillies… any club would be so envious to have kids like that coming through.

“Joan Morgan, Joan Moran and Susan Spence… they are just outstanding, absolutely brilliant. Those three ladies and all the other people in Hermes have made my life really good. I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Inevitably many will ask whether he has anything lined up in the near future but he says he won’t be making any snap decisions.

“I want to enjoy this weekend and then go as far away from a hockey field as I can for three or four weeks because I’m knackered, mate, it’s been a long season.”

Squad: Emma Gray, Yvonne Kenny, Linda Caulfield, Jenny Kinch, Jenny Burke, Sinead McDonnell, Aoife McCarthy, Jill Hodgins, Aoife Harte, Christine Quinlan, Anna O’Flanagan, Fiona Connery, Shelly Sloan, Gillian Pinder, Niamh Atcheler, Chloe Watkins, Sarah Greene, Deirdre Duke.

Pool A: Siauliai Gintra Universitetas (LTU), HC Mori Villafranca (ITA), SK Slavia Praha (CZE), Swansea LHC (WAL)
Pool B: HC Ritm Grodno(BLR), Hermes HC (IRL), Glasgow Western (SCO), HC Rotweiss Wettingen (SUI)

Match Schedule
Friday, May 29 (3pm, GMT) Hermes v Glasgow Western
Saturday, May 30 (4pm, GMT) Hermes v HC Rotweiss Wettingen
Sunday, May 31 (3pm, GMT) HC Ritm Grodno v Hermes
Monday, June 1 Crossover finals

Smyth names Irish U-18 boys panel

Andy Smyth has named his 18-strong panel for this Summer's EuroHockey Youth Nation's Trophy to be held in Austria in July. Eleven players remain from the U-18 side that claimed Four-Nations' success in early August last year in Cardiff, while the side will continue to be captained by Stuart Loughrey (right).

In making his selection, Smyth praised the players for their dedication in spite of mounting academic concerns at this time of year.

"This has been an incredible group to work with so far. The attitude and commitment they have shown in the face of exam pressures has been superb. It was a real challenge for the coaching staff to cut to 18 players as the quality throughout the training squad was so high.

"Those players who have missed out will have an opportunity to train with the squad right up to the tournament such was the close margin for selection."

Six Leinster players make the tournament panel but St Andrews' skipper Cian Speers (pictured, left) is unable to travel with the team due to injury.

Smyth added: "My heart goes out to Cian who had a excellent tour of Belgium but has unfortunately broken his arm. These things happen in sport and Cian will react well to this setback and will come back stronger for it next year.

"Currently the most important things for those selected is to focus on their exams and keep a good level of physical conditioning. We have gone to regional sessions for the next month in order to minimise travel and maximise study time before coming together again at the end of June for matches vs Scotland ."

Ireland get their campaign underway on July 6 against Ukraine before facing the hosts and Switzerland in the group stages. France, Wales, Italy and the emerging Croatia - for whom former Genesis, Dublin University and Leinster U-21 girl's coach Gilles van Hesteren is now working with - lie in wait in the playoff stages.

Squad: Alistair Thom (GK, Cookstown/Cookstown HS), Stephen West (GK, Three Rock Rovers/St Andrews), Phillip Brown (Banbridge/Banbridge Academy), Scott Forbes (Banbridge/Banbridge Academy), Stephen Cole (Monkstown/St Andrews), Karl Lynch (Cork C of I/Bandon GS), Stephen Hunter (Lisnagarvey/Wallace HS), David Carson (Corinthian/St Andrews), Stuart Loughrey (capt, Pembroke Wanderers/St Andrews), Peter MacDonnell (Lisnagarvey/Wallace HS), Peter Purcell (Annadale/Sullivan Upper), Mark Crooks (Cookstown/Cookstown HS), Ian Sloan (Cookstown/Cookstown HS), Kyle Good (Three Rock Rovers/Wesley College), Stephen Dowds (Banbridge/Banbridge Academy), Shane O’Donoghue (Glennane/High School), Jonathan Ames (Cookstown/Cookstown HS), Stuart O’Grady (Cork C of I/Ashton)

Coach: Andy Smyth
Manager: Chris McCandless
Asst Coach: Miles Warren
GK Coach: Paddy Grimes
Physio: Mark McDonald

Schedule:
Monday, July 6 (3pm): Ireland v Ukraine
Tuesday, July 7 (3pm): Ireland v Austria
Wednesday, July 8 (5pm): Ireland v Switzerland
Friday, July 10/Saturday, July 11 – Classification & Finals

Ireland squad for Wales' series revealed

Ireland's will get a feel for the conditions they will encounter in Wrexham in the Europeans as Paul Revington named his panel for a double-header at the venue next week.

Speaking about the squad selected today, he said: “These games against Wales will provide our squad with another good opportunity to put training hours into test match situations.

"Michael Watt (pictured) returns to action after several months completing his studies in Scotland, while the likes of John Jermyn, Stephen Butler, Timmy Cockram and Geoff McCabe will also play their first international games in 2009 having missed the games against France in March.

"The squad has been working well together and this team will be well tested by a skilful Wales outfit playing on home turf and at the venue of the upcoming Euro Nations Trophy in August.”

Ireland squad: David Harte (Pembroke Wanderers), Iain Walker (YMCA), Ronan Gormley (Capt) (Pembroke Wanderers), Tim Lewis (Pembroke Wanderers), Joe Brennan (Glenanne), Conor Harte (Pembroke Wanderers), John Jackson (Loughborough), Graham Shaw (V/Capt) (Glenanne), Stephen Butler (Glenanne), David Hobbs (V/Capt) (Cork C of I), John Jermyn (Cork C of I), Andy McConnell (Three Rock Rovers), Geoff McCabe (Banbridge), Eugene Magee (Banbridge), Timmy Cockram (Lisnagarvey), Mitch Darling (Three Rock Rovers), Alan Sothern (Pembroke Wanderers), Michael Watt (Grange),

Schedule:

Saturday, June 6 (2.30pm) Ireland v Wales

Sunday, June 7 (1pm) Ireland v Wales

Logue names U-18 squad for Europeans

Irish U-18 coach Mary Logue announced her 18-player panel to travel to Nivelles in Belgium for the European Youth Nations Championships 2009 in early July.

Speaking about the squad, Logue said: “Following difficult decisions, given the quality of players in the training panel, I am very pleased to announce the squad of 18.

"The commitment shown by the players has been fantastic to date, especially given that a number of the training panel are currently preparing for exams. I look forward to fine-tuning our preparation over the next five weeks which will be helped by our international games against England in Manchester and against Scotland in Dublin in late June."

Ireland will compete in an initial group phase against England, France and Belgium before entering the crossover phases with Holland, Germany, Lithuania and Russia.

Ireland U-18: Sammy Jo Greer (GK) (Coleraine/Ballymoney), Emilie Molloy (GK) (Colaiste Iognaid/Galway), Niamh Atcheler (St Andrews/Hermes), Natalie Barr (Lurgan/Lurgan), Naomi Carroll (St Patricks Comprehensive/Catholic Institute), Katie Codyre (Colaiste Iognaid/Greenfields), Deirdre Duke (Alexandra College/Hermes), Brenda Flannery (Captain) (Colaiste Iognaid/Greenfields), Orla Fox (Mount Sackville/Pembroke Wanderers), Sarah Greene (Loreto Foxrock/Hermes), Hannah Matthews (Loreto Beaufort/Loreto), Ali Meeke (High School/Loreto ), Anna Mae Morton (Royal School Armagh/Armagh), Dora Gorman (Taylors Hill/Greenfields), Gillian Pinder (St Andrews and Hermes), Vanessa Surgeoner (Ballyclare/Randalstown), Lynsey Trainor (Colaiste Iognaid/Galway), Chloe Watkins (St Andrews/Hermes)

Coach: Mary Logue
Asst Coach: Richie Malone
Manager: Sinead McDonnell

Fixtures:

July 6 (4.30pm): Ireland v Belgium

July 7 (4.30pm): Ireland v France
July 8 (6.30pm): Ireland v England
July 10: Classification and Semis
July 11:Classification and Finals

Magee and Clarke honoured by their peers

Eugene Magee and Emma Clarke received the top honours last Saturday night at the ESB Irish Hockey Awards as they were named the Player’s Player of the Year by their respective international team-mates.

Leinster players won the rest of the individual awards with Rovers' pairing Neil Lyons and Kyle Good taking the men's Senior Club Player and U-18 player respectively while Railway's Jean McDonnell was honoured with the women's club player title. Hermes starlet Niamh Atcheler claimed the women's U-18 prize.

Pembroke's Craig Fulton was awarded Coach of the Year, adding yet another gong to the unprecedented four titles claimed in 21 days with his work in restructuring his club's 3rd to 7th teams training systems also cited.

Carol Metchette took title of Umpire of the Year, a deserved winner after her success at the Beijing Olympics.

Leinster and Loreto's Sally Ann Fanagan scooped Volunteer of the year, while Grace Redmond received the President's Award for her services to Irish Hockey.

Cookstown were awarded Club of the Year title for the first time while Munster's Cork C of I were announced as the 2009 Youth Club. Greenfields Fintan O'Flynn was awarded Development coach of the year.

Avoca seek new coach

Avoca's men's first team currently have coaching positions available for the upcoming 2009/10 Leinster division two campaign.

The ambitious Blackrock club has designs on gaining promotion back up to division one and to build on the "development of the first team over the last few seasons with continued strengthening throughout the squad".

Attractive package and support available for the right candidate. All enquires to Carl Breaden (086-8432789/carl.breaden@gmail.com) or Ian Wilkie (087-6393213/mailto:087-6393213/ianwilkie444@gmail.com)

Robinson set for Argentinean league: News in Brief

* YMCA's David Robinson will spend his summer playing hockey with the San Fernando club in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He will be in action twice this weekend, taking on the brilliantly named Popeye on Saturday afternoon, following up with a home match against San Martin on Sunday in the Forbex Liga Nacional.

* UCD goalkeeper Pamela Smithwick has been included in Ireland's lacrosse squad for next month's Women's World Cup. The Irish senior cup winner continues the build-up for the competition at the Amsterdam Lowlands competition this weekend ahead of the tournament which gets underway in Prague in June.

* Former Three Rock Rovers' coach Turloch O'Siochain has taken on the head of coaching role at Bristol University for the 2009/10 season. O'Siochain is also in negotiations to potentially take on a further coaching position with a top English club side should the situation suit.

* Grange Road plays host to a pair of festivals over the coming fortnight. First up, this Friday sees the beginning of the annual veteran's festival before the younger crowd take over the venue when the MayFest kicks into gear for the weekend of May 29 to 31.

Murphy claims Belgian national title

Former Trinity, Old Alex and Galway star Ciara Murphy (pictured on far right) added a Belgian national title to her list of achievements as her club, La Gantoise, claimed the Selexion Hockey League - Dames Ere Afdeling (Premier league).

Her side finished the regular season in first position and used their first seeding to beat fourth seeds Wellington in the semi-final, drawing 1-1 and winning 3-2 in a two-legged affair to reach the final.

They followed up with an impressive 4-2 victory over Uccle, recovering from an early one goal deficit and 2-2 half-time scoreline (see video highlights below). And the final victory - in a potentially three-legged affair - was secured with a 2-0 win in the second leg to give Gantoise an unassailable lead, needing no recourse for a deciding third match.

Dames PO1 from ARBH/KBHB - S.R. on Vimeo.

Ask Ray... about the IHL's first season

In a slight variation on the regular ‘Ask Ray…’ feature, this time The Hook sought out Ray O’Connor's thoughts on the IHL finals weekend due to his duel-capacity as the tournament's technical advisor as well as being part of the IHL’s organising committee.

Speaking about the event as a whole, Ray felt the tournament provided a memorable send-off to a ground-breaking year.

“We came here looking to put on a show that sold the year off greatly which I think we did personally. Everyone else did too, by and large. We had gripes about little things but people got value for money.”

Speaking about the decision to use of a club's ground like Grange Road rather than the National Hockey Stadium in UCD, O’Connor felt the ground lends itself better to Family type atmosphere:

"It is definitely the venue. At Rovers, I’d say there’s no spectator further than ten metres from the sideline. If you go to the top of the concrete stand at UCD behind the goal you have to be 35 to 50 metres away. That’s where it falls out. It’s for that reason because it’s a relatively small venue but the spectators are totally involved.”

The bonus was also felt from a television perspective due to the availability of the TV tower and Setanta’s experience of the venue from the All-Ireland school’s competitions.

As for running the men’s and women’s tournaments in tandem, the quality of hockey on show helped make this a much smoother proposition than can be the case.

“It can often be difficult to put a ladies and men’s competition on together because of the pace but the ladies final stood up to any competition from the men. Having just come back from the Olympic Games with men and women’s games going on, we’ve had world cups in the past and the Europeans last year.

“Very often both sides don’t match each other from a spectator’s perspective. The ladies final stayed with the spectator level of the men. The game flowed, that’s a compliment to the players and the umpires. It was a great spectacle. If you were a partisan supporter, you got great value as it was kept exciting to the end.

“The penalty shoot-out was good, it was the first time in the world of hockey that women had ever played this before so obviously teams had put their homework in to doing it.

“Certainly on the ladies side, there was some of the best umpiring I have seen. During the goal/no goal situtation there was some good, old-fashioned umpiring where the two worked together for the betterment of the game and came out with right result.”

Reflecting on the men’s competition, O’Connor believes the standard of hockey was some of the highest seen in Ireland.

“It was absolutely superb for anybody who loves hockey. I thought the umpiring over the weekend was very good. In the Glenanne-Banbridge match, the concentration of the umpires was excellent because there was so much going on of which they were not in control of.

“If you watch the game closely, there was no controversy between the players with everything that was going on around them. They kept the game going despite all the distractions of the clock working and not working in sequence and not in sequence.

“My opinion of the Rovers-Pembroke game was it was a little too tactical. It appeared to be like two coaches having a go rather than the players having a go. It reminded me of a Germany-Holland game, a technical game.

“The final was one of the highest quality games of hockey I’ve seen in Ireland for a long, long time; certainly at club level. The skill levels on display were excellent and, right to the final whistle; the umpires felt the atmosphere of the game.

“I think the green card contributed greatly to the management of the game which really added a punishment but not a huge punishment.

“The disappointing thing for me was how the penalty shoot-out on the men’s side worked out. I think the pitch should have been kept clear so the spectators could still enjoy the shoot-out. That was disappointing for presentation purposes. From the technical point of view, the officials got it right in the end even though they didn’t get there the right way. It all looked too controversial but technically they got it right as per the rules.

“But we had a feast of hockey, the weather absolutely contributed but it just goes to show what we can do in Ireland with a lot of people working together and with the right frame of mind.

"Roll on next year and let's make it bigger and better!"

Three Rock off to Italy as Galway set to host indoors

Three Rock Rovers will travel to Bologna for the men's indoor EuroHockey Club Challenge I com-petition next February 19-21, 2009 while Galway will host the women's challenge event a week later, the EHF confirmed today.

Rovers represent Ireland for the second time having retained their indoor crown and will hope to use the knowledge garnered from their trip to Lille to good effect next time around.

Focus may also work in their favour as, in a similar manner to Pembroke the year before, the European indoor competition proved tricky to fit in around EHL concerns.

They are drawn in a group with Croatia's HK Jedinstovo, Belarus' Stroitel Brest - who played Pembroke encountered in outdoor competition this year - and Turkey's Kecioren Bld SC.

The only side they have encountered in either group is Slovenia's Pliva Lipovci who contest the other pool with Hungarian, Italian and Serbian opposition.

Galway, meanwhile, will host their very first EHF competition as they welcome an enlarged women's challenge event to town. Having improved with every match on their European debut in a single group, six-team format, the Challenge is set to have eight entrants divided into two groups of four this time around.

Czech Republic side Slavia Praha, Wales' Howardian and Bulgaria's FHC Akademik provide the initial opposition.

Gregg named in England JWC squad

Former Lisnagarvey player of the year Chris Gregg (pictured) looks set to appear at the Junior World Cup as he was this week named in the 18-man English squad to travel to Malaysia in June.

The 20-year-old, who competed for Ireland up until U-18 level, is one of eight Loughborough students to make the English panel having impressed in the two years since he has been eligible to play for his adopted country.

Indeed, he has already tasted international success in 2009 as part of the bronze-medal winning Great Britain team at the recent Youth Olympic Festival in January in Australia.