Ireland Under-18 hockey players ready for action in Netherlands
Ireland’s junior, Under-18 boys’ and girls’ hockey teams, are about to start their campaign in the Volvo Euro Hockey U-18 Championship which is going to start on July 12, in Utrecht, Netherlands.
The Irish junior boys' will be up against Russia along with Netherlands and Germany, while the Irish junior girls will face the challenge from Scotland, Belgium and the hosts, Netherlands. Both Irish junior teams will face their Dutch counter-parts today in the opening matches of the tournament.
The Irish junior girls' are participating in the event after a morale-boosting performance against the French outfit, where they defeated French junior girls' in three matches. The Irish girls’ team is full of young players.
“As challenge’s go for any young athlete competing in the youth Nations in Utrecht it is certainly the pinnacle of their fledgling careers, I believe it is a challenge that both players and management are relishing at this point. Our preparations have been good with results against Scotland and France giving us a platform from which to build,” Richie Malone, the coach of the Irish Under-18 girls’ side, stated about their recent performance and preparation for the tournament.
“Our greatest challenges will be attempting to qualify from our pool, however, I believe we have worked hard, that coupled with our flexibility and strength in depth across the squad will hopefully enable us to compete at this level,” Malone, further stated regarding their objectives to achieve in the event.
Turloch Osiochain, coach of the Irish Under-18 boys’ squad, also looked confident for better results in the event as he stated that they have brilliant young players with good training and will try to improve their rankings in the top six European U-18 hockey teams. They are participating in the event currently as the seventh ranked team.
David Passmore, the High Performance Director, too commented that the teams have talented players who have shown their abilities during the training process, but the main thing is that how they perform in a competitive environment against the power of Netherlands.
Ireland Under-18 boys’ team comprises of the following players.
I Sloan (capt.), M Bell, P Brown, R Canning, D Cole, J Duncan, A Fallis, N Gilmore, O Magee, P Ritchie, M Rollins, T Samuel, K Shimmins, , H Spain, D Watkins, J Wright, B McMillan (Goalkeeper) and Ingram (goal-keeper).
The Irish Under-18 girls’ squad includes the following players.
R Barry (capt), A Naughton, A Cooke, A-K Trevor, D Gorman, E Beatty, E Russell, F Timmins, J Orr, K Froeling, K Mullan, K McDonald, L Ewart, L McCarthy, L McKee, R Upton J Holmes (goal-keeper) and L Camlin (goal-keeper).
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