John Clarke, the national coach, who attended the Neville Cup final on St Stephen's Day, found his excursion to Dublin well worthwhile. He appreciated not only Gordon Elliott's two high-calibre goals for Pembroke Wanderers but also the work-rate of the striker who made his Ireland debut in the Scottish centenary tournament in June. It is encouraging for the coach that, apart from Lisnagarvey's Alan Dowd who has retired after attaining the 100-cap mark, virtually all of that squad from the Edinburgh jamboree will be available for the 10nation President's Cup tournament in Bangladesh in March.
Clarke, though, is on the lookout for fresh aspirants, too, in the build-up of a team which can make an impact when Ireland re-enters the mainstream of European competition in 2003. It seems time for Glenanne's only senior international representative so far, Stephen Butler, to be joined by one or two of his all-Ireland championship-winning teammates, notably Graham Shaw, who was a leading figure in Irish successes at under-21 level.
Furthermore - as was illustrated last Tuesday when Glenanne remained Pembroke's bogey side - Shaw links up extremely effectively with Butler, who will probably become the pivot of the national team in place of Dowd. As well as Shaw, other Glenanne candidates for consideration by Clarke could include the captain, Alan Browne, and the quick-touch finisher John Goulding.
It may be that one of these figures will win the December player-of-the-month award, though Elliott must also be strongly in the running, following the previous months' exploits of fellow international clubmates Nigel Henderson and Justin Sherriff.
It will be interesting also in the new year to see if any of Corinthians' Wallaby contingent come into the reckoning for this award. Incidentally, would someone consider staging a match between, say, a Leinster XI and a team representing the southern hemisphere players based in Dublin? It seems a pity, for example, that the last Saturday of December is a blank date, even if it might have been be necessary to go indoors.
Outdoors, sometime, it would be a opportunity to experiment with the radical proposals made by master coach Horst Wein, as outlined in Hockey Highlights, the new comprehensive journal of the IHA. The German guru says the game is too complex, boring and unattractive to TV. He proposes:
No long corners - they are too dangerous and too difficult for any umpire to police.
Short corners should be received outside the `22'.
Three players must stay in the attacking half of the pitch at all times.
Once the attacking team takes the ball over the halfway line, it cannot be hit backwards over the halfway line.
Wein also suggests that in league competitions, one point should be awarded for a low-score draw (0-0 or 1-1), two points for a high-score draw, three points for a narrow win (one or two goals) and four points for a win by a margin of at least three goals.
While tomorrow is a day of rest, a match to kick start the New Year is the Leinster Under21 Cup final at Grange Road on Monday (2.0), when Three Rock Rovers will be fielding most of their senior side against the UCD team who are set for promotion to the first division. It should be a game with few inhibitions as players such as Rovers' Phelie Maguire and Stephen Tilson of UCD expressing themselves fully.
