Women's Hockey:For the first time since he succeeded Riet Kuper as national coach Gene Muller leads Ireland in to a major tournament today, their European Championship campaign beginning against hosts England in Manchester.
While a top-three finish, which would yield not only a medal but also automatic qualification for next year's Olympic Games, will surely prove beyond the South African's charges, a place in the top six, which would see Ireland retain their A Division status, should not.
Two years ago Ireland matched their best ever finish in the European Championships in Dublin when they came fifth, behind the Netherlands, Germany, England and Spain, and while those nations are likely to fill the top four slots again Ireland will expect to be battling it out with Italy, Ukraine and Azerbaijan, all ranked below them, for the fifth to eighth positions.
After opening against England, who have beaten Ireland in every meeting at a major event since their draw at the 1994 World Cup, the Irish face an even more daunting task on Monday when they play reigning champions the Netherlands, who have won the tournament on six out of the seven occasions it has been staged (only England broke their run when they took the title in 1991).
Barring a shock result against the English or Dutch it will be the final pool game against Italy on Tuesday that will be key for Ireland, with the result carried over in to the classification stage where third and fourth in each pool play each other, relegation the fate of the bottom two of that group. Ireland have, on the whole, got the better of the Italians in recent meetings, but there has rarely been much between them.
Muller's squad is a classic blend of youth and experience, with six of the 18 players 21 or under, two of them teenagers (Julia O'Halloran and Shirley McCay), four with over 100 caps (captain Linda Caulfield, Jill Orbinson, Ciara O'Brien and Éimear Cregan) and another quartet with over 70. His ultimate goal is qualification for the Beijing Olympics, but short of dramatically upsetting the seedings in Manchester chasing that dream will have to wait until next spring's Olympic qualifiers, the draw for which will be made after the European Championships. For now the target for Ireland is to retain their place in the elite of European hockey.
The Irish women's team's pool games are all live on Eurosport.
IRELAND: E Stewart (Armagh), B McKeever (Ballymoney), J McDonough (Belfast Harlequins), C Parkhill (Bowdon Hightown), E Harte, C O'Brien (both Chelmsford), E Cregan, J O'Halloran (both Cork Harlequins), L Caulfield (Hermes), L Healy, C McKean, N Symmons (all Loreto), J Orbinson, A Speers (both Pegasus), M Goode (Pembroke Wanderers), E Clarke, S McCay (both Randalstown), R Flinn (UCD).
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS (at Manchester): Pool A: Netherlands, England, Ireland, Italy. Pool B: Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Azerbaijan. Today: Ireland v England, 3.0. Monday: Ireland v Netherlands, 3.0. Tuesday: Ireland v Italy, 3.0. Thursday and Saturday: Classification matches.
