Sandra O'Gorman's hopes of resuming her international hockey career have been put on hold following her withdrawal from the Irish panel because of work commitments.

The Muckross goalkeeper, who won the last of her 44 caps at the 1995 European Nations Cup finals in Amsterdam, returned to the panel last season, following the appointment of Riet Kuper as coach, but is now unlikely to figure in Kuper's plans for the build-up to next August's European finals in Germany.

Tara Browne, Sarah Hilliard and Sharon Hutchinson will now compete for the number one jersey, but Kuper may add another goalkeeper to the panel before January's training week in Spain. The Irish Ladies' Hockey Union confirmed yesterday that the team will play two unofficial internationals, against Spain and Germany, when they travel to Barcelona.

Also making the trip to Spain will be former England under-21 international Maria Merrigan, who has now been officially added to the Irish senior panel. She played one season for the English under-21s but as she did not play for the English senior team is not ineligible for Ireland.