Ireland all set for for series against India

Recent women’s Irish Hockey League final opponents Gillian Pinder of UCD and Railway Union’s Kate Dillon will join forces on the Ireland squad for the upcoming three-Test series against India at Belfield. Photograph: Kevin Scott/Inpho/Presseye

While Railway Union’s internationals still have the Eurohockey Club Champions Cup in Den Bosch (April 18th- 21st) to compete in, the bulk of Darren Smith’s squad can now turn their attention to Ireland duty, starting with next week’s three Test series against India at Belfield.

The matches are part of the build-up to the Champions Challenge I in Scotland (April 27th-May 4th) where Ireland’s pool includes the USA, South Africa and Spain.

Smith's squad for the tournament is missing the injured Liz Colvin and Lisa Jacob and the unavailable Nikki Symmons, Alex Speers, Pamela Smithwick and Niamh Small, but Railway's Kate Dillon and Emma Smyth will be back for the Scottish trip after missing the India games while they represent their club in the Netherlands. Chloe Brown and Deirdre Duke replace the pair for next week's games. Megan Frazer takes over the captaincy from Speers, who is doing exams.
IRELAND SQUAD (for Champions Challenge): E Beatty, G Pinder, K Mullan, A O'Flanagan, N Evans (all UCD), K Dillon, E Smyth (both Railway Union), A O'Flynn, E Gray (Hermes), A Meeke (all Loreto), N Daly (Holcombe HC), C Watkins (Club de Campo), S McCay (Old Alexandra), C Sargent (Cork Harlequins), N Carroll (Catholic Institute), M Frazer (Holcombe HC), M Harvey (Leuven), A McFerran (Randalstown).

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times