HOCKEY/Setanta Cup:"This is a pleasing victory as we were clinical with our penalty corners," said Ireland's head coach Dave Passmore. "However, there is still much to work on."
Passmore is correct and as the Irish men bask in the glory of beating Canada 3-1 on Wednesday, they will do so with one eye on the European Championships in Manchester.
Both Passmore and the Irish women's coach, Gene Muller, whose side drew 0-0 with South Africa in their opening match, are aware of the value of good performances now but know that reaching to beat teams placed a couple of rungs higher than them in the world rankings is just the first part of the year's task.
Today the Irish women face Scotland and the men play Egypt in the second match of the Setanta Trophy. Scotland are very well known, while Egypt, although different in style to Ireland, are not unfamiliar as Passmore's side, within the last 12 months, have played against them in a tournament in Cairo.
That aside, both home teams know that in their pool stages in Manchester, they are facing a much tougher prospect than either Scotland or Egypt.
The men meet Holland and Spain (as well as Italy), both ranked in the top five in the world and the women play Holland and England (as well as France), also at the top end of the world rankings. Beating any of those top sides is a remote prospect.
But the Setanta Trophy matches will undoubtedly give both Irish teams a reading of just where they are and what sort of improvements will have to be made before the August event.
For the men, things looked encouraging on Wednesday and winning the match was important.
Ireland's technical levels have improved and in Stephen Butler, they have an unusually talented set-piece specialist with John Jermyn not far behind.
The 123-capped Paddy Brown is also an important figure in the middle of defence as are the two goalkeepers, Mark Ruddle, who did well against Canada, and David Harte.
The Irish women, although satisfied with the result against South Africa, may not have been pleased with the creative side of their performance.
The fact they contained well and never looked too stretched by the higher-ranked team is of huge benefit.
But territorially and possession wise they chased for much of the game and will want to demonstrate an ability today against Scotland that this is a team that can hold the ball, decide on plays and penetrate the opposition's circle in ways other than counter-attacking.
It was the first match for a side where half were highly experienced (65 to over 130 caps) and many of the others were around the 20-cap mark, which in these days of roll on and roll off may not translate into enormous game time.
Germany on Saturday, more so than Scotland today, will determine exactly where the team is compared to Europe's elite.
Setanta Trophy
Men:Wales 1 (D Graham), Egypt 0.
Women:Germany 8 (E Hoffman 3, M Stoeckel 2, N Keller, M Rodewald, F Rinnie), Scotland 0.
Today:Canada v Wales, 3.0; Ireland v Egypt, 7.0; Women: Germany v South Africa, 1.0; Ireland v Scotland, 5.0.
