Men's HockeyIreland coach Dave Passmore has selected a squad following the club championship finals in Cork last weekend. The focus of attention now falls on the European Championships in September. Ireland will travel to Rome to secure promotion to the A Division of European hockey and the World Cup qualifiers in spring 2006.
Passmore has made several changes to the squad with two notable additions. Aer Lingus's David Bane (23), who earned his first cap against Belgium earlier this year, has been added after an impressive club season and the experienced David Smyth has returned after 18 months' absence due to work and other commitments
"I have generally been pleased with the attitude and commitment of the athletes to their regional conditioning and skills programs since January. After a short period of recuperation we need to get on with the task of preparing ourselves to compete in Rome," said Passmore. "David Smyth demonstrated his talent in Cork this weekend. I am delighted he has returned to the squad. He is technically very able and will give the Irish team different dimensions to our game in terms of how we can attack from the back line.
"David Bane has made significant progress over a short period. He is a robust player with unorthodox skills which other teams will find difficult to deal with. He has a lot to learn about international hockey but his attitude is excellent."
Two of the younger athletes named previously, Richard Arnopp and Peter Blackeney, are on agreed training breaks until after the European Championships. Following warm-up games against Italy in Dublin on May 25th-26th, Ireland play Italy and Canada in a Tri-Nations tournament in Cork from May 27th-29th.
The objective of these matches is to see as many players as possible before the squad moves into the final stages of the preparations for the team's crucial European tournament.
IRISH SQUAD: D Bane (Aer Lingus) - 2 caps, 0 goals); A Barbour (Cookstown) - 24 caps, 1 goal; W Bateman (GK-Cork Harlequins) - 28 caps, 0 goals; J Black (Cork Harlequins) - 67 caps, 3 goals; M Black (Cork Harlequins) - 32 caps, 2 goals; P Brown (Instonians) - 69 caps, 3 goals; K Burns (Cork C of I) - 21 caps, 0 goals; S Butler (Dragons) - 67 caps, 30 goals; T Cockram (Lisnagarvey) - 6 caps, 0 goals; D Eakins (Cork Harlequins) - 14 caps, 0 goals; G Elliott (Pembroke Wanderers) - 43 caps, 18 goals; M Gleghorne (Loughborough ) - 4 caps, 1 goal; Ronan Gormley (Pembroke Wanderers) - 3 caps, 0 goals; C Henderson (GK-Corinthians) - 3 caps, 0 goals; N Henderson (GK-Pembroke Wanderers) - 54 caps, 0 goals; D Hobbs (Cork C of I) - 33 caps, 1 goal; M Irwin (Instonians) - 57 caps, 22 goals; I Lewers (Annadale) - 6 caps, 0 goals; E Magee (Banbridge) - 1 caps, 0 goals; P Maguire (TCD) - 1 caps, 0 goals; S Nicholson (Cork Harlequins) - 11 caps, 0 goals; M Raphael (Lisnagarvey) - 62 caps, 8 goals; G Shaw (Annadale) - 45 caps, 3 goals; J Sherriff (Dragons) - 56 caps, 36 goals; D Smyth (Annadale) - 46 caps, 0 goals; B Waring (Lisnagarvey) - 13 caps, 1 goal. Agreed Breaks: C Jackson (Annadale) - 66 caps, 11 goals - work; J Jermyn (Pembroke W) - 19 caps, 4 goals - study.
