Ireland Women's Squad Announced For Eurohockey Championships ??

Graham Shaw, who recently took over as head coach of Ireland's senior women's hockey team, has announced the squad that will compete at the Eurohockey Championships ΙΙ in Prague (Sat 18th Jul - Sun 26th Jul 2015).

Ireland is drawn in Pool A with Czech Republic (world ranked 35), Ukraine (world ranked 26) and France (world ranked 24) and will be looking for a top 2 the tournament in order to gain promotion into the top division in European hockey.

The tournament comes just weeks after Hockey World League in Valencia, which saw the Green Army narrowly miss out on Olympic qualification. Much of that squad remains with any absences accounted for by retirement, work commitments or injury, most notably Nikki Evans who is recovering from 2 fractures to her jaw.

A number of the teams competing in Prague were in Dublin for World League 2 in March; Ireland beat Ukraine 5-0 and Belarus 7-0 at World League 2. Similar to then, Ireland will be the highest ranked team in the tournament, and will look to capitalize and channel the positives from several impressive performances in Valencia.

Speaking about his selection, Graham Shaw said "The objective of this tournament is a top 2 finish to secure promotion back to A Division. This is very important for this squad and the path we want to take. With seven changes from the squad that went to Valencia it shows the real strength in depth we have in Irish hockey with the calibre of players we have called in. The Squad selected has flexibility with multiple players able to operate in more than one position and physically fit to cope with the heat in Prague".

Please find the Squad for this upcoming European B Division in Prague:

1. Ayeisha McFarren
2. Stella Davis
3. Ali Meeke
4. Kerri McDonald
5. Hannah Mathews
6. Clio Sargent
7. Shilrey McCay
8. Megan Frazer (C)
9. Yvonne O Byrne
10. Gill Pinder
11. Nicki Daly
12. Chloe Watkins
13. Emily Beatty
14. Naomi Carroll
15. Chloe Brown
16. Deirdre Duke
17. Kate Lloyd
18. Katie Mullan

Reserves:

Roisin Upton
Hayley Mulcahy
Sinead Loughran

Ireland's pool matches are as follows:

Sat 18th July 13:30 Ireland vs France
Sun 19th July 20:15 Ukraine vs Ireland
Tues 21st July 17:45 Ireland vs Czech Republic