HOCKEY Irish Hockey Squad for World Cup Qualifiers Announced (Men's Hockey)

Coach Paul Revington has today revealed his 18 selected to play for Ireland at the World Cup Qualifiers in Quilmes, Argentina which takes place from the 14th - 22nd November.

The Irish Men's squad have had plenty of match practice over the last few months in their build up towards this tournament giving Coach Revington ample opportunity to assess player form prior to selecting his squad. He will also be afforded the opportunity to fine tune his athletes as Ireland will now head to Lilleshall in England to play two final tests on the 4th and 5th November before they depart for Argentina.

Commenting on his selection Revington said today "I am pleased to announce an Irish Team that I believe will be competitive in Argentina and one that will continue to improve as a Team in 2009. There is a great deal of consistency to this Team, highlighted in the fact that 16 of the 18 selected for Argentina were part of both the Champions Challenge II and Euro Nations Event in the summer of 2009."

Michael Watt, Joe Brennan and David Hobbs who have all sustained injuries over the last period have been included in Revington's line up as has Paul Gleghorne in what will be his first inclusion for a major tournament "Michael Watt rejoins the Team having missed the Euro Nations Trophy with a hand injury. I am very pleased to announce the inclusion of Paul Gleghorne. Paul brings good personal form into the Team and provides a good balance to the Team across the different playing lines. Joe Brennan and David Hobbs are both selected despite recent injuries and will be expected to pass fitness tests before departure."

Ireland head into this competition ranked third and will face Belgium (9th); Argentina (10th); USA (19th); Czech Republic (25th) and Chile (27th) only the winner of which will earn a coveted spot in the World Cup a tough task which Revington is fully aware of "The final round of qualification for the World Cup is not for the faint-hearted and I believe this Team has the strength and depth of quality to do justice to themselves and to Irish Hockey by putting together a run of consistent performances in Argentina."

Ireland were scheduled to play Argentina at the end of September in Dublin until the series was cancelled, so the option to play in a double header against England early next month was too good to pass up "We are fortunate to pick up two games against England after the cancelled games against Argentina in September."

"It is unfortunate that the full World Cup Qualifying Team cannot attend these games due to work commitments, however we are pleased that 80% of the Team will get another two high quality games under their belts against the current European Champions before traveling to Argentina. David Ames, Chris Cargo, Peter Caruth and Andy McConnell are selected as replacements for the unavailable players knowing that there is still a small window of opportunity for late selection as various players prove their fitness before departing for Argentina." He continued.

Weighing in behind the team High Performance Director Dave Passmore has full belief in this squad "After the protress shown by the team in their strong performances this year and the experience of going through demanding tournaments as a group, this squad has the potential to do well in Argentina. The margins between success and failure are very small but I know every detail has been covered in preparing the team for this event."