Archive for category: Hockey Ireland

Sport Ireland today announced the recipients of Women in Sport funding for 2019/2020. Hockey Ireland is delighted to receive support of €150,000 towards our new Leaders in Hockey programme.

Sport Ireland’s commitment to increasing women’s sustained involvement in sport saw the Women in Sport Policy launched earlier this year. This policy has highlighted the following key areas where current gaps and future opportunities for women in sport exist:

• Coaching & Officiating
• Active Participation,
• Leadership, and
  Governance and Visibility.
• Sport Ireland re-launched the Women in Sport funding programme for National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships this year to activate their Women in Sport Policy. Recognising the significant role National Governing Bodies play in enhancing the landscape for women in sport in Ireland, and “that effective and sustainable programmes require a long-term approach”, the funding is granted over a two-year period.

Speaking on the announcement, Sue Haslam, Hockey Ireland National Development Manager, said “We are very grateful for the continued support from Sport Ireland. This funding will enable us to grow our leadership base while also engaging with and helping to facilitate women to reach their full potential as leaders.

“Hockey Ireland is delighted to receive this support in order to develop our Leaders in Hockey programme.”

The multifaceted programme aims to enable, encourage and empower females to become leaders, while focusing on 3 areas of leadership within our sport; Coaching, Umpiring, and Administration. Sport Ireland’s support through the Women in Sport funding is invaluable for assembling and delivering this programme.

The various elements of the Leaders in Hockey programme will be launched in the coming weeks and will impact leadership at a club level, as well as at a higher level through mentoring programmes. The ambitious plan will create a supportive leadership pathway for our coaches, umpires and volunteers, that will create new role models for the next generation of leaders.

At the recent June Board meeting Eric Brady was elected as the new Chairperson of Hockey Ireland. Eric, who first joined the Hockey Ireland Board in 2016 succeeds Bryan Caruth who stood down this May having served the maximum allowed term as a board member. Bryan who will continue his national involvement as Chair of the Competitions Committee was acknowledged at the recent AGM for his long and distinguished service to the Board and received well deserved thanks from the membership for his ongoing and unfailing dedication to the sport of hockey.

Following his election, Eric thanked his fellow board members for affording him the opportunity to take on this role at such an exciting time for the sport of Hockey in Ireland. He said “I look forward to working with the Board, Provinces, Clubs, Volunteers and Membership as a whole to increase participation and success at all levels within the sport”

Dublin, 20th May 2019: Park Developments, one of Ireland’s leading property development groups has announced investment in Irish Women’s Hockey over the next four years. Recently appointed Irish Women’s Head Coach Sean Dancer along with World Cup medallists Anna O’Flanagan, Roisin Upton and goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran were at Park Developments’ landmark office development, The Reflector Building to announce the investment that will be ring fenced for direct player support.

The Park Developments Irish Women’s Hockey Bursary will see an initial group of 23 players supported between now and the conclusion of the qualification period for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in December. The funding is guaranteed for four years and will supplement support provided to the Irish Women’s Hockey Team by Sport Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland.

Silver medallists at the 2018 World Cup last summer, the Irish Women’s Hockey Team’s first attempt at qualification gets underway on 8th June at an FIH Series Tournament in Banbridge. Ireland must reach the final of the Banbridge tournament to earn a place at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament later this year.

Speaking at the announcement Sales & Marketing Manager at Park Developments, Jilly Cotter said: “As a property development business, we aim to enrich the lives of future generations. Like so many, we at Park Developments were inspired by the performance of the Irish Women’s team at the World Cup last summer. We wanted to support the on-going development of the team and look to do so in an innovative way that could begin the process of transforming the supports available to Irish Women hockey players. We are delighted that the Park Developments Irish Women’s Hockey Bursary Scheme is now a reality and hope it will have a positive impact on the current squad on their journey to Olympic qualification.”

Irish Women’s Head Coach, Sean Dancer said “The Park Developments Irish Player Bursary Scheme is a very welcome start to my tenure as Irish Women’s Head Coach and its importance to the development of our programme cannot be underestimated. We go into camp on Thursday this week to prepare for the FIH Series in Banbridge, the beginning of an intensive six-month training and competition schedule as we try to build on the incredible performance last summer and do what no Irish women’s team has done before and secure Olympic qualification. Some of the other team’s looking to secure Olympic qualification have full time programmes. The Park Developments Player Bursary Scheme will go some way to providing Ireland’s top hockey players with some additional financial support given the likely impact on their work commitments representing their country on the world stage will have.”

World Cup Medallist Anna O’Flanagan said: “Last summer’s World Cup was definitely the highlight of my playing career to date. Having played for Ireland on 180 occasions, it was the culmination of years of training and competitive experience balanced with study, professional qualification and full-time employment. The reality is that competing with the world’s best requires a level of commitment that makes full time employment virtually impossible. The Park Developments Player Bursary is therefore a very welcome support in addition to the funding Sport Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland have provided over the years to us as a team and will facilitate more training time that is a necessity to give ourselves the best chance of securing our goal of qualifying for and competing at the Olympic Games.”

                                                                                         Women’s Irish Hockey Challenge Final

Dromore 1 (C Whan) Clonmel 0

Chelsey Whan’s sweet penalty corner finish propelled Domore to their second ever women’s Irish Hockey Challenge title as they edged out Clonmel at Serpentine Avenue 1-0.

The Challenge – formerly the May Costley Cup – is Irish hockey’s most unpredictable competition and Dromore became the tenth different winner in the last 10 years, adding to their success in 2008.

They did it in style, working lovely patterns in their forward lines while stifling Clonmel’s attacking threats for long periods with a controlled display.

Indeed, they bossed the first half but could not make that superiority count. Four penalty corners were charged down by the tight-knit Clonmel defence with Katie McDonald shooting over from the follow-up of their first corner 10 minutes in.

The interchanges between Emma Wilson, Hannah Buchanan and Emer Melville were causing problems but they kept running into defensive brick walls with Betty Barlow a key figure in shutting them out.

And, on the break, the Tipperary outfit did have their moments with Jill Shanahan the focal point of their attack. She raced through and turned on a six-pence to open up a shooting chance but it flashed wide of the right post.

The pick of the Dromore openings came two minutes before half-time but Ana Clarke could not get full force behind her shot and the confident Jenny O’Brien booted clear, leaving it 0-0 at half-time.

The second half followed a similar pattern with Dromore holding most of the play with their forward triangle causing problems but Susan Meaney’s side were resolute in their task.

Again, Shanahan almost latched onto breaking ball in the circle for Clonmel but they were eventually caught in the 51st minute.

It came following a wave of attacks which led to a penalty corner. Clonmel broke the line, reducing the numbers for the set piece, and Dromore cleverly worked the ball around the circle to Katie McDonald. She arrowed across from right to left where Whan was waiting to gleefully sweep home.

From there, they looked the more likely to kick on and make the game safe until the last five minutes when Clonmel produced a rousing volley of attacks with plenty of long balls wreaking havoc.

And they thought they had their equaliser from their sole penalty corner. It was switched to the injector by Barlow to Maeve Murphy who struck crisply first time but Eve Hughes brilliantly got across to save with her knee.

With that scare over, Dromore regained their composure to stay clear to the final whistle with some calm work, running down the time for a famous win.

Dromore: E Hughes, H Hanna, A Clarke, T Malcolmson, C Whan, S Wilson, N Laverty, E Mills, K McDonald, J Carson, H Buchanan, R Dougan, A Hughes, T Wilson, A McMullan, E Wilson, T Kelly, E Melville

Clonmel: J O’Brien, K Ronan, A Deely, B Barlow, E O’Dea, P Corcoran, R Boland, G Boland, S Meaney, M Mulcahy, B Ryan, R Moroney, K O’Sullivan, H Ronan, A Browne, M Murphy, C O’Connor, J Shanahan, N Boyle

Umpires: J Fisher, P Shields

 

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Men’s Irish Hockey Challenge Final

Ballynahinch 4 (W Edgar 2, M Martin, S Leetch) Limerick 3 (V Biais 2, N Eacrett)

Willie Edgar produced two pieces of individual brilliance to win the men’s Irish Hockey Challenge final for Ballynahinch at Serpentine Avenue in a superb display of expansive attacking hockey against Limerick.

It saw them retain the title in style, making it three wins overall in this competition since 2012.

Intent from both sides was clear from the very start with Max Clein deflecting just wide for Limerick in the opening seconds while Hinch’s Alex Millar had two big chances almost immediately.

It went back and forth at break-neck speed with goals soon starting to flow. Limerick skipper Nathan Eacrett picked out a lovely diagonal ball into the path of Victor Biais who controlled on the spin to open the chance and then flicked in beautifully.

Hinch swapped the lead with barely 18 minutes gone as Matthew Martin’s thunderous shot equalised and then Scott Leetch finished off for 2-1 at the right post after a left-wing cross caused havoc.

Biais was not long waiting for his second goal, however, as Nick Lampp’s free just outside the 23m line opened the door and the striker picked out the top corner with a flick by Aaron Donnell – 2-2 at half-time.

The Ulster side, though, always look the more composed side with former Inst man Martin and Edgar having that touch of class to go with it.

The second half was slightly tighter but Hinch started to run up the corner count, necessitating lots of rearguard work from Justin Scheffel and his defensive team.

Limerick kept out seven set pieces but parity ended when Edgar went on a virtuoso run down the right channel and pulled off an audacious scoop which went in off the stanchion of crossbar and post.

That was with 13 minutes to go and he made it 4-2 a minute later, this time weaving his way out of traffic and selling the goalkeeper a dummy before rolling into an open net.

Nathan Eacrett slammed in a reverse from Limerick’s only penalty corner with five minutes to go, making things lively for the latter stages. But Ballynahinch had the nous to see out the endgame and lift the crown for a third time.

Ballynahinch: A Donnell, S Crean, T Crean, S Hunter, A Brown, L Harrison, R Coffey, M Martin, A Millar, W Edgar, J Campbell, S Leetch, L Curry, A Mulholland, M Brown, D Marshall, M Carney, J Higginson, A McIlwaine

Limerick: J Scheffel, S Lilburn, C Oggel, N Eacrett, Q Eacrett, A Smith, D Kelly, E Hannon, J Smith, C Duggan, B Smyth, N Lampp, A Khan, V Biais, M Clein, D Potts

Umpires: S Jenkins, D Pearson

Stephen Findlater