Ireland’s women will be spared a €65,000 trip to Uruguay after they were yesterday awarded the hosting of World League 2 — the penultimate tournament on their Olympic qualification journey.

This afternoon, Ireland’s elite hockey players will traverse the country and wonder: could I do this every other weekend?

The Irish Hockey Association yesterday laid out its blueprint for the sport — and stated its aim to grow participation levels by 20% over the next four years.

Andrew Meredith will depart Irish hockey next week after his turbulent tenure as senior men’s coach was ended “by mutual consent” last night.

Ireland have followed the lead of Europe’s major hockey nations by withdrawing their U16 boys and girls sides from European competition.

Life begins as a limited company for Irish Hockey on July 1 following an emphatic vote at the Irish Hockey Association’s AGM in Dublin on Saturday but clubs rejected a proposed €233 levy for the next two years.

Munster hockey players harbouring international ambitions were left reeling after it emerged that regional training for the Irish international men’s squad will no longer take place in Cork.

Back in 2011, those at the coalface of Munster men’s and boys’ hockey got a major fright on a winter’s night in Mallow.

The Irish Hockey Association’s hopes of easing some of their financial worries by hosting round three of the FIH World League have been dashed, it was revealed yesterday.

IAN Sloan claimed Irish hockey has little chance of long-term success as he and David Ames rocked the sport by announcing their defections to England.

Former Irish men’s senior coach Paul Revington has hit back at suggestions that he and his management team were the root cause of a €37,500 overspend that almost saw Ireland withdraw from the Champions Challenge I.

Irish hockey chiefs claim former coach Paul Revington and his management team were responsible for a €37,000 overspend that leaves the national body facing a potential financial “crisis year” in 2013.

Ireland captain Ronan Gormley yesterday hailed the “world class” appointment of Andrew Meredith to the senior men’s national post.

Irish hockey officials will be forced to explain the circumstances that led to Ireland’s much-criticised withdrawal — and subsequent reinstatement — from a high-profile tournament in Argentina.

A remarkable fundraising drive by the Irish hockey community had a happy ending as Ireland’s participation in next month’s men’s Champions Challenge I in Argentina was confirmed yesterday.

The focus turned to fundraising yesterday after the Irish Hockey Association’s board made an “unreserved apology” to the national senior men’s team and its supporters over a row that engulfed the sport this week.

Irish hockey chiefs were last night attempting to salvage the wreckage of the decision not to send the men’s national team to next month’s Champions Challenge I in Argentina.

Ireland’s men’s hockey team were left seething yesterday after the board of the Irish Hockey Association withdrew them from next month’s Champions Challenge I in Argentina.

Major changes are afoot in the Irish Hockey Association (IHA) after it was revealed that both chief executive Angus Kirkland and high performance director Dave Passmore stepped down from their respective roles.

Gene Muller didn’t stay around long enough to survey the damage after Ireland’s Olympic qualification near miss, after yesterday announcing he has stepped down from the post of senior women’s coach.

Gaelic, rugby, soccer and hockey chiefs have signed up to plans to develop the new National Sports Campus.

Four major sporting governing bodies have signed up to a new Government plan to develop the National Sports Campus at Abbottstown in Blanchardstown, with work set to start this year, Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar announced today.

Ireland will today learn whether they’ll have to plan without key centre-back Conor Harte for the remainder of their Electric Ireland FIH Road to London Olympicqualification campaign.

The popularity of boys’ hockey in Munster continues to bounce back, after almost 300 Cork schoolboys were introduced to the sport yesterday.

MYSTERY again surrounds the future of Irish hockey’s inter-provincial tournaments after the Irish Hockey Association (IHA) confirmed the senior and junior tournaments will not take place during the 2011/12 season.

A bus carrying Turks has come under armed attack in Syria, Turkey’s officials said today.

CORK’S Julia O’Halloran is the big absentee from Gene Muller’s latest Irish centralised training panel announced yesterday.

HORSE Racing Ireland is facing a six-figure claim for damages amid allegations that it kept winnings owed to an on-track bookmaker and never told him about his windfall.

THE Irish Hockey Association (IHA) has taken preemptive action in postponing this weekend’s Irish Hockey League games, it emerged yesterday.

IRISH hockey’s U21 interprovincial tournament is to be scrapped this season, as part of a restructuring of the oft-maligned annual competitions.

THE Irish Hockey Association yesterday gave the green light to controversial plans to centralise the women’s senior hockey team in Dublin for 10 months.

EIMEAR CREGAN could overtake fellow Munster woman Rachael Kohler as the most capped Irishhockey player of all time this month.

ONE of Irish hockey’s most influential coaches has added his voice to the growing dissatisfaction within the sport with Ireland senior women’s coach Gene Muller’s plans to base the national squad in Dublin on a full-time basis.

IRELAND’S top women’s hockey players could be in line for a centralisation move that would see them based full-time in Dublin this September, it emerged yesterday.

DUTCH superstar Laurence Docherty has backed the decisions by former Ireland internationals Iain Lewers and Mark Gleghorne to switch their allegiance to Great Britain.

PEMBROKE WANDERERS are free to concentrate on their quest for an Irish Senior and Junior Cup double this weekend after Mossley chose not to take an eligibility query any further.

A PLAYER eligibility issue involving defending Irish Senior Cup champions Pembroke Wanderers threatens to overshadow the Dubliners’ quest to retain the trophy when they lock horns with Cookstown at Belfield on Sunday (1.15).

THOUSANDS of rescue workers searched the snow-covered mountains of central Turkey yesterday for survivors of a helicopter crash as an injured passenger appealed for help in a television broadcast.

Thousands of rescuers were today searching for the sole survivor of a Turkish helicopter crash who made desperate plea for help on a mobile phone.

PAUL REVINGTON has been appointed Irish senior men’s hockey coach.

ONE of the top figures in Ulster hockey has said he looks forward to seeing its young stars in the green of Ireland, after the issue of Ulster’s U18 players being encouraged to declare for Great Britain was seemingly put to bed.

DAVE PASSMORE yesterday stepped down as the Irish senior men’s hockey coach but will take on the full-time role of high performance director, as part of the Irish Hockey Association’s (IHA) decision to split the roles.

CONCERN is growing within Irish hockey circles that talented young Ulster-based players may be lost to Great Britain.