Dave Passmore has announced the first Irish women’s indoor international squad since 1990, naming a 14-player panel for a December trip to Durban, South Africa for six test matches.

Naomi Carroll will make her long-awaited return to Catholic Institute colours as she hopes to play a leading role in the Rosbrien side’s maiden year in the EY Hockey League.

Support for the Irish women’s team took a giant leap towards a semi-professional basis with the announcement that Park Developments will roll out a four-year support package which will see up to 23 players initially benefit from bursaries.

David and Conor Harte are set to return to the scene of their first international caps following their inclusion in the Irish men’s squad for the FIH Series finals in Le Touquet, France.

While there are plenty of miles still to travel, UCC’s away day in Limerick looks a potential decider for the students in women’s Munster Division One when they meet Catholic Institute at 1pm at Rosbrien on Saturday.

Dave Passmore has received clearance to run an ongoing women’s U21 programme from Hockey Ireland.

Ireland senior women’s coach Darren Smith praised his side’s improvement over a short space of time despite going down 3-0 to New Zealand in the Electric Ireland Four Nations final in Dublin this week.

HOCKEY: Ireland’s U21 sides are both safely through to the promotion pool of the EuroHockey Junior Championships II, but not without a couple of scares.

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.

Irish hockey yesterday lost one of its crown jewels with the resignation of Paul Revington as senior men’s coach.

IRISH hockey’s U21 side will make a return to the international arena after a seven-year absence, it has emerged.

AT A time when some of Ireland’s soccer internationals are seeing their commitment to the cause questioned, Sinead McCarthy continues to prove her allegiance to the green jersey in style.

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

NEW Ireland senior men’s hockey coach Paul Revington gets his first chance to see his new charges in action later this month as Scotland arrive for a three-game series.

IRELAND senior men’s interim coach Dave Passmore believes the young players in his squad will be in for a serious test as they take on Argentina in the first of an international double-header at Belfield tonight (7.30pm).

IRELAND hockey coaches Gene Muller and Dave Passmore insist there are positives to be taken from the Setanta Sports Trophy despite seeing their sides finish bottom of the pile yesterday.

WE STILL make a frustrating habit of coming up short, but Roy Keane’s imploring has adjusted attitudes among a new generation of Irish sports stars — sloppy seconds are no longer our style.

Ireland slipped to a controversial 3-1 defeat against hosts New Zealand in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Auckland.

DAVID HOBBS will celebrate his 100th Irish cap this weekend, and become the youngest player in Irish Hockey history to do so.

THEY may have ended the tournament being relegated once more to the second tier of European hockey, but Ireland ‘s men ended the EuroHockey Nations campaign in Belle Vue yesterday with an emphatic 10-0 win over the Czech Republic.

IRISH HOCKEY has had many depressing days over the years, but not many as bad as yesterday at these European Championships when a French team which had been thrashed 8-3 and 6-0 by Holland and Spain — teams which Ireland had performed so gamely against here in Belle Vue — managed to derail the Irish effort.

Ireland 0 Holland 1

AS ONE of the Irish heroes of their opening 1-1 draw with reigning European Champions Spain on Sunday, 19-year-old goalkeeper David Harte says that confidence levels have surged throughout the side.

IF IT might reasonably have been expected that the Irish men’s and women’s teams would deliver thin gruel in their European Championship openers against Spain and England respectively, it transpired that the men at least delivered some haute cuisine here in Belle Vue yesterday.

Ireland men’s coach Dave Passmore has named his 18-man squad for the EuroHockey Championships in Manchester this month, keeping faith with 15 players who featured at last year’s World Cup qualifiers.

IRELAND’S two senior teams are getting ready to embark on the biggest tournament to take place in the country this year.

AFTER a week in which they created a huge number of chances, though failing to take most of them, Cork Harlequins finally hit top gear in Prague yesterday when they put on their best scoring display of the week to secure promotion for Ireland in the European Clubs Championships.

CORK Church of Ireland’s John Jermyn is one the notable absentees from the Irish senior hockey squad to take on Holland next month.

A LITTLE bit of hockey history will be made next month by three members of a Cork family.

THE new Irish ladies hockey coach is not expecting his new charges to set the world alight overnight, but he has already laid down what he believes to be some reasonable targets for the side as they head into a three-game series against Scotland this weekend.

THE Irish men’s international hockey season has a tough opening weekend with three tests against Scotland at Instonians’ newly laid water-based pitch in Belfast.

THE Irish Hockey Association yesterday appointed Gene Muller as the new women’s head coach and director of player performance.

RIET KUPER yesterday tendered her resignation as coach to the Irish senior women’s hockey team in a move which could ultimately see several changes in the sport’s international coaching system.

Ireland 1 Japan 2

Ireland 2 Pakistan 2

DESPITE this incredible result against a powerhouse of world hockey, there was a sense of frustration in the Ireland camp yesterday.

IRELAND aim to defeat tournament favourites Pakistan in this morning's Hockey World Cup qualifiers, to keep alive their hopes of making the finals in Germany, in September.

IRELAND and Belgium’s meeting today in Pool A of the World Cup hockey qualifier in Changzhou will be unlike any of the six games the sides have played against each other in the last two years.

CANADA pulled out all the stops in their efforts to psych Ireland out of yesterday’s World Cup hockey qualifier, but Ireland held on for a vital 2-1 win to recover lost ground after their defeat by England.

IRISH coach Dave Passmore refused to be disheartened by yesterday’s 5-1 loss to England - and believes his team will bounce back from the defeat.

COACH Dave Passmore is confident the Irish men’s hockey team are in peak condition for their attempt to qualify for September’s World Cup in Germany.

THE Irish Hockey Association has appointed Paul Varian to the permanent position of Chief Executive.

Cork Harlequins 2 Lisnagarvey 1

NIGEL HENDERSON has returned to the Irish senior men’s team to help solve national coach Dave Passmore’s goalkeeper crisis.