“I hope you continue on this journey, inspiring the next generation of hockey players in Ireland and I hope to see you in Tokyo.”

Ireland’s women finished on a high in Santiago with a 3-0 victory over their Chilean hosts in the final game of a four-match series.

Irish coach Graham Shaw rang the changes as they drew their first game since the World Cup - a scoreless tie against Chile.

The Irish women’s hockey team captured the imagination of the public with their run to the World Cup final in London. Gillian Pinder, the penalty hero in their semi-final win over Spain — provides the definitive inside story of the team of the year. She spoke with Kieran Shannon.

Gaelic Games has overtaken soccer as Ireland’s favourite sport, according to a major national sports survey.

Minority sports crave that moment that propels them into the national sporting consciousness. Think Katie Taylor at London 2012 and the O’Donovans in Rio 2016. Hockey Ireland’s Phil Oakley swears that after Irish ’s exploits at the Cricket World Cup in 2007, he saw lads using hurleys to play cricket in Mayfield on Cork’s northside.

Irish pride was strongly on display among Irish Women's Hockey coach Graham Shaw's fellow Glenanne Club members, as they watched this afternoon's final against The Netherlands with huge pride at The Morgue Pub in Templeogue today.

Ahead of their historic World Cup finals weekend, Stephen Findlater looked at some things you may not know about our hockey heroes.

And on it goes. For 10 days now, the Irish women’s seem to continually playing the biggest game of their lives, the biggest since the sport’s formation on the island in 1892.

Seven days on from the biggest result in Irish hockey history, the opponent and the venue is the same as Ireland look to make an even more seismic impact.

A heavily-deflected Giselle Ansley goal took some of the wind out of the Irish women’s sails but the upshot of their 1-0 loss to England at Lee Valley has probably provided the perfect scenario for Thursday’s World Cup quarter-final.

London’s Lee Valley is fast becoming a mecca for Irish hockey as it once again witnessed one of the greatest ever moments in Irish hockey history.

Megan Frazer has been included in Graham Shaw’s squad of 18 players for next month’s World Cup in London despite concerns over her fitness.

Ireland’s women have been dealt a reasonably favourable pool in the women’s World Cup next July with their date with India looking to be the crucial one if they are to make the knock-out phases.

Cliodhna Sargent is set to return to action for the first time since January following the birth of her first son, Dylan, in August with a World Cup spot very much the long-term aim.

When Des Cahill called on potential benefactors to “#coughup”, circling the Green Army’s “actively seeking sponsorship” biography line, it gave the sport one of its rare moments in the spotlight.

Sarah Torrans gave a glimpse of her huge talent as a much changed Irish senior women drew 1-1 with Scotland at Stormont.

The Irish U21 women’s side had their status in the top tier of European competition assured thanks to an EHF executive board decision this week which keeps alive their hopes of playing in the 2020 Junior World Cup.

Ireland’s women were left hugely frustrated as a last-second German goal denied them the scalp of the Olympic bronze medallists at the Hockey World League semi-finals in Johannesburg.

Roisin Upton is hoping to make up for lost time with the Irish women’s team as they look to land a 2018 World Cup spot over the course of the next two weeks.

Women’s hockey international: Germany 3 ( Keibel, Huse, Schroder) - Ireland 1 (Russell)

Rebecca Barry is hoping there is more glory around the corner on her road less travelled, as she chases the rare distinction of consecutive Irish Senior Cups with different clubs.

Graham Shaw has his sights set on World Cup qualification after his Ireland side cruised to a World League 2 title in Kuala Lumpur.

Ireland’s women are on course to progress to the next phase of their 2018 World Cup qualification campaign as they make light work of their opponents at World League 2 in Malaysia.

Ireland’s sports funding model needs to be altered to help the nation’s hockey teams continue their recent progress, according to senior men’s coach Craig Fulton.

Ireland’s hopes of World Cup qualification have been dealt a serious blow after captain Megan Frazer was ruled out for up to nine months.

Ireland’s senior women will lose coach Darren Smith after June’s Olympic qualifiers — regardless of whether they get to Rio or not.

Julia O’Halloran made the crucial Irish Hockey League final intervention for Railway Union for the second year running as they saw off Loreto on sudden death penalties on a topsy-turvy finals day at Grange Road.

Teenage starlet Shane O’Donoghue is one of many Irish internationals facing a busy Easter weekend of hockey across two different countries, as the U21 interpros, EuroHockey League last 16 and an international series in Germany test the country’s top players.

Graham Shaw has been appointed the Irish U18 boys coach as he aims to impart some of the top-level knowledge garnered in more than 150 international caps.

PEMBROKE WANDERERS are charged with the task of causing one of the biggest upsets in EuroHockey League history when they take on Spain’s Club de Campo at Bloemendaal, near Amsterdam, today (11am Irish time).

EIMEAR CREGAN admits she has had plenty of lucky breaks along the way as she stands on the cusp of becoming the most capped Irish hockey player of all time.

IRELAND senior women’s coach Gene Muller has finally confirmed plans to centralise the team to Dublin from this October will go ahead.

IRELAND’S senior men’s squad is more than 300 caps lighter in terms of experience following yesterday’s decision by Glenanne duo Stephen Butler and Graham Shaw to bring the curtain down on their international careers.

IRELAND will be once again on the outside looking in at a major tournament after Argentina dashed their slim hopes of qualifying for next year’s World Cup with a crushing 4-0 win in Quilmes.

IRELAND’S hockey coach Paul Revington has described the loss of two key players on the eve of his side’s World Cup qualification campaign as ‘a body blow’.

THERE are dozens of intriguing sub-plots to be dissected as the Irish Hockey League’s (IHL) showpiece weekend gets underway tomorrow, but the question of who can stop the Pembroke Wanderers juggernaut is dominating the agenda.

RAILWAY UNION will be hoping to translate their league form onto the national stage when they visit Cork to cross swords with UCC in an intriguing double-header at the Mardyke tomorrow (12pm).

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).

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.

Ireland 1 England 1

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.