David Ames insists his loyalty still lies with Ireland — but has yet to set a date for when he will end his self-imposed international exile.

Ireland’s narrow Olympic qualification miss was put into further perspective last night as they swatted aside London-bound South Africa 4-2 in the Celtic Cup at Lisnagarvey.

Alert Ryan Tubridy, engage Ian Dempsey, trouble Ray D’arcy and dispatch Paul Collins from barracks; we may have another bandwagon to mobilise.

IRELAND’S men and women tip off their European championships campaigns this weekend both hoping to cause a major surprise and nick an Olympic place in the process in Moenchengladbach, Germany.

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

ULSTER needed to draw on all their guile and experience to wrest the senior men’s interprovincial title back from Leinster at Garryduff yesterday, as they claimed a thrilling 5-5 draw with hosts Munster that will live long in the memory.

JASON LYNCH faces the novel prospect of lining out against former colleagues on his old stomping ground for the second time in a week, as he prepares to don the colours of Ulster at the senior hockey interprovincials at Garryduff in Cork this weekend.

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 earned the bronze medal and some consolation for their failure to qualify for the Beijing Olympics with a 2-1 win over Canada at the University of Victoria yesterday.

Ireland's men's hockey team is on course to qualify for this year's Olympics following an 8-0 victory against United States in Auckland today.

Ireland kept alive their Olympics hopes with an 8-0 demolition of the USA at the qualifying tournament in Auckland.

IRELAND hockey coach David Passmore has slammed the organisers of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Auckland after a controversial goal helped the host nation to a 3-1 win over Ireland yesterday.

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

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

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

Ireland 1 Japan 2

Ireland 2 Egypt 3

IRISH hockey veterans Paddy Brown and Jason Black are here at the World Cup qualifiers with the aim of finally tasting serious top level competition and closing out their careers on a high, but the scent of the World Cup finals is equally enticing for the younger members of the squad.

Ireland recorded their first win of the World Cup qualifying tournament in China with a 2-1 victory over Canada.

Ireland 1 England 5

South Africa 0 Ireland 1

VENI, VIDI, VICI! How appropriate it was Rome where Ireland came, saw and conquered in the European Nations Championship on Saturday night.

IRELAND have arrived in Rome ahead of their European Nations Trophy campaign which begins on Sunday.

The Irish men’s senior hockey team ended their three-game series against India in Germany yesterday with a disappointing 6-2 defeat.

Ireland 4 England 6

The Irish U-21 hockey team began their European ‘A’ Division tournament in Nivelles, Belgium, yesterday with a 1-0 win over Scotland.

Twenty of Ireland’s leading young sporting talents were honoured today at the 20th annual Irish Examiner National Junior Sports Stars Awards, in association with TV3.

THERE was no glory for defending champions the Irish U-18 Boys in yesterday’s climax to the European Nations Hockey Cup in Barcelona.

The Irish U18 boys have beaten Spain 6-1 in the second phase of the European Nations Cup A Division qualifiers in Barcelona.