Cargo hoping to deliver goods for Reading

THE days where an Irish club might be seen at the finals weekend of the biggest club competition in world hockey might be some way off yet, but there will nonetheless be some local interest as the EuroHockey League draws to a close this weekend.

Chris Cargo and Ronan Gormley are Irish international team-mates, but they’ll be in opposition this weekend as the former’s Reading side meet the latter’s Club de Campo outfit in the last four of the EHL in The Hague tomorrow (11.30am).

Among the 14 Irish squad members to ply their trade abroad this season, the duo have both enjoyed productive seasons at club level.

Bangor hitman Cargo has been instrumental in Reading becoming the first English side to reach an EHL semi-final; he is the tournament’s third top scorer with four goals and is looking forward to locking horns with his international colleague.

“It will be really good to see Gormo out there, I enjoy playing with him in an Irish shirt and from training with him I know that it will be a hard battle against him,” he said.

“We have had a little bit of banter online (on Twitter) but I haven’t seen him in person since a quick hello at the KO16 due to our busy schedules.

“Most importantly though, I think it has been fantastic for Irish hockey as a whole in the EHL with the performance of Glennane and Pembroke plus the likes of David Ames for Beeston, Eugene Magee for Dragons and now the knowledge that there will be at least one Irish player playing in the final on Sunday. Hopefully it can really help the international side this summer.”

Gormley’s Club de Campo outfit come into the game off the back of a bitterly disappointing loss to Atletic Terrassa in the Spanish league title playoffs, Terrassa gaining revenge for their defeat to the Madrid side in the EHL’s last eight.

Prior to that, Irish international skipper Gormley had the mixed feeling of being on a Campo side that set a tournament record by beating the Dubliner’s beloved hometown club Pembroke Wanderers 11-0 in the KO16.

Whoever comes out on top will become just the third Irish international to play in an EHL final, though none has yet lifted the trophy. John Jermyn, now of Cork C of I, and Iain Lewers — who has since switched his international allegiance to England and Great Britain — were both in the side for Dutch club HGC who lost the inaugural decider to Uhlenhorster.

The other semi-final is an all-Dutch affair, with Oranje Zwart taking on HGC.

Elsewhere, Ireland will be guaranteed a finalist in the top tier of womens’ European club action as Slough’s Hannah Bowe takes on Leicester’s Emma Clarke in the semi-final of the EuroHockey Club Champions Cup, also in the Hague.