Ireland bury their French hoodoo in style at Lille

IRELAND’S senior men gave coach Paul Revington plenty more to chew on as they came away from Lille with the Champions Challenge II title in the bag following a 4-2 final defeat of France.

Defeated by Poland in the 2009 final in Dublin, Ireland more than made up for that loss here, all the more pleasingly so given Revington left some of his most experienced campaigners — including centurions John Jermyn, Timmy Cockram and Phelie Maguire — at home for this tournament.

It hasn’t been all plain sailing for Ireland this week but a raft of positives have emerged as they played some breathtaking stuff in picking up a second piece of silverware to add to the Celtic Cup won last month.