Starlet Sloan gets chance to shine

IAN SLOAN gets another chance to continue his remarkable development into a top-class international hockey star after he was named in the Irish squad for next week’s INSEP Five Nations in Paris.

The 17-year-old Cookstown tyro will get a chance to test himself against some of the globe’s best, with the world’s top-ranked team Australia heading a tournament which also includes Korea (ranked sixth) Argentina (11th) and home side France (17th), as well as world number 18 Ireland.

The son of former Irish internationals Marty and Adele, schoolboy Sloan made his senior bow earlier this summer and is just back from captaining Ireland at the Volvo EuroHockey U18 Championships, where he scored seven of his side’s 10 goals.