Revington scoops All Star coaching award
The annual International Hockey Federation (FIH) awards are voted for online by players and supporters worldwide, with All Star panels for both the men’s and women’s games named.
Revington was named alongside Australian Colin Batch, who led Belgium to the Olympics, as an All Star coach, and becomes the first Irish coach to claim such an accolade.
It follows a stunning year that saw his young side produce an above-ranking fifth place finish in August’s European championships.
Ireland also annexed the Celtic Cup, Champions Challenge II and INSEP Five Nations — where they were the lowest-ranked side in contention — trophies, with a 5-1 mauling of world number six Korea the individual highlight.
The side also jumped two places to 16th in the world, and will enter March’s Olympic qualification tournament on home soil in Dublin with confidence.
Meanwhile, blue is definitely the colour for Nick Burns, but he hopes to get used to a different shade of success this St Stephen’s Day.
The 18-year-old spent his formative years with Cork Church of Ireland, but instead of helping them in their Peard Cup final assignment against Cork Harlequins on Monday, he’ll be backboning UCD’s efforts in the Neville Cup decider against Railway Union.
The Douglas man has been part of a student revolution at Belfield, which has seen the perennial strugglers reach the first senior final in the club’s history.
“The colour choice was definitely a contributing factor in choosing UCD — once a blue, always a blue!” laughs Burns.
“I’d love to be in Cork rooting on the boys but my main focus now is UCD. Of course, you can’t forget where you came from, and I owe a lot to the coaching I got right the way up from age four to 18, I definitely wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
Burns, a forward by trade, has had to adapt to a new central midfield role and increased responsibility with his new club, but announced his arrival in Leinster hockey with two goals in UCD’s shock 4-2 semi-final win over Glenanne.
“That was a real stepping stone for us, and gave us the self-belief we needed, (as it) maybe wasn’t there in previous seasons. Since then we’ve gone on to beat Pembroke Wanderers, league leaders at the time, in a 6-4 thriller.”
However, preparation hasn’t been ideal, as the side have been focusing on exams before scattering around Ireland as they return home for Christmas. Burns says they’re hoping to learn from the mistakes of their early-season loss to Railway, who boast a fine short corner unit and are hoping to win a first senior trophy since their 1980 Mills Cup success.
Meanwhile, Burns’ old cohorts at C of I have a score to settle as they face bitter rivals Quins for the second time in nine days in the Peard Cup decider at Garryduff (2.30pm, Monday).
A depleted C of I outfit were arguably their own worst enemies in the sides’ league clash last weekend, gifting two early goals that ultimately swung the outcome in Quins’ favour (2-0) as well as spurning a number of short corner chances.
The ongoing absence of John Jermyn hasn’t helped in this regard, while Karl Burns, Phil Smith, Alec Moffett and Shane O’Donnell will all be absent.
Nonetheless, C of I defender David Harvey says his side were happy with their performance, but will need to take their chances this time around.
For Quins, Garryduff holds no fears these days given they’ve won twice there during 2011, and they have a range of players firing on all cylinders right now, particularly Phil McLaughlin and the Black brothers Mark and Jason.
They’ll nonetheless know they can’t rely on Chris Daunt and John Hobbs to firefight at the back, nor can they give Andy Herbert and David Hobbs the room to manoeuvre C of I into dangerous positions.
St Stephen’s Day Cup finals
Peard Cup: Cork Church of Ireland v Cork Harlequins, 2.30pm, Garryduff;
Neville Cup: Railway Union v UCD, 2.30pm, Serpentine Avenue.
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