Irish contingent face gruelling Easter schedule

Teenage starlet Shane O’Donoghue is one of many Irish internationals facing a busy Easter weekend of hockey across two different countries, as the U21 interpros, EuroHockey League last 16 and an international series in Germany test the country’s top players.

UCD hitman O’Donoghue will play two rounds of the U21 tournament at Garryduff in Cork for Leinster before jetting to Mannheimer for three back-to-back matches for an experimental Ireland side against their German hosts.

It’s also a potentially busy few days for Chris Cargo, David Ames and Ronan Gormley, who are all in Rotterdam today for the KO16 round of the EHL.

Ames’ Beeston meet Gormley’s Club de Campo in the competition early this morning, meaning at least one will be required for the KO8 round on Sunday when the Irish side is convening across the German border.

Cargo’s Reading are in action in the KO16 tomorrow evening and progression against Club an der Alster would more than likely rule him out of the first game of the Irish series, the EHL quarter-final clashing directly.

The return of the U21 interpros after a season’s hiatus reflects the Irish Hockey Association’s decision to field a national side at the grade this summer for the first time since 2004.

Graham Shaw’s Ireland U18 boys — featuring Munster men Scott Sullivan (Bandon) and Gary Wilkinson (Cork C of I) will step into the men’s tournament to make it a quadrangular event like the women’s, given Connacht do not field a men’s side at this level.

Munster’s men are back-boned by members of UCC’s Irish Hockey Trophy-winning side last weekend, while Dublin-based trio Karl Lynch (Pembroke), Nick Burns and Ben Dobson (both UCD) bring Leinster league experience.

Hopes of home glory on the women’s side have been boosted by the return of captain Olivia Roycroft (UCC) from a broken collarbone, while potential stars have returned from foreign fields to don the red of Munster, namely former Ireland U18 pair Rebecca Barry (America) and Nicola Laarhoven (Holland).