Smith offers Munster backing

Irish senior women’s coach Darren Smith says he is willing to support high performance hockey in Munster — but that the drive must come from within the province.

Munster has been struggling with a dwindling international representation on both the men’s and women’s national teams in recent years, with no regional training programme in place for those with designs on an Irish jersey.

Smith, who took over in January, reduced the Munster representation in the Irish women’s panel to just two — Audrey O’Flynn and Naomi Carroll — earlier this year, dropping the experienced Cliodhna Sargent, Áine Connery, Sinead McCarthy and Miriam Crowley.