Baptism of fire for Fulton in Malaysian heat

Ireland’s men will feel the heat when they get their Champions Challenge I campaign underway against favourites New Zealand in Kuantan, Malaysia today (8am Irish time).

Up against a world number six side aiming for a medal at June’s World Cup and a local forecast of 36 degrees Celsius — feeling higher due to the stifling humidity — it is a baptism of fire for Craig Fulton’s first major tournament in charge, Ireland’s only world ranking event of 2014. The Green Machine’s bid to qualify for the 2016 Olympics was reset when Andrew Meredith left in December and Fulton is without a number of familiar faces who helped Ireland come within a whisker of qualifying in 2012.

Thus, his panel has a fresh-faced look to it. Six Banbridge players are included, but just one — reserve goalkeeper David Fitzgerald — from national champions Monkstown, while Pembroke’s Mossie Elliott will make his Irish debut aged 31. Ireland — ranked 15th in the world — will go on to face more manageable tasks against Poland (18th) and Japan (14th) as they bid to avoid Malaysia and Korea in the quarter-finals.