Road to Rio Olympics beckons for Irish hockey

Life is good for both Ireland’s senior teams as they begin the final preparation phase for their Olympic qualification campaigns.

The road to Rio was mapped out for both this week, after they won their World League 2 tournaments. World League 3 is next on the agenda in June, with the men bound for Antwerp, Belgium and the women in Valencia, Spain.

Avoiding long trips to far-flung destinations is a major boon to the Irish Hockey Association’s coffers - initially Craig Fulton’s men were thought to be heading for Argentina, but instead thousands of euros will be saved as they make the short hop to the continent.

The men got further good news this week with Dundrum Town Centre coming on board to sponsor the side; the women, whose partnership with Electric Ireland ended last year, will hope their WL2 success on home turf in Dublin can help them ink a similar deal.

Both World League 3 competitions are 10-team tournaments, split into two pools of five. Ireland will need to finish in the top four of their pool to make the quarter-finals. Ireland’s men are in Pool B with the tournament hosts Belgium as well as Great Britain, Malaysia and China while World Cup winners Australia, India, Pakistan, Poland and France are in the opposing pool.

On the women’s side, Darren Smith’s Ireland are in Pool B with high flying USA – who moved from 10th to fifth in the latest world rankings – with Germany, South Africa and round two qualifiers Uruguay. Pool A includes Argentina, China, Great Britain, Spain and Canada.

The top three from the two World League semi-finals will definitely qualify for Rio 2016. The other five spots for the Games come from the continental championships. Effectively, it means a victory in the quarter-finals at WL3 will all but guarantee qualification while anything below a top six finish means the dream is over.

Domestically, the club season is beginning to wrap up in Munster with a handful of cup finals taking place on Easter Monday. The Cork, Charity and McLean cups will all be decided in a triple-header at Rosbrien in Limerick.

Monday, April 6, Men’s Cork Cup Final:

Limerick B v UCC B, Rosbrien, 12pm. Men’s Charity Cup Final: Catholic Institute v C of I B, Rosbrien, 2pm. Men’s McLean Cup Final: Catholic Institute B v UCC C, Rosbrien, 4pm.

Tuesday April,7 Ladies Div 1:

Catholic Institute v Harlequins, 8.15pm.