Ireland boss Craig Fulton’s Olympic heroics earn top coaching award

Further recognition of Ireland’s ascension to world hockey’s top table came yesterday when Craig Fulton was named as the International Hockey Federation’s coach of the year.

Less than 24 hours after Green Machine captain David Harte was hailed as the world’s best goalkeeper, Ireland men’s coach Fulton followed him into the record books.

The South African, a double Olympian and 191 times-capped international as a player, guided Ireland to the Olympics for the first time in over 100 years in 2015 and masterminded the country’s first ever medal at an elite tournament, when they annexed bronze at the European championships last summer.