Rio stars get back down to club hockey business

The second season of the EY Hockey League gets underway this weekend and 11 Olympians will feature, fresh from their Rio 2016 campaign.

The men’s division pushes off with a double-weekend, each team playing a match on Saturday and Sunday with reigning champions Lisnagarvey, who retain Rio representatives Jonny Bell, Paul Gleghorne and Timothy Cockram, playing UCD and Railway.

Rivals Banbridge have Eugene Magee, Matthew Bell and Drew Carlisle making up the backbone of their team while Dane Ward returns from England to lend his skills to their attack.