Emma Buckley in Belgium move to boost career

By Stephen Findlater

Emma Buckley is hoping a move to Belgium to play with Royal Racing Club de Bruxelles can help her push to become a central player for the Irish women’s senior team.

The Cork Harlequins player was part of the wider Green Army panel of 28 but was omitted once the World Cup squad was reduced this summer with Ayeisha McFerran — the eventual goalkeeper of the tournament — and Grace O’Flanagan taking the net-minding places.

She has decided to “focus solely on hockey”, signing a one-year contract. She has already completed a course in sports nutrition.

She joins an ambitious Racing club — who feature fellow Munster player Conor Harte in the men’s team — who have signed several Belgian and Spanish internationals for this campaign.

And the 20-year-old is hopeful it will progress her Irish hopes having earned seven senior caps to date.

I would hope that training daily and playing matches week-in, week-out with senior international players from several countries will better equip me for playing at international level.

“My aim is to analyse each area of my game and to come up with a plan to improve each area using the knowledge of the staff in the Irish set-up and at Racing.

Being cut from the World Cup squad right at the end was a heart-wrenching experience but being involved within the squad for as long as I was, was fantastic.

She is part of a growing number of Irish women set to play in Europe this term. Deirdre Duke jetted out this week to join Dusseldorfer HC in Germany while Katie Mullan is Hamburg-bound. They join Megan Frazer (Mannheimer HC) and Nikki Evans (UHC) who are already in situ while Anna O’Flanagan has switched to Pinoke from Bloemendaal in the Dutch Hoofdklasse.