Irish opportunity knocks

A raft of Munster men will get their first taste of senior international hockey when Ireland A take on England A next weekend in Dublin.

Ireland U21 coach Brendon Carolan takes charge of the side and uses the games to run the rule over some of his charges in contention for the U21 squad this summer. Dublin-based Cork men Karl Lynch (Pembroke Wanderers) and Nick Burns and Ben Dobson (UCD) are among them, joined in the squad by provincial colleagues Clinton Sweetnam (Cork C of I) and Alistair Smith (Bandon).

C of I’s international centurion pair David Hobbs and John Jermyn are also involved, the latter included along with Bruce McCandless due to their unavailability for the senior side’s Spain trip next week.