Hockey: Senior internationals the backbone of Ireland side for Junior World Cup
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Olympian Sarah McAuley, co-captain Caoimhe Perdue of UCC, Charlotte Beggs, Amy Elliott are among the players with senior international experience named in the Ireland hockey squad for the women’s Junior World Cup which takes place next month.
Coach David Passmore has named his travelling squad of 20 players to form Ireland’s first-ever side to contest the U21 Championship in South Africa from December 5.
Ireland were a late invite to the competition after Australia and New Zealand withdrew due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The late invite made for a short, sharp preparation phase but Passmore and the panel had banked a large volume of work into an extensive summer programme, taking in series in Spain, Belfast and London.
Ireland will start their campaign on December 5 against Zimbabwe before meeting top ranked the Netherlands a day later. The pool phase concludes with a tie against Korea with the initial target to finish in the top two of the four-team group to reach the quarter-finals.
The Ireland squad is largely drawn from that selection with a couple of new faces coming into the fold since October.
EYHL contenders UCD provide a large batch of the panel with goalkeeper Ellie McLoughlin KJ Marshall, Emma Paul, Sophia Cole and Rachel Kelly getting call-ups in addition to the senior internationals McAuley and Elliott.
Limerick's Anna Horan has enjoyed a whirlwind return to Ireland after a season in the United States’ NCAA system, helping Catholic Institute to their highest ever position in the EY Hockey League.
Síofra Murdoch, meanwhile, is part of the Harvard University team who have reached the NCAA finals this week having won the Ivy League conference recently.
Hockey Ireland were thankful for the support of SoftCo, Park Developments and new additions Uniphar who announced their sponsorship of the team for ensuring the team could step in at short notice.
Ellie McLoughlin, Holly Micklem, KJ Marshall, Caitlin Sherin, Emma Paul, Sarah McAuley, Ellen Reid, Caoimhe Perdue, Anna Horan, Siofra Murdoch, Christina Hamill, Amy Elliott, Lisa Mulcahy, Sophia Cole, Charlotte Beggs, Siofra O’Brien, Nadia Benallal, Rachel Kelly, Yasmin Pratt, Aoife Taaffe.
Gemma Ferguson, Hannah Kelly, Eva Lavelle, Lucy Crowe.