Ireland's Men's Coach Dave Passmore revealed his 18 to compete in this year's Celtic cup, 21-23 July in Wrexham, Wales.
Last year Ireland finished in second place just one point behind Scotland. Passmore and his team will no doubt be using the Celtic Cup as part of their continued build up towards the Europeans taking place later this summer. Ireland's men have had some strong performances over the last few weeks having secured seven wins in a row now and taking the inaugural Setanta Sports Trophy Title just a couple of weeks ago.
However, Passmore appears to be more focused on his team's performance as opposed to actual results for this Cup 'The focus will be more on working on several aspects of our tactical play than team results despite our run of seven consecutive wins'
Ireland will also get a chance to play against France in the Celtic Cup ahead of their pool draw against them in the Europeans on the 22 August. 'It will be good to play against France so close to the Europeans but we know they will give little away at this tournament and we will be tired after the hardest phase of our training. I am keen not to pick up any unwanted injuries at this stage' commented Passmore.
Coach Passmore has brought both Ronan Gormley, who was on study leave and Mark Gleghorne, who was recovering from an injury, back into the fold for this Cup.
Commenting on his selection, Passmore stated 'This tournament provides an ideal opportunity to give me more clarity on team selection in a competitive environment. I have chosen to leave some of our more experienced players at home for a variety of reasons but it will be good to have Ronan Gormley back in our defense and Mark Gleghorne who should hopefully have fully recovered from his bad back injury by then'
Irish Squad ÔÇô Celtic Cup 2007
Paddy Brown, Karl Burns, Stephen Butler, Timothy Cockram, Mitch Darling, Mark Gleghorne, Ronan Gormley, David Harte, David Hobbs, Mark Irwin, John Jermyn, Gareth Lennox, Iain Lewers, Tim Lewis, Eugene Magee, Phelie Maguire, Geoff McCabe, Graham Shaw.
Source: Irish Hockey Association
