Ireland to face France, SA as build-up continues

Hockey Women's: France and South Africa have been lined up as opposition for Ireland in the build-up to August's European Championships in Manchester, with the Celtic Cup in July and two more as yet unconfirmed series of international games completing the playing schedule set out by coach Gene Muller.

The squad will also have four three-day training camps in the coming months, following on from last month's 10-day camp in South Africa, which included six international games.

"We will try to compete at least once a month in the build-up," said Muller. "One of the main considerations in designing the competition programme is getting a training-to-competition ratio that allows for improvement through training and regular checks on progress through matches."

Ireland will play the French over the weekend of March 9th to 11th in France and will then play several matches at home, in May and June, with only the South Africans so far confirmed as opponents. July's Celtic Cup in Wales will mark the end of their competitive preparations for Manchester, where they have been drawn with Holland, England and Italy in the pool phase of the competition.

Meanwhile the under-16 and under-18 teams will play England, three times each, at Belfield between February 14th and 16th.

Back on the club front the top three in the Leinster first division, Loreto, Hermes and Old Alexandra, will expect to take full points from their home games tomorrow, all against teams from the bottom four in the table, while fifth-placed UCD will attempt to close the four-point gap between themselves and Pembroke Wanderers, currently in fourth, when the teams meet at Serpentine Avenue.

The students pushed Loreto all the way on Wednesday night, only losing 4-3 to the league leaders. Hermes will be in action again on Sunday when they play Glenanne in the quarter-finals of the Leinster Jacqui Potter Cup.

Leinster League, tomorrow, Division One: Pembroke Wanderers v UCD, Ballsbridge, 2.0; Loreto v Trinity, Beaufort, 2.15; Old Alexandra v Corinthian, Milltown, 2.30; Hermes v Three Rock, Booterstown, 3.0; Railway Union v Clontarf, Sandymount, 3.15. Division Two: Loreto II v Railway Union II, Booterstown, 12.45; Old Alexandra II v Genesis, Milltown, 1.15; Glenanne v Diocesan, Tallaght, 1.45; Corinthian II v Pembroke II, Whitechurch, 4.0; UCD II v Hermes II, Belfield, 4.15. Leinster Jacqui Potter Cup, quarter-final, Sunday: Hermes v Glenanne, Booterstown, 1.15. Munster League, Division One, tomorrow: Church of Ireland v Catholic Institute, Garryduff, 2.45; UCC v Cork Harlequins, Mardyke, 2.0; Bandon v Univ of Limerick, Bandon, 1.0; Ashton v Belvedere, Ashton, 1.0.