League final guaranteed to be a Leinster versus Ulster affair

With recent Ulster league winners Lisnagarvey paired with hosts Banbridge in this weekend’s Irish Hockey League semi-finals and Three Rock Rovers facing Monkstown in the other, Sunday’s final will be an Ulster versus Leinster affair.

Monkstown, having beaten Banbridge 4-1 last week, will probably go into the tournament as favourites, although, as both teams had already qualified before they played, Banbridge won’t have given much away in terms of their set-piece routines.

It should be an interesting weekend in other respects as this week new Irish coach Craig Fulton selected his first national squad and no less than nine of those players will be involved in the Havelock Square event.

The squad, which is undergoing a period of change, has been announced ahead of a double header against England in Reading and at the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey next week, where the South African will take charge for the first time since taking over from Andrew Meredith.

'Great opportunity'
"This is a great opportunity for the selected Irish players and myself and coaching staff to start the process and play against top opposition," said Fulton.

“These matches will also serve to finalise the Irish selection for the Champs Challenge in Malaysia “

The two test matches come just a week ahead of Ireland flying out to the Champions Challenge 1 in Malaysia.

The event is an international tournament played every two years and a key qualification route to the Champions Trophy, an elite competition that takes place in Olympic year 2016.

Ireland will have a tough couple of weeks as New Zealand, ranked fifth, along with Spain and Korea who are ranked joint-sixth in the world, are all competing.

Of the seven teams involved, Ireland ranked at 15th in the world, are the second lowest ranked nation in the competition behind Japan, who are one place below.

WEEKEND FIXTURES
Irish Hockey League finals (at Havelock Park) – Saturday (semi-finals): Monkstown v Three Rock, Rovers, 3pm; Banbridge v Lisnagarvey, 5pm. Sunday: Final, 4pm.