Loreto and UCD turn attention to European competition

Loreto and UCD take a break from domestic action over the next four days to take part in the European competitions they qualified for last season by winning, respectively, the Champions Trophy and Hockey League.

While the students will be competing in the second-tier EuroHockey Club Trophy tournament in Kent, Loreto are facing a formidable task in the top-flight EuroHockey Club Cup in Amsterdam, opening their campaign on Friday against the might of Den Bosch who have an extraordinary record in the competition, the Dutch club reaching the last 19 finals and winning 16 of them.

This is the final time the Club Cup will be played, the tournament being replaced next season by the Euro Hockey League (EHL). Loreto’s final placing, then, will go towards determining the ranking of Ireland’s representative in the inaugural EHL. After their opening game, they will move in to the classification phase of the competition with Monday’s ties deciding the final placings.

Irish captain Katie Mullan is in German champions Club an der Alster’s squad for the tournament and could end up facing international team-mates Nicci Daly, Hannah Matthews, Ali Meeke, Sarah Torrans and Liz Murphy. Hosts Amsterdam, Spain’s Real Sociedad, Germany’s Hamburg, England’s Surbiton and Ritm Grodno of Belarus complete the tournament line-up.

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UCD, meanwhile, begin the pool phase of their Club Trophy campaign against hosts Holcombe on Friday before taking on Edinburgh on Saturday and Russia’s Moscomsport on Sunday. The tournament concludes on Monday with the classification games.