JUST two days after Belfield staged the thrilling finale to the Leinster Senior League season between Muckross and Loreto, the same venue hosts the Under 16 and Under 18 Home Countries Tournament in which Ireland will attempt to improve on their second place finishes at both levels a year ago.
The Irish Under 18 team beat both Scotland and Wales in Milton Keynes last year, but went down 4-1 to England. Twelve months on, manager Lesley Threlfall is hoping that a more experienced Irish team can go one better.
"We still have eight of the squad from last year, with another eight newcomers, but their trip to Barcelona in January gave them a chance to bond together, says Threlfall of the Los Reys tournament which the team won comfortably against Spanish, Dutch and English club opposition.
"They had great attacking experience over there, but very little defensive experience - we didn't get one short corner against us in our four matches, scored 21 goals and conceded none. It certainly won't be that easy this weekend. You never know how well they're going to play together, but we have a lot of very good individual players, we just hope they'll work well together."
The team will be captained by the highly rated Linda Caulfield of Loreto Wexford and includes three players with first team experience in senior hockey: Pamela Magill (Pegasus) Katharine Maybin (Randalstown) and Ciara O'Brien (Railway Union). The unfortunate Jennifer Osbourne of Wesley College had to withdraw from the squad after an appendix operation last week and has been replaced by Carley Morrow of Ulster.
Every member of the Under 16 squad, captained by Methodist College's Jenny McDonough, will be making their debut in the tournament and, like their Under 18 counterparts, will hope to go one better than their predecessor's second place finish in England last year.
