Interim Irish men’s senior coach Mick McKinnon has named a fresh-faced 17-player squad to travel to Terrassa, Spain, for a three-game tour from January 10th to 16th.
The panel has been selected with the expressed intentions of offering young players the chance “to put themselves in the frame for tournament selection”, McKinnon explained with the Champions Challenge I in Malaysia in April on the horizon.
It is the first selection made by the former Railway Union coach since stepping into the position vacated by Andrew Meredith last Friday.
Nine uncapped players are part of the panel that includes five players from UCD. John Jackson and Alan Sothern with the latter returning to training just before Christmas after a spell out with broken bone in his foot.
David Fitzgerald, Davy Carson, Peter Brown and Shane O’Donoghue all have big tournament experience while Drew Carlisle and Jason Lynch have a handful of caps.
Other than that, the panel are uncapped. Stephen West has been part of Celtic Cup campaign squads before but has yet to earn a full international appearance. Richie Shaw and Stephen Brownlow have 'A' international experience.
The step up
Nick Burns, Jeremy Duncan, Michael Robson, Ross Canning, James Corry and Mark Loughrey all make the step up after playing underage international hockey in recent years.
Ireland will play world number eight side Spain three times during the tour while McKinnon will add two or three players to the panel in the coming days.
Commenting on the tour, McKinnon said: “It’s an inexperienced squad but a great opportunity for these players to push themselves into the frame for tournament selection.
"This trip is the first step in creating further depth in the squad," he added.
IRELAND SQUAD (for three-game tour to Terrassa, Spain, January 10th-16th): D Fitzgerald (Monkstown), S West (Three Rock Rovers), R Shaw (Glennane), S Brownlow (Glennane), J Jackson (Reading), M Loughrey (Pembroke), D Carlisle (Banbridge), M Robson (Annadale), P Brown (UCD), J Lynch (Lisnagarvey), J Corry (Instonians), N Burns (UCD), R Canning (UCD), D Carson (Monkstown), S O'Donoghue (UCD), A Sothern (Pembroke), J Duncan (UCD).
