Countdown to Tokyo: “We’re there to compete and shock a few people along the way”
Ireland hockey players, Back (L-R): Michelle Carey, Liz Murphy, Hannah McLoughlin, Lena Tice, Deirdre Duke and Sarah Hawkshaw. Front (L-R) Sarah McAuley, Chloe Watkins, Anna O'Flanagan, Sarah Torrans, Nicci Daly and Hannah Matthews.

Countdown to Tokyo: “We’re there to compete and shock a few people along the way”

IRELAND women’s hockey team member Nicci Daly insists the Green Army have every chance of serving up a few shocks at the Tokyo Olympic Games just as they did in 2018 when they reached the World Cup decider.

Daly was one of three Loreto players who helped Ireland to silver on that stage three years ago and she is now one of four competitors from the Beaufort club who earned selection to the squad for Tokyo.

“We have a huge sense of pride as an Irish team and we’re always wanting to try and punch above our weight, to try and achieve things that people don’t expect of us” Daly told The Echo.

“We’ve proven that before and we’re hungrier more than ever to prove that again.

“Overall I think we are maybe a better team than we were in 2018 as in we have more experience of playing at the top and playing in pressurised situations, so we have a lot to feel confident about going into the Olympics.

“There’s always been a very strong culture in the squad.

“That was something that stood out in the World Cup and it’s still ever present even today with new players coming in. There’s still very much that feeling of togetherness.

“The players are certainly well capable of coming together even when our backs are against the wall.

“To know that whatever happenes, highs or lows, you’re always going to get that same effort, that same output, everyone is going to be on the same page, and I think that’s really important.

“I know it’s our first Olympics but, for this squad, in 2018 it was our first World Cup and so we’re in a similar position this time around.

“We didn’t want to be a team there just to take part, we were a team who felt that we should be there and we wanted to really compete and that’s certainly going to be our mentality going into an Olympic Games, and our first Olympic Games too.

“We’re not just there to make up the numbers. We’re there to compete and shock a few people along the way.”

Lining out in Pool A at the Olympics, Ireland will ignite their Summer Games campaign with a game against South Africa on Saturday and Daly feels a positive start would be huge for the team.

“A good start is really important” she stressed. “You want to start well and just try and build momentum. A good start sets the tone and it allows you to settle in and build as you go on in the tournament.

“It’s going to be a long tournament so it’s really important we start well and South Africa is a team that, in the past, we’ve performed really well against.

“We would hope that we would be stronger than they are and certainly we’ll be looking to win our first game against them” she said.

For Daly, getting on that plane to Japan was a massive relief, but the Edmondstown woman was also quick to remember those who didn’t make the cut.

“There was a mix of emotions really” she recalled after last month’s squad announcement.

“Personally it’s been a dream, a third time trying to qualify for the Olympics and then to get selected on the squad just put the icing on the cake.

“It’s been fantastic from that point of view and this year, I’ve really struggled with a lot of different injuries and at times I felt that seeing that day when I’d be named on the squad was actually slipping away from me.

“And then on the other side of it, for those who missed out, some of them would be very close friends of mine, people who I would have played with for my whole career, so there was a bit of a bitter-sweet feeling.

“You’re obviously delighted to have made it, but you also really feel for those who didn’t.”

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