O’Donoghue named in Ireland Hockey squad

GLENANNE’S Shane O’Donoghue has been named in the Ireland Hockey team for the FIH Pro League which consists of the top eight World Ranked Nations and another highly ranked nation usually the winners of a designated Nations Cup competition.

Ireland will be heading to the FIH Pro League for the first time this Saturday and will play two series in India.

Ireland will be up against World Ranked Number One Netherlands, India who are ranked three and Australia who are ranked six.

Ireland, who are ranked 11 are the underdogs in this season’s Pro League.

It will be a very busy few months in the run up to this summer’s Olympic Hockey Tournament in Paris.

Ireland’s first series will commence in Bhubaneswar on February 10 and run till February 16.

The participating teams will then relocate to Rourkela, India and recommence the competition on February 19 and run till February 25.

Commenting on the announcement, Head Coach Mark Tumilty said: “I always said the Pro League was where we needed to be due to the level of opposition we get to play against.

“We start against the Netherlands, Australia, Spain and then India.

“A chance to play against India in front of their home crowd is definitely something to look forward to.

“It will be a good barometer of where we are in relation to the other nations.

“I expect there will be a few tough games out there.”