Ayeisha McFerran

A great suggestion for your summer reading! Great Irish Sports Stars: Ayeisha McFerran has been selected as part of The Summer Reading Challenge 2023 which aims to encourage children aged 4 to 11 to enjoy the benefits of reading for pleasure.

The inspirational story of Ayeisha McFerran: Olympian, Hockey World Cup Goalkeeper of the Tournament, Winner of Four All American Awards

Growing up in Larne in County Antrim, Ayeisha was fearless. If she wasn’t climbing trees, she was playing soccer, Irish dancing or throwing the javelin. When Ayeisha discovered hockey, she was hooked.

This is the inspirational story of one of the best hockey goalkeepers in the world.

Available from all good bookshops and The O’Brien Press!

Find out more details and how to get involved in the Summer Reading Challenge 2023

Ireland Women v USA

Watch Ireland Senior Women take on the USA in a three game series on the 10th, 12th and 13th June.

Seeing Ireland playing live in person is really important for young hockey players. As hockey is rarely shown on TV the live experience and watching the best hockey players in Ireland up close and supporting them is to be strongly encouraged.

UCD is easily accessible via public transport. The match on Saturday is free admission for all. Monday and Tuesday tickets are only €5 for U18s. Tickets can be purchased here.

USA will be the highest ranked team Ireland play at home this year so it is a marquee series and we are asking the entire hockey community in Leinster to support the Green Army as they prepare for the European Championships and Olympic Qualification tournament later this year.

JAG Sponsorship raffle

Lucy McGoldrick, Isobel Field and Sarah Byrne have all got on the Ireland U16 squad again this year.

There is very little funding available for the junior teams and therefore the team have to raise over €80,000 to fund their campaign. To do this, they are looking for our help and have set up a raffle with some excellent prizes!

The squad have already raised 10%. Support them here.

Ireland in World Cup Final!

Irelands over 65s masters featuring Avoca’s Charlie Taylor have beaten Japan in their final group game and now play Australia tomorrow at 4am in World Cup Final.

We heard from Brendan Rice earlier who thanked us for all the support, he said it is a great honour for a small lad from Parteen Co. Clare who only took up hockey in his mid 20s. This is the first men’s Masters team ever in a world cup final. He mentioned there are some major challenges ahead against Australia who are ranked 1st in the world in our Master’s group, however, these are the reasons we play hockey to play against the top teams.

The very best of luck lads – enjoy the day and we will be thinking of you!

You can follow their progress on Facebook here and you can watch the match on livestream at 4am Irish Time (Noon local) if you can’t sleep here.

Euro Qualifiers – August 18-21st: Volunteers needed

Hockey Ireland is delighted to announce that we are hosting the EuroHockey Championship Qualifiers featuring Ireland, Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey in Abbotstown on August 18th to 21st 2022.

For Hockey Ireland to deliver this major event, we need the support from a large number of volunteers to help with the running of the tournament. Volunteers are an irreplaceable part of our organisation and Hockey Ireland would not be able to host such a big event without your support which will be instrumental in ‘Changing the Game’ for our international teams.

For you, volunteering provides a unique opportunity to experience an international sporting event behind the scenes, allowing you to get to know organizations behind the EuroHockey Qualifiers and to create new friendships with other sport enthusiasts.

Registration closes on August 5th.

Thursday 18th August 3:15pm – 9:15pm

Saturday 20th August 9am to 3pm

Sunday 21st August 9am to 3pm

Thank you in advance to all who can volunteer for this event. Your support is very welcome.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on info@hockey.ie.

Hockey 4 All

Hockey 4 All Summer Camps.

St Joseph’s of Cluny in Killiney (3-5th August) and Corinthian HC in Rathfarnham (8-10th August).

€35 for 3-day camp. More info email camps@hockey.ie or book here.

Level 1 Coaching course

Details of an upcoming Hockey Ireland Level 1 coaching course in Bray, Co. Wicklow hosted by Bray Hockey Club. Places on August Coaching courses are usually in high demand so sign up soon.

Places can be booked here.

Irish JAG Camp

Over the weekend, Trevor Dagg and his team put together a skills camp to raise money for the Irish U18 hockey squad who are self-funding their trip to compete in the 8 Nations in Germany. The day went really well and was well attended by kids from all around Dublin.

If you would like to contribute to the team’s fundraising, then check out their page here.

SoftCo Senior Series against Japan & Uniphar U23 5 Nations

A week of international hockey in Dublin June 18th to 26th will send the Green Army off to the World Cup in style

The National Hockey Stadium, UCD will host an exciting week of international hockey with the Ireland’s senior women facing Japan four times in the SoftCo Series as part of final preparations for July’s World Cup.

In addition, the venue will also host the Uniphar Under-23 5 Nations tournament with Ukraine, the Netherlands, USA and India competing, making for 17 international fixtures between June 18th to 26th. Uniphar CEO Ger Rabbette said ‘Uniphar is delighted to be able to support a tournament that gives talented young players the opportunity to compete at international level at a great venue like the National Hockey Stadium, UCD. We’re excited to see how the home team fares, of course, but more importantly, we’re looking forward to seeing some fast-paced world class hockey,’

Senior women’s head coach Sean Dancer is thrilled to get top class opposition in Japan, currently 10th in the world and two places above Ireland. They bring a fast, attacking style which will make for a thrilling series.

“With all the hockey being played around the world, it has been difficult to host matches in Ireland in recent times so we are delighted to be able to play these at home,” Dancer said.

“It has been a difficult couple of years with Covid and the girls are excited to see home crowds and the legendary Irish support back out in force.”

The four senior matches are played on Saturday, June 18th (4pm); Sunday, June 19th (4pm); Wednesday, June 22nd (5pm) and Thursday, June 23rd (7pm).

The series runs in parallel with the Uniphar U23 5 Nations event which features junior world champions Netherlands and fourth place finishers India along with USA, Ireland and, significantly, Ukraine.

The Ukraine team will be hosted by Ireland as they were not able to attend the FIH Junior World Cup in South Africa in April.

Coach David Passmore commented: “Thanks to the support of Uniphar, this is ideal preparation as we head into the top European division in the summer and it is great to have non-European teams in India and the USA.

“We are delighted to host the Ukraine team given we should have played them in South Africa and to show our solidarity with their plight. With numerous players moving up to the senior squad and others now overage for the summer, it’s the ideal forum to assess other players in a competitive tournament environment.”

The 5 Nations will consist of round robin matches in which three of Ireland’s matches precede senior matches and then a finals day on Sunday 26th June.

Hockey Ireland Interim CEO Richard Fahey commented: “It will be great to have full stands back to support our national teams on home soil after the difficult Covid period and this could not come at a better time for our teams heading off to the World Cup and European Championships.

“We hope the hockey community will come out in force and get behind the Green and Junior Green Armies with tickets now on sale through the Hockey Ireland website”

Tickets can be purchased at https://hockey.ie/buy-tickets/

Full event schedule:

Saturday 18 June

16:00 Soft Co Series Match 1: Ireland Seniors v Japan Seniors

Sunday 19 June

12:00 Uniphar U23 5 Nations: Netherlands v USA

14:00 Uniphar U23 5 Nations: Ireland v India

16:00 Soft Co Series Match 2: Ireland Seniors v Japan Seniors

Monday 20 June

14:00 Uniphar U23 5 Nations: USA v Ukraine

16:00 Uniphar U23 5 Nations: Netherlands v India

Wednesday 22 June