IRISH CHASING CUP DREAM ON TWO FRONTS
THE Irish men’s and women’s teams will hope to end this weekend with World Cup qualification confirmed following respective wins over Russia and France on Thursday. Both sides will play knockout fixtures today with the men facing Wales in Cardiff in a showdown for a ticket to India 2023. The women, meanwhile, have to win twice this weekend, starting today against Belarus and tomorrow against either Wales or Scotland. Men’s coach Mark Tumilty is keen to play down the lack of any margin for error. ‘Qualifying is not something we have talked too much about. The focus has always been putting in two performances this week for 60 minutes — we have done one and now it’s 60 minutes again.’ It will be a huge tussle against the home nation. Historically, Ireland have had the edge over Wales but the hosts are currently enjoying a golden period, rising seven places in the world rankings to an all-time high of 18th. Indeed, they relegated Ireland from the top tier of European hockey in 2019 with a 4-0 result in Belgium and, in Rupert Shipperley and Jacob Draper, have Olympic experience to show the level of quality they now bring to the table. Much has changed for Ireland in the past two years with Tumilty bringing in several high quality new faces to the line-up. For the women, they meet a Belarus side in their qualifier semi-final who are ranked nine places below Ireland but produced a standout 7-1 win over Russia in the first round. The Green Army have won the last four meetings between the sides but that performance means there is little room for complacency. Indeed, Belarus won the second tier of the European Championships in August and are coming in hot from a busy summer leading up to this tournament. With the two countries moving in different circles on the world stage this summer, Chloe Watkins says it will be a new challenge. ‘We haven’t seen a huge amount about how they play so far so it is difficult to plan.If we play to our potential, we should have enough in us to get over the line,’ she said. That tie takes place at 11am Irish time with www.eurohockeytv.org streaming the fixture. The men’s tie follows on the same website from 2.30pm.