Harte using the team’s past failures as fuel for big Olympic push
GOALKEEPER David Harte wants Ireland men’s hockey team to bury the ‘pain and hurt’ of missing out on the Tokyo Olympics by securing tickets to Paris 2024.
Harte will line up against Ukraine this evening in his first major tournament since the 2018 World Cup in India and is relishing the prospect of what could be an action-packed year.
‘If someone had said we would be in a position to qualify for an Olympics and also have the luxury of playing Pro League, having watched it for so many years, you could say the Irish men’s team are pretty content about that,’ said Harte.
Ireland have been drawn with Olympic defending champions Belgium and Ukraine at the Olympic qualifiers. The top three in the eight-strong event will qualify for Paris.
‘In every tournament there has to be at least one upset and hopefully we can be the surprise package down the line,’ said Harte.
The 35-year-old was originally part of the squad vying for a Tokyo berth in 2019 but injured his ankle before flying out. He travelled to Vancouver but was forced to wear a protection boot for the twolegged matches.
The Green Machine were denied victory when Canada were controversially awarded a penalty stroke with seconds to spare. The hosts then won in a sudden death shoot-out.
‘There are certainly enough players left to realise the pain and hurt that was felt by the group by how agonisingly close we came,’ said Harte.
‘Then there is the excitement of the blank canvas to create something beautiful for ourselves rather than refer constantly to the past.’
Five of Mark Tumilty’s squad are plying their trade in the Belgian top league, including captain Sean Murray at Gantoise.
Harte added: ‘You can see the quality they are bringing straight away when you play with them. It has made this selection incredibly competitive.’ The Tokyo omission was one of Tumilty’s first games in charge. Four years on, he said: ‘This is a tournament that offers stiff competition. No route to an Olympics was ever going to be easy.’