Barr twins set to make international debuts

TWINS Bethany and Serena Barr could make their international debuts on the same day in January after being included among a quartet of new faces in Graham Shaw’s squad for an Ireland training camp in Chile.

They will play four games against the hosts in Santiago between January 12 and 16 in the first capped games for the Green Army since they won silver at the World Cup.

The duo were both All-Ireland schools winners with Lurgan HS before moving to the US on scholarship with the Liberty Flames.

Their return to Europe has put them back in the shop window, with Bethany at UCD and Serena playing for Beeston in England.

Railway Union pair Sarah Hawkshaw and Amy Elliott are the other two who are likely to make their debuts in Chile.

Hawkshaw followed a similar path to the Barrs, playing four successful years at University of Massachusetts, before coming back to Dublin.

Elliott, meanwhile, is on a meteoric rise. She is still in St Andrew’s College, the alma mater of team-mates Gillian Pinder and Chloe Watkins.

Overall, there are 16 of the World Cup squad among the 19 involved. Shirley McCay continues to mull over whether she will return to the fold while Lizzie Colvin and Grace O’Flanagan are taking a step back forthetimebeing.

Ayeisha McFerran missed the uncapped series in Spain earlier this month but is back, having finished her college hockey in Louisville with a fourth successive inclusion in the All-American representative team.