Frazer and Healy back in Irish fold

Louisa Healy and Megan Frazer will make their first international appearances in over 18 months later this month following the duos’ inclusion in Gene Muller’s panel for Ireland’s tour to South Africa. Muller had named a 20-strong squad who will travel on January 22 to Johannesburg for their six-game tour to thee Randburg stadium in Johannesburg  to play Belgium – who Ireland will face in Beerschot in March’s Olympic qualifiers – and the host nation. For Frazer, it will be her first appearance in the side since 2010’s World Cup qualifiers in Chile while Healy has not donned the goalkeeping smock since the summer of that same year.

They are among six returnees to the selection from December’s tour of Argentina, joining the experienced quartet of Emma Clarke, Lisa Jacob, Emma Smyth and Nikki Symmons — just back following a hip operation before Christmas — adding 422 caps to the mix. Missing out from the central preparation programme (CPP) are Niamh Atcheler, Hannah Bowe, Anna O’Flanagan and Niamh Small, all of whom played in Argentina. Muller said: “This tour gives us an opportunity to build on the progress we made on our tour to Argentina in December. “Both South Africa and Belgium are in the final stages of preparing for an Olympic qualification tournament, and therefore these games will be very competitive.  We will use these matches for match preparation and for player trials before settling on our Olympic qualifying team.” Meanwhile, Ireland’s men will face four of the world’s top eleven sides in an intense five-week period as preprations ramp up for March’s Olympic qualifiers in Dublin. For Paul Revington’s men, it gives them their first match practice since beating Spain 3-2 in August in a fifth place playoff in the European championships. First up is a three-match series against world number three the Netherlands as part of a warm-weather camp in Alicante before the side travel to England and Bisham Abbey for a two-match series with Great Britain. A week’s break preludes a return to Spain and Valencia where the second training camp will be interspersed with two games against the Spaniards and four ties with Belgium. The IHA also this week confirmed February 29 as the date on which the squads for the respective OQTs will be announced. IRELAND senior women’s panel for South Africa tour (club/caps): A Connery (Hermes, 41 caps); E Clarke (St Albans, 117); L Colvin (Loreto, 67); M Crowley (Hermes, 26); N Daly (Loreto, 26); N Evans (Railway Union, 18); M Frazer (University of Maryland, USA , 25); E Gray (GK, Hermes, 40); M Harvey (Pegasus, 72); L Healy (GK, Loreto, 53); L Jacob (Hermes, 93);  S McCarthy (Hermes, 37); S McCay (Old Alex, 127); A O’Flynn (Hermes, 50); C Sargent (Cork Harlequins, 100); E Smyth (Railway Union, 51); A Speers (Railway Union, capt, 111); N Symmons (Loreto, 161); P Smithwick (GK, Old Alex, 7); C Watkins (UCD, 26).