The U21 interprovincial tournament is to be scrapped this season, Southern Fried understands, as part of a restructuring of the oft-maligned annual competitions. The Irish Hockey Association’s chief executive Angus Kirkland this week informed branch representatives that one men’s and one women’s interpro competition will be held in Dublin on March 26 and 27.
One of the stronger Munster U18 girls sides of recent years, featuring four underage internationals and captained by Sarah Sullivan (above, left) was announced by coach David Egner for the 2010/11 U18 interpros earlier today.
Andy McConnell’s sucker punch (above) denied Munster’s senior men a shot at interprovincial victory at Grange Road yesterday – that was the closest any of the province’s four teams got, though Leinster were denied a clean sweep of all four senior and U-21 interprovincial titles on home turf at Grange Road, as Ulster took the senior women’s title on goal difference
Irish hockey’s oft-maligned senior and U21 interprovincials get underway tonight, with Munster senior men’s manager Edward Gash extoling their virtues as 14 teams bid for bragging rights at Grange Road in Dublin.
It was a case of so near yet so far for Munster’s junior interprovincial teams, with stumbles at various stages of the competition denying them a chance of winning titles on home turf in Cork.
Progress has been made with the naming of squads for both Munster junior and U21 women ahead of their respective interpro tournaments in March, but the province’s junior men are still without a coach.