Munster trio look to strike a blow in Barca

Three Munster men will head into the cauldron of the EuroHockey League as the continent’s biggest club tournament gets underway in Barcelona tomorrow. Things started out humbly for Adam Pritchard and Conor and David Harte when the trio met at school in Bandon Grammar, but tonight all three will don the yellow and purple of Pembroke Wanderers as they take on Scottish outfit Kelburne. Pritchard will be making his EHL bow, having recently joined the club from Cork C of I while he furthers his studies at Trinity. The Harte twins were here before in 2007, but college commitments for goalkeeper David have prompted coach Craig Fulton to bring three goalkeepers to Catalonia.

With Irish international number one Harte only available for tonight’s clash, Fulton is also bringing veteran Nigel Henderson and Simon Thornton with him to Spain. Pembroke will need to draw on all of Henderson’s experience as they face down Dutch giants Rotterdam on Sunday. But they will be targeting the Kelburne game, as a three-goal victory there should send them into the last 16, regardless of the result against a star-studded Rotterdam outfit. Glenanne are Ireland’s other representatives at the tournament, but have certainly drawn the short straw in terms of fixtures and opposition. Firstly, they must contend with 2008 champions Uhlenhorst Hamburg tomorrow, before taking on Polish kingpins Grunwald Poznan less than 24 hours later. Coach Arul Anthoni has brought a 20-strong panel to Catalonia, which will be whittled down to 18 today ahead of the club’s EHL debut. Filip Jaros, signed from Monkstown during the summer, will not be among them as he continues to return to full fitness, but the Glens’ big guns Stephen Butler, skipper Joe Brennan and Graham Shaw are present and correct. While some of the names in the Glens squad might not be as familiar as those in the Pembroke camp, they are arguably in better form – they saw off Pembroke 3-1 in a full-blooded warm-up match last week – and no team will fancy testing their resilience. Targeting the Poznan clash probably represents their best chance at emulating Three Rock’s progression to round two last season; their Irish contingent will also be keen to strike a blow here, given Poland’s penalty-strokes win over Ireland in the Champions Challenge II final during the summer. Pembroke Wanderers squad: D Harte (GK), N Henderson (GK), S Thornton (GK), A Pritchard, T Lewis, C Harte, R Gormley, S Garrett, C Fulton (player-coach), P Conlon, A Giles (capt), A McConnell, M O’Connor, G Elliott, M Elliott, A Sothern, P Good, J Sherriff. Pool G (all times Irish): Pembroke vs Kelburne (Friday, 5.30pm); Pembroke vs Rotterdam (Sunday, 1.30pm); Glenanne squad: S Doran (GK), G Carragher, Joe Brennan (capt), C Murphy, P Fitzpatrick, D Shaw, R Shaw, D Kehoe, S Butler, Graham Shaw, G Shaw, S O’Donoghue, J Kane, J Goulding, M McGuinness, E O’Malley, D Keogh, M Lambe, B Parsons, A Lewis. Pool H (all times Irish): Glenanne vs UHC Hamburg (Friday, 3.30pm); Glenanne vs Grunwad Poznan (tomorrow, 12.30pm).