No Russian roulette for defensive duo

Ciara O’Brien and Cliodhna Sargent are the two most notable absentees from Gene Muller’s Irish senior women’s squad for the inaugural Champions Challenge II, which will take place in Kazan, Russia from June 21-27. The 18-player panel features 13 of the players who lined out against Germany in May. Ulster-based young guns Lauren Barr and Michelle Harvey have seemingly been preferred to Quins defender Sargent and the vastly experienced O’Brien. Rachel Mulligan and goalkeeper Louisa Healy also miss out, while Lizzie Colvin, Megan Frazer, Mary Goode, Shirley McCay and Alex Speers all come back into the fold.

Ireland, as world number 15, are the second highest ranked side in the competition behind India and feature in a group with Malaysia (24th), Russia (23rd) and the Ukraine (18th) in Pool B. Pool A consists of Belarus (26th), Canada (19th), India (14th) and Belgium (20th). The group travel out to Kazan on June 17 where they take in a holding camp for three days before getting into action on June 21 against the hosts. Muller has indicated that he expects his charges to be looking to impress ahead of August’s Europeans, while the world ranking points at stake will provide further motivation. Ireland can take heart from their most recent performance in Germany, when the world number three side needed two late goals to win 4-2. However, they have not recorded a win since defeating Canada in January, losing twice to the Germans and England, as well as a 2-0 reverse to the Canucks, in their five games since. Muller said: “This will provide us with some much-needed tournament experience. The tournament is open, with many teams of similar ranking all wanting to progress up the world rankings. “Critically the tournament comes at an ideal time in our preparation for the European Championships. I expect us to play well as the players have worked hard this year.” Ireland senior women’s squad for Champions Challenge II: L Barr (Ballymoney), E Clarke (Ulster Elks), B Cleland (Ballymoney), L Colvin (Loreto), E Cregan (Cork Harlequins, capt), R Flinn (UCD), M Frazer (Ballymoney), M Goode (GK, Bray), E Gray (GK, Hermes), M Harvey (Pegasus), L Jacob (UCD), S McCay (Ulster Elks), C McKean (Loreto), A Speers (Pegasus), N Small (Loreto), E Smyth (Railway Union), E Stewart (Armagh), N Symmons (Loreto) Staff: G Muller; SA Fanagan; D Pritchard; K Coughlin; R Wortmann; I McKeown. Match Schedule (times given as GMT) Sunday, June 21: Ireland v Russia, 3pm Monday, June 22: Ireland v Ukraine, 1pm Wednesday, June 24: Ireland v Malaysia, 7am Friday, June 26 & Saturday, June 27: Classification/Finals