Ireland’s men and women tip off their European championships campaigns this weekend both hoping to cause a major surprise and potentially nick an Olympic place in the process in Moenchengladbach.
Pre-tournament form suggests the men are more likely to threaten following a summer in which the Celtic Cup, the Champions Challenge II and, perhaps most notably, the INSEP Five Nations Cup was annexed, the latter featuring world number one side Australia and sixth-ranked Korea.
Three nations and 2012 hosts England will qualify for London from this competition, making a semi-final berth imperative. Ireland contest those sports with France and the Netherland but begin with a huge test against reigning champions England.
For former Irish player Iain Lewers, he makes his debut for his adopted nation in a major tournament having controversially sat out three years of international hockey to switch allegiance from Ireland.
The sight of two brothers facing each other has been scuppered, though. Mark Gleghorne, another Ulsterman, followed Lewers in switching but long-term injury and has not yet featured for England. In those three years out, sibling Paul has risen to be an Irish mainstay and will line out in defence for Paul Revington’s side.
England’s preparations have been mixed but they consider themselves serious contenders and the excitement is enough to see them get a rare, live airing on BBC, albeit on the red button service.
For Ireland’s women, world number three side Germany are first up in a pool which also features England and Belgium.
This initial tie is has been cited as the one coach Gene Muller would prefer to cause a surprise in as progression with the English would open up an extra Olympic qualifying place; currently just two are available.
His side enter the competition on a six-game losing streak but can draw some solace from comments made by Markus Wiese this week, the German coach who has won Olympic titles in charge of the country’s men and women, that the European championships are not high on the priority list.
A shock eighth place finish in the Champions Trophy earlier this summer further suggests they are in transition but have not finished outside the top three in nine prior Europeans.
Irish match schedule:
Tomorrow: Ireland (w) vs Germany, 2.50pm
Sunday, August 21: Ireland (m) vs England, 9am; Ireland (w) vs Belgium, 7pm.