Phelie Maguire says Ireland won’t be one-game wonders as they begin their World League semi-final campaign today hoping to qualify for a major tournament for the first time since 1990.
Having come through the first two rounds in Cardiff and New Delhi, Ireland are in Rotterdam for the third leg of the inaugural World League, which has revamped the qualification process for hockey’s “majors”, the Olympics and World Cup.
The sport’s big guns enter the fray at this stage, with 15th-ranked Ireland pooled with Netherlands (3rd), New Zealand (6th) and India (11th). A top six finish overall at the eight-team tournament is likely to be enough to qualify for next summer’s World Cup.
Under the oft-maligned FIH structures Ireland’s pool stage performances will serve only to determine who they’ll face in the quarter-finals on June 19. Victory there would guarantee a World Cup berth, otherwise they’ll have a second shot in the 5th-8th place playoffs.
The complex systems mean the FIH won’t be able to confirm those who have qualified until November, after all the continental championships have been played out.
Nonetheless, Dutch-based midfielder Maguire says Ireland will be giving their all in the pool stages to get a relatively favourable last eight tie.
“There’s no doubt about it, World Cup qualification is the goal and that’s our focus,” he told The Hook. “I’ve played in a few different tournaments and they’ve all been different formats. Whether it comes from getting top four, five or six; as long as you get there, it doesn’t matter.
“Win your quarter-final and you’ve qualified. That’s pretty much the safest bet. To give ourselves the best possible quarter-final, you have to get results against the likes of India and New Zealand to make sure we don’t face Australia. We have experience of beating any of the other sides in the group in the past.
“People will look at it and say, look you only have to win the fourth game. But you need to get in the habit of putting in good performances and winning to make it that much easier rather than focusing on one the fourth game.”
[pullquote]”You need to get in the habit of putting in good performances and winning to make it that much easier rather than focusing on one the fourth game” – Phelie Maguire on the importance of Ireland’s pool stage games.[/pullquote]
Andrew Meredith’s charges have began to thrive in these high-octane tournament environments after years of under-achievement. They narrowly lost out to Korea in the final seconds of last March’s Olympic qualifiers and took bronze in November’s Champions Challenge in Argentina, having been seeded eighth.
Ireland also won’t lack confidence having beaten Olympic champions Germany 3-2 on their own turf last month; UCD hitman Shane O’Donoghue bagged the winner that day and says the green machine can’t fear the top teams.
“The biggest thing we have in the squad is that we try not to have that fear factor against the bigger teams,” he told hockey.ie. “Obviously we are somewhat wary of the top teams in the world, but we’ll give everything we have and try and preform consistently throughout the tournament.
“We haven’t qualified for a major tournament since 1990, but the belief and confidence is there throughout the entire squad and coaches. We don’t doubt our ability or our game-plans, we can play against the top players in the world. The belief is there at the moment and we have to make sure that continues in Rotterdam.”
Despite that positivity, Ireland are a little under-strength for this tournament. Banbridge’s past and present have been ruled out; record cap holder Eugene Magee and Bruce McCandless are injured, while IHL player of the year Peter Brown was ruled out with illness.
Record goalscorer John Jermyn, Mitch Darling and Geoff McCabe are unavailable due to work and personal commitments, although the shake-up has resulted in a late call-up for Munster man Jonathan Bruton.
In terms of Ireland’s opponents, the return of Sandeep Singh to the India line-up provides another top-notch drag-flicking threat but Holland have their problems with injury; captain Rob van der Horst and their best drag-flicker Mink van der Weerden are among those missing while Teun de Nooijer has retired.
Simon Child, who was so impressive in the Dutch Hoofdklasse playoffs with Rotterdam, is out of the New Zealand squad but the Blacksticks will have 300-cap talisman Phil Burrows in tow.
IRELAND men’s squad for World League 3 semi-finals, Rotterdam, June 13-23: J Bell (Lisnagarvey), J Bruton (YMCA), C Cargo (Reading), P Caruth (Braxgata), T Cockram (Lisnagarvey), D Fitzgerald (GK, Monkstown), P Gleghorne (Instonians), K Good (Monkstown), R Gormley (Krefeld), C Harte (SCHC), D Harte (GK, Kampong), J Jackson (Braxgata), S Loughrey (Bath Buccaneers), P Maguire (Hurley), A McConnell (Hurley), S O’Donoghue (UCD), A Sothern (Pembroke Wanderers), M Watt (SCHC).
Today: India v Ireland, 2.30pm; Saturday: New Zealand v Ireland, 8.30am; Monday: Netherlands v Ireland, 7pm. June 19: Quarter-finals
Under the oft-maligned FIH structures Ireland’s pool stage performances will serve only to determine who they’ll face in the quarter-finals on June 19. Victory there would guarantee a World Cup berth, otherwise they’ll have a second shot in the 5th-8th place playoffs.
The complex systems mean the FIH won’t be able to confirm those who have qualified until November, after all the continental championships have been played out.
Nonetheless, Dutch-based midfielder Maguire says Ireland will be giving their all in the pool stages to get a relatively favourable last eight tie.
“There’s no doubt about it, World Cup qualification is the goal and that’s our focus,” he told The Hook. “I’ve played in a few different tournaments and they’ve all been different formats. Whether it comes from getting top four, five or six; as long as you get there, it doesn’t matter.
“Win your quarter-final and you’ve qualified. That’s pretty much the safest bet. To give ourselves the best possible quarter-final, you have to get results against the likes of India and New Zealand to make sure we don’t face Australia. We have experience of beating any of the other sides in the group in the past.
“People will look at it and say, look you only have to win the fourth game. But you need to get in the habit of putting in good performances and winning to make it that much easier rather than focusing on one the fourth game.”
[pullquote]”You need to get in the habit of putting in good performances and winning to make it that much easier rather than focusing on one the fourth game” – Phelie Maguire on the importance of Ireland’s pool stage games.[/pullquote]
Andrew Meredith’s charges have began to thrive in these high-octane tournament environments after years of under-achievement. They narrowly lost out to Korea in the final seconds of last March’s Olympic qualifiers and took bronze in November’s Champions Challenge in Argentina, having been seeded eighth.
Ireland also won’t lack confidence having beaten Olympic champions Germany 3-2 on their own turf last month; UCD hitman Shane O’Donoghue bagged the winner that day and says the green machine can’t fear the top teams.
“The biggest thing we have in the squad is that we try not to have that fear factor against the bigger teams,” he told hockey.ie. “Obviously we are somewhat wary of the top teams in the world, but we’ll give everything we have and try and preform consistently throughout the tournament.
“We haven’t qualified for a major tournament since 1990, but the belief and confidence is there throughout the entire squad and coaches. We don’t doubt our ability or our game-plans, we can play against the top players in the world. The belief is there at the moment and we have to make sure that continues in Rotterdam.”
Despite that positivity, Ireland are a little under-strength for this tournament. Banbridge’s past and present have been ruled out; record cap holder Eugene Magee and Bruce McCandless are injured, while IHL player of the year Peter Brown was ruled out with illness.
Record goalscorer John Jermyn, Mitch Darling and Geoff McCabe are unavailable due to work and personal commitments, although the shake-up has resulted in a late call-up for Munster man Jonathan Bruton.
In terms of Ireland’s opponents, the return of Sandeep Singh to the India line-up provides another top-notch drag-flicking threat but Holland have their problems with injury; captain Rob van der Horst and their best drag-flicker Mink van der Weerden are among those missing while Teun de Nooijer has retired.
Simon Child, who was so impressive in the Dutch Hoofdklasse playoffs with Rotterdam, is out of the New Zealand squad but the Blacksticks will have 300-cap talisman Phil Burrows in tow.
IRELAND men’s squad for World League 3 semi-finals, Rotterdam, June 13-23: J Bell (Lisnagarvey), J Bruton (YMCA), C Cargo (Reading), P Caruth (Braxgata), T Cockram (Lisnagarvey), D Fitzgerald (GK, Monkstown), P Gleghorne (Instonians), K Good (Monkstown), R Gormley (Krefeld), C Harte (SCHC), D Harte (GK, Kampong), J Jackson (Braxgata), S Loughrey (Bath Buccaneers), P Maguire (Hurley), A McConnell (Hurley), S O’Donoghue (UCD), A Sothern (Pembroke Wanderers), M Watt (SCHC).
Today: India v Ireland, 2.30pm; Saturday: New Zealand v Ireland, 8.30am; Monday: Netherlands v Ireland, 7pm. June 19: Quarter-finals