Midfield dilemmas for Carolan

Interim coach Brendon Carolan will be tasked with finding some new midfield combinations as Ireland embark on the first phase toward potential World Cup  qualification for the Hague in 2014.

Ireland are grouped with Sweden, Wales and Austria in the first round of the World League — which runs from September 7-9 — needing to finish inside the top two in the round-robin event to progress to round two, something they would expect to negotiate with something to spare. Carolan’s panel shows five changes from the last major  tournament Ireland played in, the heart-wrenching near miss at the Olympic qualifiers in March. Midfield trio David Ames, Loughborough- bound Ian Sloan and Geoff McCabe, plus utility-man Chris Cargo and full-back Stu Loughrey, are all listed as unavailable. The players to come in are defenders Kenny Carroll and Johnny Bell, front men Jonny Bruton and Stephen Dowds, while Bruce  McCandless, subject to a fitness test, is a versatile option. For all five, it will be their first appearances in a world ranking event, though Dowds could yet miss the tournament after reports he went over on his ankle while training with Banbridge, which could rule him out for a couple of months. No replacement has yet been named. Speaking about the selection, Carolan said: “I am looking forward to the green machine continuing on all its hard work done over the summer. We will continue to drive the team’s standards of excellence throughout all events, with the World League round one in Cardiff being the first phase.” Ireland: Jonathan Bell (Lisnagarvey), Jonny Bruton (YMCA), Kenny Carroll (Railway Union), Peter Caruth (Braxgata, Belgium), Tim Cockram (Lisnagarvey), Mitch Darling (Three Rock Rovers), Stephen Dowds (Banbridge), David Fitzgerald (Monkstown), Paul Gleghorne (Instonians), Ronan Gormley (Crefelder HTC, Germany), Conor Harte (SCHC, Netherlands), David Harte (Kampong, Netherlands), John Jackson (Braxgata), John Jermyn (Pingouin, Belgium), Eugene Magee (Crefelder HTC), Bruce McCandless (Banbridge), Andy McConnell (Hurley, Netherlands), Mikey Watt (SCHC) Friday, September 7: Austria v Sweden, 3.30pm; Ireland v Wales, 6pm Saturday, September 8: Ireland v Austria, 2pm; Wales v Sweden, 4.30pm Sunday, September 9: Ireland v Sweden, 12pm; Wales v Austria 3pm