Pritchard takes up interim Irish job

Denis Pritchard has been announced as the interim coach for the Irish senior women’s side following a decision by the IHA’s High Performance Working Group and formally approved by the Board. Pritchard (pictured left), an FIH-qualified coach, steps up from the assistant coach role he held for the past five years with Gene Muller and steps into the role with immediate effect until the end of the Champions Challenge I in early October. He brings experience from his time working as Munster senior coach along with a successful stint at Cork C of I, winning an All-Ireland Club Championship in 2003. He was also the Irish men’s assistant coach in 2005 and 2006, and was also at the helm alongside Paidi Hartnett as UCC’s women claimed a Munster Senior Cup title in 2009.

An IHA statement said of his appointment: “Denis was the natural choice for this position given the time he has spent with the squad over the past few years. He is best placed to further develop the technical development and style of play that saw the team produce a great run of results in the lead up and to the final of the Olympic Qualifier. “Having worked as the assistant coach over the past five years he has detailed knowledge of the opponents the team will face, without much preparation to their forthcoming competitions.” Despite Ireland missing out on Olympic qualification, they still have a series of tournaments over the summer, starting with the Investec Cup in London – a pre-Olympic test event – in early June along with the Celtic Cup later that month. But the year’s key event is September’s Champion’s Challenge I, one which carries with it world ranking points and Pritchard says he is keen to build on the recent final appearance in the London qualifiers. ”The summer series of games gives us another opportunity to compete against some of the world’s top teams. We must build on the hard work that has been done and progress the squad towards our goal of world tournament qualification. “I am honoured to be asked to lead on an interim basis; working in this environment is a great challenge and working with high-performance athletes is a huge privilege. The journey continues unabated.” In the backroom staff, an assistant coach will be named in the coming weeks while current manager Sally Ann Fanagan will stay on in her role until June until a long term replacement is appointed. Karen Coughlan steps down as physio. The full-time coaching position will be advertised in late July with a view to appointment in mid October.