Ireland’s youth take centre stage

Ireland’s U16 teams enjoyed respectable mid-ranking finishes to their EuroHockey Junior Championships campaigns, while the U18 sides both carried off their Celtic Cup crowns with ease on a fruitful weekend for Irish underage hockey. The U16 girls, competing in Valencia, thrashed Italy 4-0 on day one in Valencia, with Alexandra College’s Anna Roopnarinesingh bagging a first-half brace before Zoe Wilson and Emma Kernoghan finished the job in the second half.

However, they subsequently came unstuck against a breathtakingly good Netherlands side, going down 8-0. Once the result was beyond doubt, Ireland conserved energy for their last group clash with the Czech Republic. And that yielded dividends as they romped to a 5-1 win that included a goal for Laurel Hill Coláiste schoolgirl Eimear Ryan, and an assist for her Catholic Institute team-mate Clodagh Moloney (Crescent), while Edel Nyland (Ursulines Thurles) also had a fine tournament. That sent them out of their group in second place and into a bronze medal game against Spain, but despite a novel late strike from Sara Quill, they were defeated 2-1 by the hosts and had to settle for a very respectable fourth place. The U16 boys had a similarly topsy-turvy campaign in the 35-degree heat of Vienna, where matches were stopped every 17 minutes to facilitate water breaks. They  thrashing Belarus 12-2 on day two after losing 2-1 to Belgium on the opening day, depsite a second-half equaliser from skipper Luke Madeley. But a 3-0 reverse to Spain in their final group game sent them into the lower tier of crossover games, where defeat would leave them relegated to the second tier. Thankfully, that never came close to materialising as they handed Ukraine an 8-0 thrashing to finish in a tie for 5th place with Russia. Cork C of I’s Alex Burns (Midleton College) got the seventh of those with club-mate Simon Wolfe (Ashton) setting up a couple too. Madeley bagged a hat-trick which took his tally to eight in four games, and with it the prestigious title of tournament top scorer. Those goalscoring exploits were matched in some style by C of I’s Gary Wilkinson, the Ashton hitman hitting six in three games for Ireland U18s as they carried off the Celtic Cup in Edinburgh. Wilkinson had Three Rock’s Ross Canning as his main partner in crime, the duo both scoring in victories over Wales (3-1) and Scotland (3-0) before going goal crazy in their decisive game against Switzerland, a 12-0 thrashing seeing Wilkinson claim four and Canning a hat-trick. Ireland’s U18 girls were arguably even more impressive, racking up 23 goals in three games as they also cantered to Celtic Cup victory. They trounced Wales (8-0) and the Swiss (11-0) with their only test coming in a 4-2 win over Scotland on day two. Other Munster representatives in the excellent U18 successes included Scott Sullivan (Bandon Grammar/Bandon), Richard Lynch (Ashton/C of I) and Abby Oakes (Mount Mercy/Cork Harlequins).

Meanwhile, Ireland’s U21 women endured three tough games against Germany in Berlin which will serve as perfect preparation for their European campaign in Lisbon later this month. UCC’s Olivia Roycroft was on target for them in a 4-2 defeat, coming after a 4-1 loss first time out. They looked set for a heavy defeat in the final game when three goals down by half-time, but only went down 3-2 after a rousing second-half comeback. EuroHockey Youth (U16) Championships (Irish results only) Boys (Vienna): Ireland 1 (L Madeley) Belgium 2; Ireland 12 (L Madeley 4, A Smyth 4, D Nolan 2, J McKee, J Wilson) Belarus 2; Ireland 0 Spain 3. 5th place playoff: Ireland 8 (L Madeley 3, J Ryan 2, J Henderson 2, A Burns) Ukraine 0; Girls (Valencia): Ireland 4 (A Roopnarinesingh 2, Z Wilson, E Kernoghan) Italy 0; Ireland 0 Netherlands 8; Ireland 5 (A Roopnarinesingh 2, K Edgar 2, E Ryan) Czech Republic 1; 3rd/4th playoff:  Ireland 1 (K Edgar) Spain 2. U18 Celtic Cup, Edinburgh Boys: Ireland 3 (R Canning 2, G Wilkinson) Wales 1; Ireland 3 (R Canning, P Brown, G Wilkinson) Scotland 0; Ireland 12 (G Wilkinson 4, R Canning 3, M Robson, J Duncan, L Cole, K Shimmins, J Lorimer). Girls: Ireland 8 (K Lloyd 3, A Haslam 2, C Brown 2, C Foley) Wales 0; Scotland 2 (K Peters, A McNeill) Ireland 4 (K Mullan 2, K Lloyd, C Brown); Ireland 11 (K Lloyd 4, H McDermott 2, M O’Donnell 2, R Chambers, A Haslam, E Carey)  Switzerland 0. Women’s U21 Series, Berlin Ireland 1 (N Gray) Germany 4; Ireland 2 (E Beatty, O Roycroft) Germany 4; Ireland 2 Germany 3.