Mossley Hockey Club’s John Jackson will lead Ireland at the European Hockey Championships next weekend following the release of the 18-player men’s senior squad to play in Boom, Belgium.
He takes over from long-time skipper Ronan Gormley who remains in the panel, returning to the set-up having missed the three pre-tournament warm-up games in Hamburg last month.
Jackson has been part of a leadership group and takes over the armband from Ronan Gormley.
This is one of a number of changes to Andrew Meredith’s panel with Stephen Cole and Kirk Shimmins the new faces in six changes from the World League round three.
Shimmins, a midfielder, just finished his Leaving Certificate at Wesley College in June and made his senior international debut in Hamburg against Germany while Cole had just a handful of caps.
Midfielder Eugene Magee has recovered a knee injury to bring a wealth of experience along with centurion Mitch Darling.
Ireland have been drawn against the Netherlands (world number three), Poland (20) and England (4).
The tournament begins on Saturday 17th August, 2013
Player / Club / Caps
1.Jonny BELL (Lisnagarvey) 23
2.Peter BROWN (Banbridge) 11
3.Chris CARGO (Reading) 77
4.Peter CARUTH (Braxgata) 73
5.Stephen COLE (Monkstown) 4
6.Mitch DARLING (Three Rock Rovers) 101
7. David FITZGERALD (Monkstown) GK 18
8.Kyle GOOD (Monkstown) 15
9.Ronan GORMELY (Krefeld) 172
10.Conor HARTE (SCHC) 118
11. David HARTE (Kampong) (GK) 117
12.John JACKSON (Braxgata) Captain. 127
13. Stuart LOUGHREY (Team Bath Buccaneers) 40
14.Eugene MAGEE (Banbridge) 168
15.Bruce McCANDLESS (Banbridge) 50
16.Shane O’DONOGHUE (UCD) 34
17. Kirk SHIMMINS (Pembroke Wanderers)
18.Michael WATT (SCHC) 132
Match Schedule – Ireland:
Sunday 18th August Ireland v Netherlands 18.00 (Local Time)
Monday 19th August Ireland v Poland 16.00 (Local Time)
Wednesday 21st August Ireland v England 11.30 (Local Time)
Full Match Schedule
http://www.trifinanceeurohockey2013.be/index.php?websitestructid=98
Follow the #greenmachine action on: Web: www.hockey.ie Twitter: http://twitter.com/IrishHockey Facebook: http://facebook.com/IrishHockeyAssociation
Here’s a promo clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78YfO7FplY#at=13
