11 July 2016 – Dublin, Ireland: The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) and Hockey Ireland are delighted to announce the final men’s hockey squad to represent Team Ireland at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Team Ireland now officially have 74 athletes from 13 sports heading to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after the 16-strong men’s hockey squad plus three travelling reserves was chosen today.
The selected athletes are:
- Jonny Bell, Lisnagarvey, Defender
- Chris Cargo, Racing, Midfield
- Peter Caruth, Annadale, Forward
- Mitch Darling, Rotterdam, Forward
- Paul Gleghorne, Lisnagarvey, Defender
- Kyle Good, Monkstown, Forward
- Ronan Gormley, Krefeld, Defender
- David Harte (Captain), Kampong, Goalkeeper
- Conor Harte, Racing, Defender
- John Jackson, Reading, Defender
- John Jermyn, Cork C of I, Midfield
- Eugene Magee, Banbridge, Midfield
- Shane O’Donoghue, Dragons, Midfield
- Alan Sothern, Pembroke, Forward
- Kirk Shimmins, Pembroke, Midfield
- Michael Watt, Lisnagarvey, Forward
Travelling Reserves:
- Tim Cockram, Lisnagarvey, Forward
- Michael Robson, Annadale, Midfield
- David Fitzgerald, Monkstown, Goalkeeper
OCI President and International Olympic Committee Executive Board Member Pat Hickey said:
“To qualify for the Olympic Games is a fantastic achievement, and the players and Hockey Ireland have worked incredibly hard for it. Not only is this the first time an Irish hockey team has qualified for an Olympic Games for more than 100 years; it is the first time that Team Ireland will contest a team sport at an Olympic Games since 1948.”
Rob Johnson, Acting CEO for Hockey Ireland, said:
“To be the first field team sport to represent Ireland at an Olympics in 68 years is a historic achievement. And to be a selected team member in this history-making side is an incredible personal achievement – congratulations to each and every one of the players selected!
“Head Coach, Craig Fulton with his support team, has stretched the squad, raising them to higher performance levels. This has required a huge amount of dedication and many sacrifices from every member of the larger squad. I would like to thank everyone in the larger squad of players for the dedication and extreme focus of every single one of them during the qualification campaign. I know that Craig’s final decision on selection was extremely difficult.
“On behalf of Hockey Ireland I would like to wish the team the very best of luck and to say that we will all be supporting you throughout the Olympics.”
Team Ireland’s first game at Rio 2016 is on Saturday 6 August.
More formal selections in other sports are set to be finalised over the next few days.
The official Rio 2016 hockey schedule for Team Ireland can be found here.
Pictured L to R: Craig Fulton (Head Coach) and Stephen Barry (Team Leader)
ENDS
For more information:
Contact: Nick Dawes, Olympic Council of Ireland
Telephone: +447557435851
