Irish women's hockey coach Riet Kuper has confirmed her squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifying tournament in Rome from April 25-May 6.
The squad, currently ranked 13th in the world, contains many of the squad who secured Ireland's best ever finish of fifth place in the European Nations Championship last August, together with some new faces from recent trips to Spain, South Africa and Argentina.
Recent new caps Alex Speers and Katharine Elkin both make the squad, as do Fiona Ferguson and Old Alex's Zanya Dahl.
Experienced internationals Linda Caulfield, Ciara O'Brien and Eimear Cregan bring important big tournament experience, all being veterans of Olympic Qualifying Tournament and World Cup action. The fitness of key defender Bridget McKeever remains questionable after picking up a face injury recently against Argentina, so Nikki Keegan remains on reserve if McKeever is not fit in time for the tournament. Louisa Healy also remains on standby as Ireland's third goalie, with Kristin Farrell missing out on the final eighteen.
"We had a good tournament in Argentina last week, which saw a marked improvement in our performances," said national team coach Reit Kuper today.
She continued: "The squad selection was very difficult. We have some talented young players coming into the squad who have not experienced major world-ranking international tournaments before. However, the squad has an excellent core of very experienced senior players who give the squad a good balance of youth and experience."
Kuper added: "We will continue our preparation with fixtures next week against England and Italy, which will ensure that we have played against all our pool opposition within the last twelve months, with the exception of New Zealand. So we will have a better idea of what to expect in Rome."
The ESB sponsored Irish team face a difficult challenge to qualify with two of the world's best teams, Korea and New Zealand, in their pool. The New Zealand team narrowly lost out on bronze at the recent Commonwealth Games, losing on penalties to England.
Ireland's opening match against USA is a crunch game, with both teams evenly matched and USA ranked one place above Ireland in the latest world rankings. The pair met twice at a four nations tournament in Argentina earlier this month, with the USA winning the first encounter 2-1, but the Irish ladies prevailed second time around to beat them 3-1.
Ireland's remaining competitors in Pool B are Italy and Azerbaijan, both of whom Ireland would be expected to overcome.
In the other pool China and Commonwealth bronze medallists England will be competing with the Japanese for the automatic qualifying spots. Scotland, Ukraine and France are likely to be the ones fighting it out for fourth in the pool.
The format of the tournament sees twelve teams split into two pools of six. At the end of the qualifiers, the top five ranked teams will qualify for the respective World Cup later this year.
The pools operate on a round-robin basis, with the top two in each pool automatically qualifying for the World Cup. The third and fourth place teams in each pool play-off for that final elusive qualifying spot. Ireland must finish within the top four in their pool in order to be in contention for a qualifying spot.
After the pool stage, each team will have another two matches to decide their final tournament classification. World ranking points will be awarded at this tournament.
The women's World Cup will be staged in Madrid, Spain from September 27 until October 8, 2006.
Irish women's squad:
1 Suzanne Beaney Pegasus 32 Caps
2 Catriona Carey Hermes 64
3 Linda Caulfield Hermes 124
4 Fiona Connery Hermes 42
5 Eimear Cregan Push 81
6 Zanya Dahl Old Alex 9
7 Katharine Elkin Randalstown 3
8 Fiona Ferguson Pegasus 7
9 Mary Goode (GK) Cork Harlequins 9
10 Jenny McDonough Belfast Harlequins 65
11 Cathy McKean Loreto 50
12 Bridget McKeever Ballymoney 54
13 Ciara O'Brien Railway 95
14 Jill Orbinson Pegasus 110
15 Clare Parkhill Randalstown 23
16 Angela Platt (GK) Ballymoney 66
17 Alex Speers Pegasus 4
18 Nikki Symmons Loreto 39
RES Nikki Keegan Loreto 2
RES Louisa Healy (GK) Loreto 5
