News Archive

Irish U-16 Trial for Timmins

11 January 2009

Following Connacht's superb display at the recently rearranged U-16 Blitz in Dublin Galway's Freddie Timmins along with four other girls from Connacht were selected for Irish trials. This is double delight for Timmins having recently been selected for Irish U-18 trials following some brilliant display's for the Connacht U-18's in Cork. The four other connacht girls Louise Fahy, Vicky Hynes, Ciara Meagher, and Meave Russel all hale from Knockncarra Hockey Club, headed by Ciaran Delaney who have a strong tradition of producing young talent. A number of Irish Coaches were at the blitz including, David Passmore (High Performance Director), Mary Logue (Ireland U18) and Una McCarthy the Irish U16 girls coach.

Commenting on the event Una was obviously pleased to see the girls in action after the disappointment of the cancelled ESB U16 interpros "It was fantastic to finally see the players after the disappointment of the scheduled ESB Interpros. The format of a one day tournament while I'm sure was difficult on the players and coaching teams still showed the wealth of talent that is present at the U16 level. With most of last years U16 squad moving up to U18 it was great to see all the new players who are breaking through at this age group and I am really looking forward to working with these players as we prepare for our programme which will include matches against Belgium at Easter, England in June and a Home Countries tournament in July. There were also quite a number of young players who have two years or more at this level meaning they will still be U16 when we begin preparations for our European tournament in 2010".