New era dawns for Greenfields

GREENFIELDS Hockey Club will create history tomorrow (Saturday) when they become the first Connacht team to compete in the Electric Ireland Irish Hockey League.

The Irish Hockey League contains the top 12 teams in the country. There are two pools of six teams and Greenfields’ opponents include Catholic Institute of Limerick, Lurgan from Ulster and the top three teams from Leinster, UCD, Railway Union and Hermes. These matches will be played over the five Saturdays in March.

Greenfields open their campaign in Dangan (2pm) against Catholic Institute who currently lie in 2nd place in the Munster Senior League and field two Irish Senior Internationals and a number of Irish underage players.

On the following Saturday, Greenfields travel north to face Lurgan Hockey Club. Like Greenfields, this will be  Lurgan’s first year in the competition. It’s a match Greenfields coach Deirdre McDermott would hope her squad could get a result from.

On March 15, the Galway club face UCD, the top team in the country, who boast nine Irish senior internationals and numerous other underage capped players. To date this season, UCD have secured the Leinster Senior League and the Irish Senior Cup. A tough outing to the Irish Hockey Stadium is to be expected.

Greenfields return to Dangan on March 22 when they host current Irish Hockey League champions Railway Union from Leinster. Railway will line out with a number of Irish senior and underage Internationals, including the Irish captain Alex Speers.

Finally, on March 29, Greenfields’ fifth pool-game will see them travel east again to face another Leinster side Hermes who are one of the top clubs in the country and lie second in the Leinster Senior League. Hermes would be one of the main contenders for the IHL title this year.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.