The Ireland Men’s national hockey team will take on Russia in their first game of the European qualifier for the 2023 Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup.
The qualification tournament is being played at the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff and features eight teams looking for the final European spot at the 2023 World Cup.
The national team need to win their first two games to land a place at the 2023 showpiece event to be played in India.
Ireland will be looking to reach a second successive World Cup and their fourth overall after appearing at their first in 28 years in 2018.
They come into the competition as the second-highest ranked side, one place behind France in 14th.
Their opponents, Russia, are yet to qualify for the World Cup, with this qualification tournament acting as a golden ticket for the second-lowest ranked team out of the eight competing.
If Ireland beat Russia, they will face either Wales or Italy on Saturday, October 23 for a place at the World Cup.
Mark Tumilty’s side qualified for the eight-team tournament after finishing third at the 2021 Men’s EuroHockey Championship II in Poland back in August.
Since then, Olympian Conor Harte has returned to the side while Luke Madeley, Jamie Carr and Lee Cole are also available having missed out on playing time at the Euros when they were deemed close contacts in the lead-up to the event.
11 of the team that saw game time in Poland have been called up for the qualifiers at the end of the month.
Russia earned their spot after qualifying for the 2021 Men’s EuroHockey Championship, at which they finished last after conceding 33 goals in six games.
Ireland will head into the qualifiers after sharing a series on short notice with Malaysia in Lisnagarvey at the start of October.
Team News
Ireland men’s squad for World Cup qualifiers (club/caps)
Jamie Carr (GK, KHC Leuven, 34)
Mark Ingram (GK, Pembroke, 27)
Tom Cross (Annadale, 22)
Luke Madeley (KHC Leuven, 23)
Lee Cole (Monkstown, 90)
Conor Harte (KHC Dragons, 254)
Peter McKibbin (Lisnagarvey, 8)
Kyle Marshall (Old Georgians, 7)
Shane O’Donoghue (Glenanne, 197)
Sean Murray (captain, KHC Leuven, 85)
Neal Glassey (Crefelder HTC, 67)
Daragh Walsh (KHC Leuven, 58)
Michael Robson (Annadale, 120)
Johnny McKee (Banbridge, 49)
Conor Empey (SCHC, 2)
Sam Hyland (YMCA, 2)
Ben Walker (Braxgata, 42)
Jeremy Duncan (Monkstown, 63)
Travelling reserves
Matthew Nelson (Lisnagarvey, 69)
Kevin O’Dea (UCD, 7)
Where To Watch
The match will begin at 4 pm and will be shown live on EuroHockeyTV.
