Women's Hockey : European Championships August 18th – 26th

Question: Ireland is ranked number five in Europe in what team sport?
Answer: Women's hockey, of course!

The Irish senior side finished fifth in the European Championships when they were last held two years ago in Dublin. Why are they now in the news? The 'Europeans', which are held every two years, will be taking place in Manchester (August 18th – 26th) and the Irish squad are entering the final stages of preparation for the tournament.

The squad has been playing a number of challenge games as a 'warm-up' and these included the Setanta Trophy in which they played four games and lost just once, 3-1 to current Olympic Champions Germany.

Can they do as well in Manchester as they did in the last Europeans? It won't be easy. The fifth place they got two years ago was the highest they have ever finished and it is difficult to look beyond The Netherlands, Germany, England and Spain.

There will be eight teams competing in the finals and the first goal for the team will be to maintain their elite status by finishing in the top six - the bottom two are relegated to a second tier of nations.

In Manchester, Ireland have been drawn in the same pool as England, the Netherlands and Italy. The other pool consists of Germany, Spain, Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

What are the Irish strengths? They are hard to beat. They have a solid defence built around Jill Orbinson, Ciara O'Brien and Bridget McKeever, who between them have more than 330 caps, and they do not concede goals easily. It may sound clichéd – but there appears to be a work ethic among the squad that you do not always see in teams.

Are there weaknesses? They have recently struggled to score goals. It is something that their South African coach, Gene Muller, is conscious of when he describes his side as 'grinding out results'. So you can bet that a lot of training sessions between now and August will be focusing on tweaking our attack. The squad for Manchester will be announced in mid July. ESB is National Sponsor of Girls' and Women's Hockey since 2005.